Page:Canerday-Banks v. State, 2018 Ark. App. 523.pdf/16

 guidance, and we apply the clearly-erroneous standard to questions of whether consent was unreasonably withheld.

On appeal, the Bankses first argue that the circuit court erred in dismissing their petition for adoption for failure to properly obtain or excuse DHS’s statutorily required consent. It is undisputed that DHS executed a written consent in favor of the Bankses on the day before the adoption hearing. The circuit court's September 18, 2017 order dismissing the Bankses' adoption petition found that the consent failed to comply with the requirements of Arkansas Code Annotated section 9-9-209 in that the necessary waiting period for withdrawal of consent had not expired. A review of the relevant statutory provisions is necessary on this point. In Tom, we explained:

Arkansas Code Annotated section 9-9-206(a)(3) states that "a petition to adopt a minor may be granted only if written consent to a particular adoption has been executed by any person lawfully entitled to custody of the minor or empowered to consent." One exception to this requirement is that the consent of a legal guardian is not necessary if the guardian "has failed to respond in writing to a request for consent for a period of sixty (60) days or who, after examination of his or her written reasons for withholding consent, is found by the court to be withholding his or her consent unreasonably." Ark. Code Ann. § 9-9-207(a)(8).

101 Ark. App. at 393, 278 S.W.3d at 113 (internal citations omitted). Arkansas Code Annotated section 9-9-212(a)(1) states that "[b]efore any hearing on a petition, the period in which the relinquishment may be withdrawn under [section] 9-9-220 or in which consent may be withdrawn under [section] 9-9-209, whichever is applicable, must have expired," and subsection (2) states that "[n]o orders of adoption, interlocutory or final, may be entered prior to the period for withdrawal."