Anthony Shane Ray and Nancy Peterson signed a Georgia acknowledgment stating that Ray was the biological father of their child and that their relationship was legitimate for all purposes. After Peterson married Johnny Hann, Hann petitioned to adopt the child, while Ray petitioned to legitimate the child and opposed the adoption. The Georgia Court of Appeals held that the signed acknowledgment satisfied the statute then in effect and that later statutory requirements could not be applied retroactively to defeat Ray’s legal-father status. The court therefore reversed the denial of Ray’s legitimation petition. It did not reach the merits of terminating Ray’s parental rights or granting the stepparent adoption. Those orders lacked the specific factual findings and legal conclusions required by Georgia’s adoption statutes, including findings concerning abandonment, justifiable cause, statutory unfitness, and the child’s best interests. The court vacated the termination and adoption orders and remanded for a new decree containing the required findings. The consolidated appeals thus produced a reversal on legitimation and a separate vacatur and remand on adoption and parental-rights termination.