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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Family Law Canon In A (Post?) Racial Era, Shani M. King
The Family Law Canon In A (Post?) Racial Era, Shani M. King
Shani M. King
While the debate about a post-racial society rages, our justice system continues to operate in a way that is race-conscious. It seems as though most of the discussion about race and the justice system concerns criminal justice, juvenile justice, education, and immigration. But race consciousness also impacts family law. Nonetheless, the family law canon does not scrutinize race-based disparities in laws, procedures, and outcomes, and that omission feeds a mistaken notion of a race-blind or a post-racial society. One consequence of this omission is that it obscures race-based decision making by legislatures, judges, legal reform organizations, legal scholars, lawyers, and …
Owning Laura Silsby’S Shame: How The Haitian Child Trafficking Scheme Embodies The Western Disregard For The Integrity Of Poor Families, Shani M. King
Owning Laura Silsby’S Shame: How The Haitian Child Trafficking Scheme Embodies The Western Disregard For The Integrity Of Poor Families, Shani M. King
Shani M. King
Using the Laura Silsby Haitian adoption case as a window into child placement schemes that affect poor families, this Article proceeds in four parts. Part I tells the story of the Silsby case and shows how the idea of rescuing poor Haitian children became the narrative that ultimately excused Silsby’s decision to move Haitian children who were not orphans across the border to the Dominican Republic. Part II describes the development of intercountry adoption (ICA) as a means of “saving” poor children and explains how the strength of this rescue narrative feeds illicit child trafficking schemes. Part II also explores …
U.S. Immigration Law And The Traditional Nuclear Conception Of Family: Toward A Functional Definition Of Family That Protects Children's Fundamental Human Rights, Shani M. King
Shani M. King
Although the paramount purpose of United States immigration law is not to protect the integrity of family, U.S.immigration law does explicitly aim to do so in certain circumstances. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) includes family reunification provisions, for example, which allow United States citizens and lawful permanent residents to petition for family members who live in other countries to join them in the United States. Even the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), often described as a draconian statute, technically allows otherwise removable "aliens" to remain in the United States if removal would result in …