State ex rel. London v. Bell
State ex rel. London v. Bell
Opinion of the Court
Appeal from a juvenile court case where it was adjudged that the natural mother of an infant had not abandoned it.
This case, as usually eventuates where custody of a baby is involved, is a heart-breaker. Nonetheless, this court cannot let this overwhelm accepted natural laws and concepts.
Within a few weeks of the girl’s referral of her child to appellants, she reneged on any dispositive divestation of custody and motherhood. She expressed such renegation, at the latest, within 10 months of the birth. By virtue of legal maneuvers, her demand for return of her baby has been delayed for about two years, during which time affections on both sides have crystallized and solidified. Therein is the heartbreak.
However, an examination of the record fully substantiates the juvenile court’s conclusion that there was no abandonment of the child; and further, that the welfare of the baby would not better be served by anything other than its rearing by a natural parent, whose natural love and affections, in Lincolnese tradition, far outweigh any opportunity by strangers to furnish greater economic or perhaps religious advantages to a child. To decide otherwise would be to reject the traditional American humanities in favor of the totalitarian state.
By virtue of this decision, it is obvious that the tears of the litigants pretty much cancel themselves out, but in the plain interest of fair play, something should be done by the lower court to restore to appellants their out-of-pocket expense up to the time respondent made demand for return of her baby, but not as a condition to relinquishment of custody to respondent.
. We assume they were talking really about a “neglected” rather than an “abandoned” child, since the juvenile court has jurisdiction only over neglected, dependent or delinquent children. Title 55-10-5, Utah Code Annotated 1953. No one raised the point, hence we do not canvass the possibility of its urgence.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE of Utah in the Interest of Maralee LONDON, a minor, Robert Geary London and Sandra London v. Barbara BELL, Guardian ad litem for Jeanne Bell
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published