In Re: Adopt. of M.R.D. and T.M.D. Appeal of: M.C. ( 2016 )

[J-59-2016] [MO: Todd, J.]
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA
MIDDLE DISTRICT
IN RE: ADOPTION OF: M.R.D. AND : No. 26 MAP 2016
T.M.D., MINOR CHILDREN :
: Appeal from the Order of the Superior
: Court dated December 8, 2015 at No.
APPEAL OF: M.C., NATURAL FATHER : 1728 MDA 2013, affirming the Order of
: the Court of Common Pleas of
: Lycoming County, Orphans’ Court
: Division, dated August 19, 2013 at No.
: 6365
:
ARGUED: May 10, 2016
CONCURRING OPINION
JUSTICE TODD Decided: August 29, 2016
The Majority Opinion, which I authored, holds that Grandfather may not, as a
matter of law, adopt and co-parent his grandchildren with his daughter, as a prerequisite
to the termination of Father’s parental rights. Our decision is dictated by the
Pennsylvania Adoption Act and, in particular, by the statutory requirement that, in order
to terminate the other parent’s parental rights, a petitioning parent must demonstrate
that an adoption of his or her child is contemplated and relinquish his or her parental
rights, unless the petitioning parent has a spouse or partner willing to adopt. I write
separately, unconstrained by majority authorship, to express my views regarding the
current formulation of this requirement.1
1
As members of this Court have previously noted, special concurrences are “somewhat
unusual, but not without precedent.” Commonwealth v. King, 57 A.3d 607, 633 n.1 (Pa.
2012) (Saylor, J., specially concurring) (collecting cases).
It is clear that the relinquishment requirement for termination was designed to
promote two-parent families. However, in the nearly 35 years since this requirement
was enacted, the concept of family has evolved — and continues to evolve — in today’s
society, and there are situations where, in my view, it is unfair to require a single parent
to have a spouse or partner as a prerequisite to seeking the termination of the rights of
the child’s other legal, but absent, parent. Indeed, there are many families comprised of
only a parent and a child where the single parent is fully capable of raising and
providing for his or her child, and where the absent parent provides no benefit to — or
worse, is a dark cloud over — the child. While, of course, I am mindful of the
legislature’s policymaking role in this area, given that today’s families are not
necessarily the traditional nuclear families that were envisioned at the time our adoption
laws were initially drafted, I urge the legislature, with continued focus on the best
interests of our Commonwealth’s children, to revisit the adoption and relinquishment
requirements for termination of parental rights under the Act.
[J-59-2016] [MO: Todd, J.] - 2