In Re Dl F____

176 N.W.2d 486
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedApril 16, 1970
Docket10683
StatusPublished

This text of 176 N.W.2d 486 (In Re Dl F____) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Dl F____, 176 N.W.2d 486 (S.D. 1970).

Opinion

176 N.W.2d 486 (1970)

In the Matter of D.L.F___., Alleged Dependent.

No. 10683.

Supreme Court of South Dakota.

April 16, 1970.
Rehearing Denied May 5, 1970.

*487 David O. Rude, Rapid City, for appellant.

James R. Becker of May, Boe & Johnson, Sioux Falls, for respondent Home, Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota.

BIEGELMEIER, Judge.

On June 5, 1968 appellant, an unmarried girl of 15 years who lived in Rapid City, entered respondent's Home for unwed mothers located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She reached age 16 on June 21st and on July 4th gave birth to a son, the central figure of this controversy. Appellant was released from the hospital, where the birth took place, on the afternoon of July 9th at which time her mother had arrived. On the next morning July 10th, pursuant to an appointment made by a Home employee and social worker, appellant and her mother, who had paid the hospital and the Home's bills, appeared with her before the judge of the county court where the social worker signed a Petition, the appellant a Waiver and Consent, and the court an Order Surrendering Child. They will be described more in detail later.

Appellant returned to her home and after some discussion and thought on July 22, 1968 made a trip back to the Home with the father of the baby, told the social worker they were to be married and that she wanted her baby given to her. The request was denied; she was advised to consult a lawyer which she did. On August 15th appellant and her mother as guardian ad litem executed and filed petitions asking leave to withdraw the waiver and consent and restore the custody of the baby to her. The county court denied relief and on appeal the circuit court affirmed. By Ch. 164, 1968 Session Laws the legislature made comprehensive changes and additions to the laws relating to dependent, neglected and delinquent children, now in SDCL 26-8.[1] Failure of the county court to comply with several provisions of that chapter is urged as grounds for reversal. Those deemed important will be examined.

The "Petition"[2] in this proceeding was a printed form, signed and sworn to by a social worker employee of the Home; it alleged the baby, D.L.F____. by name, was a dependent child "as defined by SDC 43.0301"; prayed it be and remain a ward of the court and its legal custody be awarded to the Home and its Director or successor in office, and that upon the hearing the *488 Home be authorized to consent to legal adoption of the child. On the second sheet of this form was a printed waiver and consent signed by appellant requesting the child be declared dependent, the petition heard forthwith, consented the Home be authorized to assent to a legal adoption and to the entry of the adoption decree; it was subscribed to by appellant and "approved" by her mother. They were dated July 10, 1968. This Petition, with the waiver and consent attached, was the only written record filed in, or of record before, the county court at that time. The court entered an order in effect granting the Petition[3] as requested. The order was on a mimeographed form with blanks filled in with appropriate dates and the child's name. The Petition listed the father as "unknown". The father's name and address had been given to the social worker prior to the time she signed the Petition. He visited appellant at the hospital, accompanied her on the July 22, 1968 trip to the Home to reclaim the child, married appellant September 3, 1968, and testified at the hearing. The social worker said his name was listed as unknown because he had not come in to sign any papers saying he was the father, had not made payment of the bill, and there was nothing written as evidence.

SDC 43.0301(1), as added by Ch. 164, § 1, S.L.1968, now SDCL 26-8-1(1), under Definitions provides:

"(1) `Adjudicatory hearing' means a hearing or trial to determine whether the allegations of a petition alleging that a child is dependent * * * are supported by preponderance of the evidence."

As the Petition made this claim it required such a hearing. SDC 43.0327 as amended by Ch. 164, § 16, S.L.1968, now SDCL 26-8-32.4, provides:

"A verbatim record shall be taken of all adjudicatory hearings."

A verbatim record means the taking of the record word for word; all dictionaries so define it. While this clause of the statute is plain and mandatory on the court, it follows the plan of the 1968 revision. For example, SDC 43.0327 titled Procedure formerly provided: "All hearings under the provisions of this chapter shall be informal in their nature * * *." This was changed by creating two kinds of hearings:—the "Adjudicatory hearing" above and a "Dispositional hearing"[4] and by amending SDC 43.0327[5] to read "All adjudicatory hearings * * * shall be conducted in accordance with the applicable law and rules of civil procedure, and all other hearings" by a different procedure (emphasis supplied).

It is clear the legislature was abandoning informal hearings and installing a formal court hearing[6] in accord with law; that means in accord with other statutes including the requirement of a verbatim record. As it is undisputed no word for word record was taken of this hearing, the court should not have nor was it authorized to enter the Order Surrendering Child. The legislature determined the necessity and requirement of a formal hearing and verbatim record, and this appeal shows the wisdom of both. Ch. 164, § 7, *489 S.L.1968, in amending SDC 43.0309 also added a clause:

"At his first appearance before the court, the child, his parents, guardian, or other custodian shall be fully informed of their constitutional rights and legal rights, including the right to be represented by counsel at every stage of the proceedings."[7]

Failure to make the verbatim record of necessity resulted in taking the evidence from a Home social worker of what occurred at the meeting with the county judge, yet it must be said it was general and indefinite and such as not to impress the formality of a court trial on appellant. The social worker testified appellant and her mother came to the Home on July 10th, the next morning after appellant was discharged from the hospital, where "We read through the petition, waiver and consent. I read it outloud * * * So we came down to the courthouse, County Court, and we had the usual court proceedings with (the county judge)". Appellant and her mother did not remember being informed of their rights. The social worker did not recall the judge had advised appellant of her right to an attorney which information, as also the other rights set out in the clause above, is a duty cast on the judge by the amendment and not on an adversely interested person as petitioner. The legislative concern that persons appearing before the court in this class of proceedings be advised of their right to counsel is not only evidenced by being specifically set out in the quoted statute, it also required that to be set forth in the summons where termination of parental rights is a possible remedy.[8]

Another clause was added to SDC 43.0309 by Ch.

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Related

Lutheran Welfare Soc. v. Romero
46 N.W.2d 108 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1951)
In Re Magee
52 N.W.2d 99 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1952)
Ex parte Summers
181 N.W. 831 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1921)
Tompkins v. Lutheran Welfare Society
52 N.W.2d 99 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1952)
In re D. L. F.
176 N.W.2d 486 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1970)

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Bluebook (online)
176 N.W.2d 486, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-dl-f____-sd-1970.