Battle Adoption Case

Opinion by

Me. Chief Justice Jones,

Elisa Battle was bom out of wedlock to Laura Battle and George Dunn in 1960. Shortly thereafter, the child was placed in the care of Laura Battle’s mentally deficient mother in Tarboro, North Carolina, where she became seriously ill from improper attention. Upon learning of Elisa’s condition, George Dunn went to Laura Battle and asked her to take the child with her to New York where she was living so that the child would receive better treatment. Laura Battle told him that she did not want the child, would not provide for her and that if he wanted the child,…