Vernon

The relevant factual and procedural context of the appeal before us may reasonably be condensed to the following.

The above-named defendant Marlene Vernon (formerly Marlene Downey) is the mother, and one Joel Downey the father, of two minor children. In the parents’ State of California marriage dissolution proceedings of 1971, the father was awarded custody of the children and ordered to provide for their support. In 1976 the father placed the children with his mother; his whereabouts are apparently now unknown. Since then their physical custody had been with their paternal grandmother, Exie C. Downey in the State of Florida. The State of Florida acting through its Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, the above-named plaintiff, determined that neither the mother nor the father was contributing to the children’s support, and that the grandmother, although willing to care for them, was unable to provide financially for their support. The State of Florida accordingly took upon itself, under the federal “Aid to Families with Dependent Children” program ( 42 U.S.C. § 601 et seq.) the financial obligation of the children’s support. The whereabouts of the father is…