Adoption of Malik (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-129-13)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us 13‑P‑384 Appeals Court ADOPTION OF MALIK.[1] No. 13‑P‑384. Worcester. September 12, 2013. ‑ October 22, 2013. Present: Green, Grainger, & Fecteau, JJ. Adoption, Standing, Dispensing with parent’s consent. Parent and Child, Dispensing with parent’s consent to adoption, Adoption. Petition filed in the Worcester County Division of the Juvenile Court Department on April 16, 2010. The case was heard by George F. Leary, J. Joshua D. Woda for the mother. Bryan F. Bertram, Assistant Attorney General, for Department of Children and Families. Jacqueline Y. Parker for the child. GREEN, J. After Malik suffered serious but unexplained injuries as an infant while in the care of his birth mother (mother), the Department of Children and Families (department) commenced a petition for his care and protection, under G. L c. 119, § 24. Eventually, both birth parents stipulated to their unfitness and to termination of their parental rights, and decrees entered to that effect.[2] Thereafter, the care and protection proceeding was consolidated with a petition by Malik’s maternal grandparents seeking guardianship, and an evidentiary hearing was conducted to determine whether Malik’s best interests would be served by guardianship by the maternal grandparents or, alternatively, by adoption by the foster family with whom the child had been placed during the pendency of the care and protection proceeding. After hearing, a judge of the Juvenile Court concluded that the adoption plan proposed by the department, in which the foster family would adopt the child, would serve the child’s best interests. The mother filed a notice of appeal, claiming that the judge’s order constituted an abuse of discretion.[3] We conclude that the appeal must be dismissed, as the mother is without standing to maintain it. Background. At the time of Malik’s birth, on February 19, 2010, the mother was eighteen years old and living with her parents. She had an active restraining order against Malik’s father, and was involved in a relationship with a new boyfriend (who also lived with her in her parents’ home). The mother’s behavior at the hospital prompted a mandated reporter to file a report under G. L. c. 119, § 51A, alleging neglect of the then two day old Malik.[4] After investigation, the department determined that Malik should remain with his mother, based […]