[DOWNLOAD] "Ellen Duncan v. Rollin S. Davis" by Supreme Court of Idaho No. 10745 * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free

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Title: Ellen Duncan v. Rollin S. Davis
Author : Supreme Court of Idaho No. 10745
Release Date : January 28, 1971
Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
Pages : * pages
Size : 63 KB

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This is an appeal by two social service agencies from a district court judgment awarding control and custody of a child to
its natural mother. The mother had petitioned the district court for a writ of habeas corpus in order to secure the return
of her son whom she claimed had been unlawfully taken from her. The case does not involve the undoing of an adoption but rather
whether the natural mother made a surrender of the child. This case presented an issue of fact to the trial court and for
various reasons it found that the surrender, or signing of the required form, was not done with such stability of mind and
emotion as to constitute a voluntary relinquishment. However, there was no showing of fraud or trickery by the child placement
agency. See, The People ex rel. Olga Scarpetta on behalf of Baby Scarpetta v. Spence-Chapin Adoption Service, 28 N.Y.2d 185,
269 N.E. 787, 321 N.Y.S.2d 65 (1971) (4-7-71). The pertinent events involved in this appeal occurred in Arizona. In September, 1969, Ellen Duncan, a full blooded Navajo,
gave birth to a child out of wedlock. She became pregnant prior to her graduation from high school. The father is also an
Indian. After her graduation from high school, Ellen Duncan went to Phoenix, Arizona, to seek medical help and assistance
for the impending birth and in placing her baby for adoption. At the Phoenix Indian Hospital, a doctor referred her to a social
worker at the hospital. Ellen stayed at the hospital a week and was then referred to the Unified Social Services of Arizona,
Inc., (hereinafter referred to as the Arizona Agency), a qualified Arizona child placement agency. The Arizona Agency accepted
Ellen into its unwed mothers' program and placed her in a foster home to await the delivery of her child. Immediately subsequent
to the birth of her child, she signed a form which purported to relinquish her parental rights to the child although as the
record indicates she was not aware of the implications and ramifications that signing the form entailed.[Footnote 1] The record
indicates that while Ellen was still at the hospital discussing with the social worker an attempted revocation of the relinquishment
that she had just signed, a physician persuaded her not to change her mind but to give up the child for adoption. The baby
was born on September 17, 1969, and from this time on the Arizona and Idaho welfare agencies, which work in conjunction with
one another, have cared for the child and have since placed it with prospective adoptive parents. After Ellen left the hospital
she returned to her native Navajo environment. She contacted her attorney about two weeks after the birth of the child and
told him of her plight. Ellen Duncan petitioned the district court for a writ of habeas corpus for the purpose of compelling
the adoption agency to release the child to her since she did not fully realize the consequences of signing the form relinquishing
her right to the child. Ellen Duncan testified that the Navajo concept of adoption as she knew it meant a temporary rather
than permanent relinquishment of the child. The record furthermore indicates that although Ellen Duncan understood the English
language, it was not her native tongue and when faced with an emotional crisis, might very well state the contrary of what
she actually intended. Dr. Sheldon I. Miller, a psychiatrist, deposed: