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Johnson v. Hauck

Adoption Petition Failed to Apprise Biological Mother of Factual Allegations

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Rickman, Judge.   In this relative adoption case brought pursuant to OCGA § 19-8-10 (b), the biological mother of the minor child at issue appeals from the superior court’s final judgment and decree of adoption (“the decree”), which terminated her parental rights and granted the maternal grandmother’s petition to adopt the child.[1] The mother contends, among other things, that the adoption petition was legally insufficient and that the superior court violated her due process rights in refusing her request for appointed counsel. We agree that the adoption petition failed to meet the statutory requirements; therefore, we vacate the decree and remand this case for additional proceedings consistent with this opinion. For the purposes of remand, we conclude that the superior court did not violate the mother’s due process rights when it denied her motion for the appointment of legal counsel and address two additional procedural errors in order to prevent their recurrence.On appeal of a decision terminating parental rights, we determine whether after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the appellee, any rational trier of fact could have found by clear and convincing evidence that the natural parent’s rights to custody have been lost. We defer to the [superior] court’s findings unless the clear and convincing standard is not met. In matters of adoption, the superior court has a very broad discretion which will not be controlled by the appellate courts except in cases of plain abuse.

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