Thomas v. Jasaitis

DEVINE, J. This is an appeal from an order declaring a minor child free from the custody and control of both of his parents. The appeal is by the natural parents and by Mr. and Mrs. Jasaitis, one of two sets of prospective adoptive parents, all appellants being represented by the same attorney.

The child was born on August 5, 1960. The parents were not then married, but they did marry on October 11, 1960, in Las Vegas, Nevada. A private adoption was planned by parties named Rasmussen, acting through Mr. Robson, an attorney, and the Rasmussens took the baby into their home for one or two days. They were uneasy, however, about a conversation which Mrs. Rasmussen had with the father, who asked for money and for pictures of the child as he would grow up. They took the baby to the Probation Department of Contra Costa County. That department placed the child in a foster home and petitioned the court to declare the child a ward of the juvenile court. Petition was granted on September 12, 1960. Mr. Robson appeared in court, stating that another family, named Jasaitis, wished to adopt the child. An order was made for $75 a month support by the county. The child has been continuously in the foster home. He has not been supported in whole or in part by his parents at any time, nor has he been visited by them, nor has there been any contact by letters, Christmas or birthday cards, or in any other way.

A probation officer asked the father, at about the time of the wardship order in September 1960, for the whereabouts of t>« mother, but he refused to tell. He said that the mother [664]had wished to keep the child, but that he felt this was not in the child’s interest, because the mother was going to have to go to work, and that he did not intend to marry her. On October 28, 1960, the mother signed a consent to adoption by Mr. and Mrs. Jasaitis, but there was no consent by the father, and by that time the two had married.

The county probation department asked its counterpart in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to ask the natural parents for written relinquishment for adoption, and the first response from the office in Indiana indicated the parents were willing to sign, but a later letter stated that they had refused a general consent on advice of Mr. Eobson. The letter from Fort Wayne states that the parents did not wish to have the child with them.

The Jasaitis petition for adoption was filed on December 6, 1960. When it was first heard, the probation officer had not yet contacted the mother or Mr. and Mrs. Jasaitis, and the petition was denied. A petition was filed by Mr. and Mrs. Jasaitis on June 23, 1961, and this was followed by a motion for change of venue to Alameda County, the county of the Jasaitis residence. The motion was denied, and the petition was denied on the ground the juvenile court has continuing jurisdiction and the superior court, as such, has no jurisdiction over the custody of the minor. In March 1962, a hearing was held on a motion before Honorable Norman E. Gregg, judge sitting in session of the juvenile court, to have the child moved from the foster home to the Jasaitis home in Alameda County. Mr. and Mrs. Jasaitis were presently unable to proceed because of illness of a daughter. Although appellant infers from the judge’s remarks that he announced an intention to place the child with the Jasaitis family, when the daughter would recover, so that investigation of the suitableness of the home could be made, and if this were favorable, adoption follow, this is not quite so. The court mentioned favorably the disposition of the child in the manner just stated, but ended the hearing by observing that removing the child from the foster home where it had lived for many months was a matter for consideration. No ruling was made. The judge directed petitioners’ counsel to be sure his clients wished to adopt the child and to cooperate with the probation department to ascertain what kind of home petitioners had, and counsel agreed. A letter of Mr. and Mrs. Jasaitis, dated March 30, 1962, was filed with the court. In it petitioners state that the problem of their daughter’s illness is being