## Facts

- Eugene Davidson Kennedy and Anne Elizabeth (Stowers) Kennedy, the natural parents of three minor children (born 1955, 1956, 1959), had severe neuromuscular disabilities; the children were physically normal.
- The Juvenile Court of Dallas County awarded custody of each child to the State Department of Pensions and Security.
- The parents appealed to the Circuit Court of Dallas County; the three custody matters were consolidated.
- The parties submitted the consolidated case on written affidavits and Bryce Hospital records concerning Mrs. Kennedy, without live testimony.
- The Circuit Court entered three decrees awarding custody to the Department and expressly permitting the Department to place the children for adoption.
- The record portrayed a home affected by both parents’ limited ability to perform routine child-care and housekeeping tasks, recurrent financial hardship, and significant emotional strain.
- Hospital records reflected Mrs. Kennedy’s emotional instability and hospitalization, contributing to concerns about consistent parenting capacity.
- The parents’ devotion and effort were not disputed, but the evidence depicted an inability to maintain a stable and adequate home for the children over time.

## Issues

1. Whether the children’s welfare and best interests required awarding custody to the State Department of Pensions and Security, with authority to place the children for adoption, rather than leaving custody with the natural parents.
2. Whether, because the case was submitted solely on affidavits and records, the appellate court should review without a presumption of correctness in favor of the trial court’s findings.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Alabama affirmed the circuit court decrees.
- The Court held that, on the documentary record, the children’s welfare justified state custody.
- The Court approved the decrees authorizing the Department to place the children for adoption.
- Because the evidence was entirely written, the Court reviewed the record without presumption in favor of the trial court’s findings.

## Legal Principles

- In custody determinations, the controlling consideration is the welfare and best interests of the child, which may override the preference for parental custody when parents cannot provide a suitable home.
- When a case is tried on written submissions rather than live testimony, appellate review proceeds without deference to the trial court’s factual determinations.
- A state agency may be awarded custody, including authority to pursue adoptive placement, where the evidence shows a sustained inability of parents—considered in combination of relevant circumstances—to provide an adequate and stable home environment.

## Conclusion

The court upheld transferring custody of three children from their disabled parents to the state child-welfare agency, concluding that the combined evidence of physical incapacity, emotional instability, and financial distress made a stable home unattainable and that the children’s best interests warranted custody with authority for adoption placement.


Kennedy v. State Dep’t of Pensions & Sec., 277 Ala. 5, 166 So. 2d 736 (Ala. 1964)