Thompson

Charles H. Thompson and Elizabeth S. Thompson appeal from a judgment denying their peti *736 tion to independently adopt the infant boy Driscoll and ordering the Orange County W elf are Department, as agent of the State Department of Social Welfare, to take custody of the child for further placement.

In December 1966 when he was a little over a month old, the boy, named Robert by the Thompsons, was released to them from the hospital of his birth. Robert has been with the Thompsons ever since, the trial court having stayed execution of its judgment pending appeal.

The Thompsons’ adoption petition was filed February 16, 1967, when Mr. Thompson was aged 61 and Mrs. Thompson 58. Some difficulty followed concerning obtaining a consent to the adoption from Robert’s natural mother. Respondent State Department of Social Welfare contends this court must resolve whether the natural mother’s consent was free, voluntary and knowledgeable. The Department accepted the consent and the court below, by its ruling, necessarily ruled the consent was sufficient. This is so because the court did not return the child to his natural mother as would have been mandatory had the court found no consent.…