Adoption of RRR

Edith M. Walker, the paternal grandmother of the subject of these proceedings, and Robert Earl Rodgers, the father of the child, have appealed from a judgment in adoption proceedings which adjudged that the mother, Kathleen Olson, had not abandoned her daughter, and that the father had abandoned his child, and which further denied the grandmother's petition for adoption. The grandmother contends that the evidence requires the conclusion that the mother had abandoned her child and that it was error to fail to declare the child free from the custody and control of her mother. The father contends that the evidence does not sustain the finding that he abandoned his daughter so that she should be declared free of his custody and control.

The evidence, when viewed in the light of applicable legal principles, supports the finding of nonabandonment by the mother. With respect to the father, it is questionable whether issue was properly joined on the question of abandonment. If it was, he was not afforded an opportunity to be heard. The judgment must be affirmed with respect to the mother and reversed as to the father on the petition to have the child declared free from…