Lippy v. Breidenstein

• Decision Date: 03 April 1968
• Docket Number: No. 145,145
• Citation: 249 Md. 415,240 A.2d 251
• Parties: Irvin R. LIPPY v. August BREIDENSTEIN et ux.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 415

249 Md. 415

240 A.2d 251

Irvin R. LIPPY v.August BREIDENSTEIN et ux.

No. 145.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

April 3, 1968.

Norman F. Summers, Baltimore, for appellant.

A. Raymond Bevans, Jr., Baltimore, for appellees.

Before HAMMOND, C. J., and HORNEY, BARNES, FINAN and SINGLEY, JJ.

HORNEY, Judge.

When the Circuit Court for Baltimore Count (Jenifer and Haile, JJ.) decreed the seventh child of a natural father to be the legally adopted child of the foster parents, the natural father appealed to this Court.The natural father is Irvin R. Lippy.The foster parents are August Breidenstein and Virginia Breidenstein, his wife.And the adoptive child is Steven Lewis Lippy.

Within a sixteen-year period the natural father was married three times and begat nine children.All but two of them were born out of wedlock.Subsequently, the natural father consented to the adoption of the two children born in wedlock.The first marriage ended in a divorce four and a half years after it began and the only child of that union was adopted by his stepfather after the remarriage of his mother.The second marriage did not take place until ten years after the first had been dissolved, but in the meantime six children (the sixth being Steven who was born on June 22, 1961) were born to the natural father and his paramour as a result of an illicit relationship that began while he was still married to his first wife.The second marriage, however, had the effect of legitimizing these children.Another child, born after the second marriage, was later adopted (with the consent of the mother as well as the father) under the auspices of the county welfare board.The second marriage was terminated by the granting of a divorce on the ground of adultery.The corespondent, whose relationship with Irvin Lippy began in 1960, became his third wife in May of 1964.Joan Lippy admitted and she gave birth to a son prior to her marriage to Irvin, of which he admittedly is the father.

On a petition charging the natural father with neglect, the county juvenile court, by its order of March 29, 1961, committed the children of the second marriage, other than Steven, to the county welfare agency for foster care placement and denied visitation rights to the father.On August 25 of the same year, the two-months old Steven, who was ill, was also found to be neglected and was committed to the welfare agency, which placed the child with the Breidensteins.After his hospitalization for surgery, from which he fully recovered, the child remained with the foster parents until he was returned, along with his five brothers and sisters, following the belated marriage of the natural parents.But a few months later all of the children were replaced in foster care.Steven was returned to the Breidensteins and is still there.He is now over six years old.

Since his marriage to the present wife, the natural father, due to the steadiness and firmness of his wife, appears to have acquired some stability.¹He is employed as a freight conductor by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and earns approximately $12,000 a year.His wife is employed as a legal secretary and earns $100 a week.They own two properties-one their residence and the other an apartment house-subject to combined monthly mortgage payments of $195.

No contention has been made, as indeed none could be according to the record, that the Breidenstein home is not adequate in every respect.On the contrary it appears that the Breidensteins, who were unable to have children of their own, became as attached to Steven as they would a child of their own and provided for him accordingly.In addition to August and Virginia Breidenstein and Steven, the family consists of an adopted child and another foster child.

The natural father visited Steven at the home of the Breidensteins until Christmas of 1964 when a difficulty arose between the natural and foster parents.As a result, the present wife of the natural father, who had accompanied him on two visits, was denied further visitation privileges by virtue of a call from the foster mother to the welfare agency.During 1963 and 1964, the natural father, beside visiting Steven from time to time, sent him cards at Easter, at Christmas, and on his birthday.But he did not visit the child after 1964, allegedly because he was so advised by the welfare agency.Nor did he send him any cards or presents during 1965 and 1966.

At the time the Breidenstein home was approved as a foster care home in 1960, they signed an agreement in which they stipulated, among other things, that they would 'take no action for adoption of any child placed with (them) by the agency' without its consent in writing.The Breidensteins violated the agreement when they filed the petition in this case.When, however, the child was returned to them in September of 1962, the natural mother had told the foster parents that she would consent to adoption.And at the adoption hearing, the foster mother testified that she would not have taken the child back had she not received that assurance.

In making its decision, the lower court had before it is a report from the county welfare board to the effect that the Lippys appeared to have achieved some stability; that they seemed to be sincere in their desire to have Steven with them; that the child knew the Breidensteins as his parents and not the Lippys; that removal from the foster parents would likely distress the child and that the board rather than make a recommendation would leave the decision to the court.In addition to the testimony of the parties, a circuit court probation officer (John B. Farrell) testified that in his opinion the best interests of the child would be...