Page:Schenck v. Knight.pdf/2

Rh for habeas corpus in connection with the custody of the infant child, Patrick Daniel Schenck.

The rather sordid background is somewhat immaterial to the question before us on appeal and much of the evidence is indicative of strong feelings so easily generated in child custody cases of this kind. The appellants' brief begins with the statement: "This is the case of the stolen child, Patrick Daniel Schenck, who was spirited away to a foster home by the Welfare Department, under an illegal order of the Pulaski Juvenile Court." From our examination of the entire record, we do not find this case as simple as the appellants' above statement would indicate.

From the recorded background for this litigation, it appears that Mary Ann Brown is a resident of Faulkner County and is the adopted daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Julian Nabholz who are also residents of Faulkner County. Mrs. Brown is 34 years of age and was first married to Tyrone Presley and they were divorced after two years of marriage. She then married Lawrence Schenck in August, 1957, and four children were born of the union. Upon her divorce from Schenck in 1965, she married Joe Brown from whom she is now separated.

Donna Marie is the oldest of Mrs. Brown's four children and even prior to her separation from Brown, she and her children were dependent upon her elderly mother and father and on state welfare assistance for the bare necessities of life. From Mrs. Brown's own testimony and other evidence in the record, it appears that her youngest child is afflicted with cerebral palsy, and her son, one year younger than Donna Marie, is afflicted with epilepsy.

It appears from the record that by the middle of 1970 Donna Marie was physically developing into young womanhood at an exceptionally early age and was having considerable difficulty with her reading in school. According to Mrs. Brown, Donna Marie had become "boy crazy" and Mrs. Brown became apprehensive about Donna Marie's future welfare in her then surroundings and she sought aid and assistance from the Child Welfare