Maryland Court Case: In re Adoption/Guradianship

IN RE ADOPTION/GUARDIANSHIP NO. T97036005; IN RE ADOPTION/GUARDIANSHIP NOS. T98097012, T98265014, T98198001 

Nos. 30 & 32, September Term, 1999 

COURT OF APPEALS OF MARYLAND 

358 Md. 1; 746 A.2d 379

February 15, 2000, Filed 

DISPOSITION:
JUDGMENT OF THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR BALTIMORE CITY IN CASE NO. 32 REVERSED AND CASE REMANDED TO THAT COURT FOR FURTHER PROCEEDINGS CONSISTENT WITH THIS OPINION. JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS IN CASE NO. 30 REVERSED AND CASE REMANDED TO THAT COURT WITH DIRECTIONS TO VACATE THE JUDGMENT OF THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR BALTIMORE CITY AND REMAND THE CASE TO THAT COURT FOR FURTHER PROCEEDINGS CONSISTENT WITH THIS OPINION. COSTS TO BE PAID BY RESPONDENT. 

JUDGES:
Bell, C.J., Eldridge, Rodowsky, Raker, Wilner, Cathell, Bloom, Theodore G. (retired, specially assigned), JJ. Opinion by Raker, J. 

OPINIONBY:
Raker 

OPINION:

Opinion by Raker, J.
The children in these four consolidated cases, all foster children in the care of the Baltimore City Department of Social Services (BCDSS), had previously been adjudicated Children In Need of Assistance (CINA) pursuant to Maryland Code (1973, 1998 Repl. Vol., 1999 Supp.) § 3-812 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article. In each case, BCDSS filed in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City a petition for guardianship with the right to consent to adoption or long-term care short of adoption. n1 Each child was denied a hearing on the merits of the petition. In each case, after denying the child's request for a hearing on the merits, the trial court granted the petition over the child's objection, thereby terminating the parents' parental rights.

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n1 The grant of this petition terminates the parental rights of the parents. See Maryland Code (1984, 1999 Repl. Vol., 1999 Supp.) § 5-317 (f) of the Family Law Article ("A decree of guardianship . . . terminates the natural parents' rights, duties, and obligations toward the child."). In this opinion, we shall use guardianship and termination of parental rights interchangeably.

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The primary issue we must decide in each case is whether the trial court violated the constitutional and/or statutory rights of the children by granting the petition of BCDSS to terminate parental rights when both parents either affirmatively consented or were statutorily deemed to have consented, without first providing the children with a meaningful opportunity to be heard on the merits of the petition. We shall hold these children had this right, and accordingly, we shall reverse.
I. Background

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