Shank v. Department of Social Services

This appeal concerns the custody of two male infants born of the marriage of one of the appellants, Jacqualynn A. Shank (hereinafter, the mother), to Ronald Allen Slapnicker. The appeal is addressed to a final order entered June 25,1975, which, in effect, sustained the demurrer filed by appellee Department of Social Services of the City of Virginia Beach (hereinafter, the Department), and we review the facts as they appear from the pleadings.

The natural father died on April 4, 1971. Some time thereafter, the Department, acting upon complaints of child abuse, took the infants into protective…