In re Kenneth M.

The New York laws governing the adoption of an out-of-wedlock child treat the father like a nonentity, speaking only of the rights and status of the mother; the father of a legitimate child, however, has similar rights to the mother’s. The unwed father’s challenge to these discriminatory laws in the case at bar, like those brought in other States with similar laws over the past few years, is *296based, on the seminal United States Supreme Court decision in Stanley v Illinois (405 US 645). Following Stanley, State courts held various laws concerning child adoption unconstitutional on the basis of…