Tiernan v. Stewart

This is an appeal from an order of the Circuit Court of Lake County, Illinois, entered on the amended petition of Joseph James Tiernan and Wanda Faye Tiernan, his wife, to adopt Baby Boy Russell, a minor child who had been bom out of wedlock. The child’s mother, Yvonne Russell, had executed a consent to the adoption, and her parental rights had been terminated by interim order. The natural father, Bernard W. Stewart, who was made a party defendant by the amended petition, did not sign a consent but contested the adoption and sought to recover the child. The amended petition alleged that the…