Does section 117 of the New York State Constitution require termination of an open adoption where the biological parent, having consented to the adoption, has agreed to retain parental rights and to raise the child together with the second parent?

One conclusion that can be drawn, however, is that section 117 does not invariably require termination in the situation where the biological parent, having consented to the adoption, has agreed to retain parental rights and to raise the child together with the second parent. Despite their varying factual circumstances, each of the adoptions described above--stepparent adoptions, adoptions by minor fathers and open adoptions--share such an agreement as a common denominator. Because the facts of the cases before us are directly analogous to these three situations, the half-century-old termination language of section 117 should not be read to preclude the adoptions here. Phrased slightly differently, "the desire for consistency in the law should not of itself sever the bonds between the child and the natural relatives" (People ex rel. Sibley v. Sheppard, 54 N.Y.2d 320, 326, 445 N.Y.S.2d 420, 429 N.E.2d 1049, supra ). ⁴

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