Facts
- A child was born out of wedlock in 1964 and always lived with the mother.
- The mother later married the child’s stepfather, and the child lived in a stable household with them.
- The stepfather petitioned in Georgia to adopt the child with the mother’s consent.
- The biological father had never legitimated the child under Georgia law and had not had custody.
- The biological father opposed the adoption and filed a petition to legitimate, seeking legal recognition and visitation but not custody.
- The trial court applied a “best interests of the child” standard, granted the adoption, denied legitimation, and rejected due process and equal protection challenges.
- The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed.
Issues
- Whether due process requires a finding of parental unfitness (rather than a best-interests determination) before an unwed biological father’s objection to a step-parent adoption may be overridden when he has never legitimated or had custody.
- Whether Georgia’s consent scheme for adoptions, which treated unwed fathers differently unless they had legitimated the child, violated equal protection as applied to this father.
Decision
- The Supreme Court unanimously affirmed.
- Due process was not violated by using a best-interests standard in these circumstances.
- Equal protection was not violated by allowing the adoption to proceed without the unwed father’s consent where he had not legitimated the child and had not assumed significant parental responsibility.
Legal Principles
- A State may apply a best-interests-of-the-child standard in a step-parent adoption to an unwed biological father who has not legitimated the child or sought custody and has not formed a custodial family unit with the child.
- Due process protection against breaking up a functioning biological family without a showing of unfitness does not control where the proceeding gives legal recognition to an existing household in which the child has been living.
- Equal protection permits treating an unwed father who has not shouldered significant responsibility for rearing the child differently from a parent whose status and responsibilities arise from marriage and custody history.
- A State may condition an unwed father’s power to block an adoption on timely use of available legal mechanisms (such as legitimation) that reflect commitment to parental responsibilities.
Conclusion
The Court upheld a stepfather adoption over the objection of an unwed biological father who had not legitimated the child or assumed custody, holding that Georgia could rely on the child’s best interests and could distinguish between biological parenthood and demonstrated parental responsibility without violating due process or equal protection.