Oxendine v. Catawba County Department of Social Services

COPELAND, Justice.

Plaintiffs raise several issues on appeal which have substantial impact on the procedure to be followed in seeking to adopt a child voluntarily surrendered to a county department of social services pursuant to G.S. 48-9(a)(l). For the reasons stated below, we affirm the conclusions reached by the Court of Appeals.

We first address the question of whether Judge Ferrell erred in granting defendant’s motion to consolidate plaintiffs’ custody action and petition for adoption for trial in the superior court.

G.S. 1A-1, Rule 42(a) provides that when actions involving a common…