Melvin Seay v. Gwinnett County Department of Family and Children Services

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ December 20, 2019

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A20D0203. MELVIN SEAY et al. v. GWINNETT COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY AND CHILDREN SERVICES.

Melvin and Tamika Seay filed a petition to adopt their grandchild. The Gwinnett County Department of Family and Children Services filed an objection to the adoption petition. After a hearing, the trial court granted the Department’s objection and denied and dismissed the Seays’ adoption petition. The Seays then filed this timely application for discretionary appeal. Order granting or denying an adoption may be appealed directly, so long as the appellant raises arguments on appeal challenging the adoption issue. See Price v. Grehofsky, 349 Ga. App. 214, 216-217 (825 SE2d 594) (2019) (order denying stepparent’s adoption petition and denying termination of biological parent’s rights was directly appealable); see also Sauls v. Atchison, 326 Ga. App. 301, 303-304 (1) (756 SE2d 577) (2014) ((order granting stepparent adoption and terminating biological parent’s rights was directly appealable). Under OCGA § 5-6-35 (j), this Court will grant an otherwise timely discretionary application if the trial court’s order is subject to direct appeal. Accordingly, the Seays’ application is hereby GRANTED. They shall have ten days from the date of this order to file a notice of appeal with the superior court. If, however, they have already filed a notice of appeal, they need not file a second notice.

The superior court is DIRECTED to include a copy of this order in the appellate record.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 12/20/2019 I certify that the above is a true extract from the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia. Witness my signature and the seal of said court hereto affixed the day and year last above written.

, Clerk.