Cain

Appellants, Ernest Cain and Floella Cain, are husband and wife and the operators of a licensed foster home for minor children. Appellants appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Tulare County denying their petition for writ of mandate regarding their efforts to adopt the small child, Lisa H.; they sought to compel the Adoption Agency of Tulare County, hereafter referred to as respondent, to accept and to investigate thoroughly their application to adopt Lisa H. and, in the absence of good cause, to approve it. Briefly, appellants contend that the trial court should have granted their petition because the record shows, as a matter of law, that respondent violated the mandate of Adoption of Michelle T. (1975) 44 Cal.App.3d 699 [ 117 Cal.Rptr. 856 ], when it denied appellants the opportunity to present a specific application to adopt Lisa H. and to be considered as suitable adoptive parents for the child, for the sole reason that appellánts were too old.

Lisa H. was born out of wedlock on March 21, 1971, of Mexican-American parents. A few months later the child was picked up by the Child Protective Services Division of the Tulare County Welfare Department because…