In a relative-adoption proceeding, the superior court terminated the biological mother’s parental rights and granted the maternal grandmother’s petition to adopt the child. The mother argued that the petition was legally insufficient, that she was denied appointed counsel, and that the court failed to make the findings required by Georgia’s adoption statute. The Georgia Court of Appeals held that the petition did not satisfy the statutory requirements and that the adoption decree therefore could not stand. It rejected the mother’s due-process challenge to the denial of appointed counsel, but addressed additional procedural errors likely to recur on remand. The superior court had adopted a juvenile court’s conclusory statement that the adoption was in the child’s best interests even though the juvenile court had not independently analyzed that issue and the parties did not agree. The court vacated the decree and remanded for a legally sufficient petition, an independent best-interests determination, and particularized findings supporting any renewed adoption judgment.