People v. A.B.

The three above-named cases have been consolidated by this court for review because each of them presents the same issue, i.e., whether a circuit court, when terminating parental rights and appointing a guardian with the power to consent to adoption, may place within the order appointing the guardian a limitation or condition so that the guardian may exercise his authority to consent to adoption only if the adoptive parents agree to continue to permit “contact” with the freed child’s biological family. Before we discuss the various arguments and our resolution of this dilemma, we shall give a…