Consent of \u27Unfit\u27 Parents Needed for Adoption—Unless Their Rights Are First Terminated

In Johnson v. Eidson, the Georgia Supreme Court held that moral unfitness of natural parents is not an exception to the statutory prerequisite that natural parents consent to their children\u27s adoption. The maternal grandparents of Lewis and Jimmy Lynn Johnson had petitioned the court to allow them to adopt their grandchildren without the consent of the natural parents. Their petition was based on (1) their temporary custody of the children, which was granted by a juvenile court after the children had been found in a condition of neglect; (2) abandonment by the natural parents; and (3) the unfit and improper activity of the natural parents. Over the objections of the natural parents, the trial court found the parents to be morally unfit, the grandparents to be morally fit and financially able, and the adoption to be in the best interest of the child. The petition was granted