Callahan v. Sacramento County Department of Social Welfare

BRAY, J.* Appeal from judgment dismissing the petition of Clifford and Dorothy Callahan for the adoption of James Runyon, also known as Tony Callahan, a minor.

Question Presented

Is section 224n of the Civil Code depriving the superior court of jurisdiction to entertain a petition for adoption by foster parents constitutional ?

Record

James Runyon, also known as Tony Callahan, a minor, was born on August 17, 1959, and validly relinquished immediately thereafter to the Sacramento County Social Welfare Department. He was placed in the home of the Callahans as a foster child for observation and care and not for adoption on August 20. Three weeks later a representative of the welfare department informed the Callahans that the minor had an enlarged heart with a hole in it. They were given the option to return him or to continue earing for him. They chose to retain him and saw him through heart surgery. The welfare department had informed petitioners prior to the surgery that the child was not adoptable.

In 1967 the welfare department removed Tony from the Callahans’ home and placed him in the home of prospective adoptive parents. Shortly thereafter, the Callahans filed a petition for his adoption in the Sacramento County Superior Court. A motion filed by the welfare department to dismiss their petition was granted by the court, concluding that see[920]tion 224n of the Civil Code barred the Callahans from adopting Tony. Judgment was entered accordingly. Petitioners appeal.

In the meantime, the Department of Social Welfare of the County of Sacramento approved a petition for adoption of Tony by prospective adoptive parents in San Joaquin County. On August 2, 1968, the superior court of that county granted the petition. No appeal has been taken from that decree of adoption.

Section 224n provides in pertinent part: “No petition may be filed to adopt a child relinquished to a licensed adoption agency except by the prospective adoptive parents with whom the child has been placed for adoption by the adoption agency.” This inhibition is clear. “ [T]he procedure for adoption, unknown at common law, is entirely statutory.” (Adoption of McDonald (1954) 43 Cal.2d 447, 452 [274 P.2d 860].) The section shows that it is the intention of the Legislature that where a parent or parents place a child with an adoption agency only the prospective parents selected by the agency may adopt that child. Section 224n does not apply to independent adoptions; that is, where the child is placed for adoption by a parent or parents independently of a licensed adoption agency. While this section prevents a court from decreeing adoption of an adoption agency child other than as specified, it, of course, does not deprive the court of denying adoption by the chosen adoptive parents if the court finds them to be unfit.