In re Jennifer " S "

Millard L. Midonick, S.

The issue drawn presents a problem so fundamental of statutory construction, and even validity, of the alleged “abandonment” by the natural mother of her infant child, that this opinion is undertaken to clarify for trial whether or how a mother can be compelled against her will to lose her child to adoptive parents, and, conversely, how a child can be freed from the obstacle of the parent’s alleged unjustified refusal to surrender her child for adoption if that is what the infant’s best interests require.

Counsel for the respondent mother, who are of the staff of the…