328                             LAWS OF MARYLAND                      [CH. 173

(1957 Edition), title "Chancery", sub-title "Adoption", be and it is
hereby repealed and re-enacted, with amendments, to read as follows:

74.

Every petition for adoption shall be accompanied by written state-
ments of consent, subscribed and sworn to before a person authorized
by law to administer an oath, as specified in this section, except that
the court may in its discretion permit any petition to be filed without
a necessary consent if such consent is added to the petition before the
time set for hearings. However, the court may grant a petition for
adoption without any of the consents hereinafter specified, if, after
a hearing the court finds that such consent or consents are withheld
contrary to the best interests of the child.

Consent to any proposed adoption shall be obtained from:

(a)  The person to be adopted, if he is ten years of age or over;
and also,

(b)   Both the natural parents, if married, if they are alive and have
not lost their parental rights through court action or voluntary re-
linquishment or abandonment; or

(c)  One natural parent, if the other is not alive or has lost his
parental rights as mentioned in (b) above; or

(d)  The mother of a child born out of wedlock, if she is alive and
has not lost her parental rights through court action or voluntary
relinquishment or abandonment, except that if the child has been
legitimated according to the laws of any jurisdiction, the consent
of the father shall then also be required, if he is alive and has not
subsequently lost his parental rights through court action or volun-
tary relinquishment or abandonment; or

(e)  The mother of a child born in wedlock, if she is alive and has
not lost her parental rights through court action or voluntary re-
linquishment or abandonment, and if the illegitimacy of the child has
been established to the satisfaction of the court, and notice, as is
provided by Section 75 of this sub-title, has been given to the husband
of the mother of the child; or

(f)  The legal guardian of the person to be adopted, if parental
rights with right to consent to adoption as provided in Section 72
above, have been transferred by court action to such guardian; or

(g)  The executive head of any public or private child care or child
placement institution or agency which through court action under
Section 72 above, or voluntary relinquishment has been given the
care, custody and control of the person to be adopted, including the
right to consent to such an adoption; or

(h) The State Department of Public Welfare or its local unit
within the jurisdiction of the court, in any condition of fact not
hereinbefore covered.

Any consent obtained under the provisions of this section may be
revoked and cancelled at any time before final decree, but not after a
guardianship decree under Section 72 above, if one be had, or not
after an interlocutory decree, if one be had.

[Minority of a natural parent shall not be a bar to such parent's
consent to adoption, and the adoption shall not thereby be invali-