(a)Consent to the petitioner’s adoption or relinquishment for adoption to the State Department of Human Resources or a licensed child-placing agency shall be required by all of the following:
(1)The adoptee, if 14 years of age or older, except when the court finds that the adoptee does not have the mental capacity to give consent.
(2)The adoptee’s legal mother or mothers.
(3)The adoptee’s legal father or fathers.
(4)If the adoptee has no legal father, the putative father if made known by the mother or is otherwise made known to the court, provided he complies with Section 26-10C-1 and responds within 30 days to the notice received under Section 26-10E-17(a).
(5)Any legal custodian or legal guardian of the adoptee if both parents are dead or presumed dead, if the rights of the parents
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(a) Consent to the petitioner’s adoption or relinquishment for adoption to the State Department of Human Resources or a licensed child-placing agency shall be required by all of the following:
(1) The adoptee, if 14 years of age or older, except when the court finds that the adoptee does not have the mental capacity to give consent.
(2) The adoptee’s legal mother or mothers.
(3) The adoptee’s legal father or fathers.
(4) If the adoptee has no legal father, the putative father if made known by the mother or is otherwise made known to the court, provided he complies with Section 26-10C-1 and responds within 30 days to the notice received under Section 26-10E-17(a).
(5) Any legal custodian or legal guardian of the adoptee if both parents are dead or presumed dead, if the rights of the parents have been terminated by judicial proceedings, or if the consent of both parents is otherwise not required pursuant to Section 26-10E-10, and if any legal custodian or legal guardian has authority by order of the court to consent to the adoption except that the court may grant the adoption without the consent of that legal custodian or legal guardian if the court determines that such consent was unreasonably withheld.
(6) The State Department of Human Resources or the county department of human resources, if the minor has been relinquished to the State Department of Human Resources or county department of human resources for the purposes of adoption or it otherwise holds temporary or permanent custody of the minor, except that the court may grant the adoption without the consent of the State Department of Human Resources or the county department of human resources if the adoption is in the best interest of the adoptee and the court finds that the State Department of Human Resources or the county department of human resources has unreasonably withheld consent.
(7) The licensed child-placing agency to which the child has been relinquished for adoption, except that the court may grant the adoption without the consent of the agency if the adoption is in the best interest of the adoptee and there is a finding by the court the agency has unreasonably withheld its consent.
(b) The Director of the State Department of Human Resources, the director of the county department of human resources, or the designee of either director, and the executive head of a licensed child-placing agency may appoint an employee of the department or agency to give or to deny consent for adoption of the adoptee.
(c) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a court with jurisdiction over a case under this chapter shall have the power to determine the biological or legal parentage of a minor to ascertain whose consent shall be required or to adjudicate any other claim or issue in the case.