Maryland Court Case: In re Adoption Nos.

IN RE: ADOPTION/GUARDIANSHIP NOS. T00130003 AND T00130004 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR BALTIMORE CITY 

No. 128, September Term, 2001 

COURT OF APPEALS OF MARYLAND 

370 Md. 250; 805 A.2d 254

August 22, 2002, Filed 

SUBSEQUENT HISTORY:
As Corrected September 4, 2002. 

PRIOR HISTORY:
Certiorari to the Court of Special Appeals (Circuit Court for Baltimore City - Division for Juvenile Causes. Case Nos. 184347 & 184348. Martin P. Welch, JUDGE. 

In re Adoption T00130003 & T00130004, 141 Md. App. 645, 786 A.2d 803, 

DISPOSITION:
Reversed and remanded. 

COUNSEL:
ARGUED BY C.J. Messerschmidt, Assistant Attorney General (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Attorney General, on brief) of Baltimore, MD FOR PETITIONER.

ARGUED BY Joan F. Little (Rachel A. Markowitz, Legal Aid Bureau, Inc., on brief) of Baltimore, MD FOR RESPONDENTS. 

JUDGES:
ARGUED BEFORE Bell, C.J.; Eldridge, Raker, Wilner, Cathell, Harrell, and Battaglia, JJ. Opinion by Wilner, J. 

OPINIONBY:
Wilner 

OPINION:

Opinion by Wilner, J.
This appeal is from a judgment entered by the Circuit Court for Baltimore City that granted to the Baltimore City Department of Social Services (DSS) guardianship, with the right to consent to the adoption or long-term care, of 11-year-old Latisha W. and five-year-old Dontae W. That order served to terminate the parental rights of the children's mother, Carol W., with respect to the children. The only person who objected to the petition for guardianship was Carol, who failed to appear at trial and who has not appealed the guardianship order. Latisha's father died prior to the filing of the petition; Dontae's father has never been identified.
Through their attorney, the children were formally notified of the petition for guardianship. They declined to file an objection within the time allowed by law, however, and, by virtue of Maryland Code, § 5-322(d) of the Family Law Article (FL), they were deemed to have consented to the guardianship. n1 Nonetheless, at trial nine months later, the children, through counsel, sought to oppose the guardianship. The trial court allowed counsel to participate by calling the children's foster parent as her witness, cross-examining the DSS case worker, placing certain exhibits into evidence, and making argument, but it did not permit her to oppose the guardianship in derogation of the children's deemed consent. 

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n1 FL § 5-322(d) provides that, if a person is properly notified of a petition for guardianship and fails to file a notice of objection within the time stated in the show cause order served upon the person, "(1) the court shall consider the person who is notified to have consented to the . . . guardianship; and (2) the petition shall be treated in the same manner as a petition to which consent has been given." 

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