Digital Commons Network^™

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Legal Issues Involving Children, Robert E. Shepherd Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

The past year generally has been another quiet one for children's legal issues in Virginia, although it was a busier than normal year in the United States Supreme Court with the grandparents' visitation case, the Texas high school football game prayer case, a significant Title I case involving the provision of instructional material to religiously operated schools, and the gay Boy Scout leader case. Not as much occurred at the state level, with little legislation of great significance to children and youth being enacted at the 2000 General Assembly session. However, a succession of cases interpreting and applying Baker v. …

Access Denied: Incarcerated Juveniles And Their Right Of Access To Courts, Amy E. Webbink

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

In the current flux of an increasingly punitive juvenile justice system, one of the system's great injustices receives little attention. Unconstitutional conditions of confinement for juveniles do not receive appropriate legal exposure. Challenges to these conditions are more difficult in light of the Supreme Court's recent restriction of a prisoner's right of access to the courts. This Note will analyze why a different standard of "meaningful access" is necessary to protect juveniles.

Domestic Violence, Substance Abuse And Child Welfare: The Legal System's Response, Jane C. Murphy, Margaret J. Potthast

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article begins by exploring and documenting the connections between domestic violence, substance abuse, and child abuse. Part II of the Article examines the legal system's response to child protection cases in which maternal abuse and, in some cases, substance abuse are present. This section begins by describing the shifting theories underlying child welfare in this country. It then contrasts these theories with child welfare practice by reporting the results of a study of eighty-five Child in Need of Assistance (CINA) cases in four jurisdictions in Maryland. Although the study examines a limited sample, the cases examined confirm the strong …

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Legal Issues Involving Children, Robert E. Shepherd Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

Compared with the intensive focus on juvenile justice issues in Virginia between 1994 and 1996, and the significant statutory changes generated by that focus, the past two years have been relatively serene, at least for juvenile law. Legislative activity about juvenile justice has been subdued, and few cases have interpreted the major legislative changes wrought during that three-year period, or their effects. The 1998 legislative session did result in the demise of the family court initially created five years earlier contingent on the provision of adequate funding for the court at some future session. The provision of funding for the …

We Know Better Than We Do: A Policy Framework For Child Welfare Reform, Donald N. Duquette, Sandra K. Danzinger, Joan M. Abbey, Kristin S. Seefeldt

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The need for comprehensive reform of child welfare policies and systems has long been evident. This Article reports observations from the WK Kellogg Foundation-sponsored Families for Kids Initiative that seeks to expand services and support to families and reduce the time children spend in temporary care. The authors first provide an overview of the need for reforms such as those proposed by this initiative, suggesting that many child welfare studies, critiques, and proposed reforms have had similar objectives. The authors highlight lessons learned from how these reform goals are being developed, implemented, and practiced in ongoing programs across the nation …

Desegregating The Adoptive Family: In Support Of The Adoption Antidiscrimination Act Of 1955, 30 J. Marshall L. Rev. 593 (1997), Rebecca Varan

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Peculiar Place Of Adolescents In The Hiv-Aids Epidemic: Unusual Progress & Usual Inadequacies In "Adolescent Jurisprudence", Roger J.R. Levesque

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Legal Issues Involving Children, Robert E. Shepherd Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

The past year has been exceptionally important for children and young people caught up in the legal system, both nationally and in Virginia. Beginning with the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Vernonia School District v. Acton in June of 1995, the ensuing year has seen major shifts in the administration of juvenile justice, and in Virginia's approach to abused and neglected children. The passage of major juvenile justice reform legislation and child abuse legislation in Virginia at the 1996 General Assembly session exemplifies these changes occurring in both the society's and the legal system's approaches …

Building Bridges: A Personal Reflection On Race, Crime, And The Juvenile Justice System, Fay Wilson Hobbs

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Legal Issues Involving Children, Robert E. Shepherd Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

The past year has been another significant year for children and the legal system with the completion of the Virginia Commission on Youth's Serious Juvenile Offender study and the enactment of comprehensive legislation intended to implement the recommendations of that study as the General Assembly continues to focus on juvenile delinquency and school behaviors. The Governor and General Assembly failed to agree on a funding scheme for the Family Court, created in 1993, which consequently postponed the date for the Family Court's implementation from January 1, 1995 until July 1, 1996. Also, the past year experienced a series of different …

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Legal Issues Involving Children, Robert E. Shepherd Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

In the past year, several significant developments affecting children and the legal system have occurred: first, the General Assembly's enactment of Family Court legislation introduced under the auspices of the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Judicial Council; second, the reaffirmation of the Comprehensive Services Act, a state-wide, community-based, inter-agency system of delivering services to children, youth and their families; third, the adoption of a number of bills which address the growing problem of violence by juveniles; and fourth, an increasing number of decisions concerning transfer of juveniles to the circuit courts to be tried as adults, which also reflects …

When The Bough Breaks: Federal And Washington State Indian Child Welfare Law And Its Application, Kim Laree Schnuelle

Seattle University Law Review

Although removal of any child from his or her family is traumatic, too frequently Indian child removal has been performed with little prior investigation and with an absence of cultural sensitivity. The resulting inequalities in Indian child foster placement and adoption rates led to a recognition of the need for Indian child welfare reform, both on a federal and state level. This Article provides an overview of Indian child welfare issues and addresses both the evolution and nature of Indian child welfare reform. Initially, this Article discusses the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, including the cultural history behind the Act, …

The Art Of Line Drawing: The Establishment Clause And Public Aid To Religiously Affiliated Child Care, Elizabeth Samuels

All Faculty Scholarship

The Article analyzes both the meaning and the constitutionality of Child Care Development Block Grant's church-and-state-related provisions in light of existing Supreme Court Establishment Clause jurisprudence. The CCDBG's church-and-state-related provisions represent a legislative effort to perform the type of Establishment Clause line drawing that the Supreme Court has traditionally undertaken and continues to undertake in cases involving aid to religious institutions. The congressional debate and the public controversy it engendered over line drawing between permissible and impermissible aid to religiously affiliated child care, and the resolution reached in the CCDBG, all achieve an important constitutional aim. They reflect and reinforce …

Minor Changes: Emancipating Children In Modem Times, Carol Sanger, Eleanor Willemsen

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article reports on the use of still another mechanism for removing children in conflict with their parents: statutory emancipation, the process by which minors attain legal adulthood before reaching the age of majority. Statutorily emancipated minors can sign binding contracts, own property, keep their earnings, and disobey their parents. Although under eighteen, they are "considered as being over the age of majority" in most of their dealings with parents and third parties. Thus, while emancipated minors can sign contracts and stay out late, their adult status also means that their parents are no longer responsible for the minors' support. …

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Legal Issues Involving Children, Robert E. Shepherd Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

Three events in the past year significantly impacted the way the legal system treats children. First, the family court experiment being conducted under the auspices of the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Judicial Council was concluded. Second, the General Assembly established a state-wide, community-based, inter-agency system to deliver services to children and youth. Third, the Virginia Supreme Court promulgated the first set of statewide rules governing proceedings in juvenile and domestic relations district courts. The year's other developments were not as systemic or far reaching as those above, although recommendations flowing from the Youth Services Commission's' legislatively-mandated study of …

Minor Changes: Emancipating Children In Modern Times, Carol Sanger, Eleanor Willemsen

Faculty Scholarship

Parents and their teenage children don't always get along. At some time during adolescent development, parents may turn into embarrassments and teenagers into domestic terrorists. For most families this is a phase. Adolescence is endured, the child accomplishes some degree of separation from parents, and the transition to adulthood advances.

In some families, however, the period is more like a siege than a phase. Conflict may last longer and be more strifeful, more intense. If the family is incapable or unwilling to resolve the tensions, an intractability may set in. In these cases, domestic tranquility seems attainable only when the …

A Limited Role For The Legal System In Responding To Maternal Substance Abuse During Preganacy, John E.B. Myers

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

The Boarder Baby And Foster Care Crises In New York City: Problems Of Policy And Poverty, James S. Bowen, Madeline Morris, Jose M. Rivera

Journal of Law and Health

In this article, we will examine the conditions which have created the boarder baby epidemic and the attendant problem of lack of availability of foster care. We will briefly examine the social, cultural, psychological and political parameters which have determined the dynamics of this problem. Finally, we will review some earlier attempts toward the resolution of the problem and provide an overview evaluating the bona fides of those approaches. Our analysis will also draw upon relevant events which have occurred in other American cities that help us to understand this problem.

Videotaping Children's Testimony: An Empirical View, Paula E. Hill, Samuel M. Hill

Michigan Law Review

Increases in the number of reported incidents of child abuse and sexual molestation have resulted in more and younger children becoming courtroom participants. Some courts refuse to consider the special needs of the child in this adversarial environment. Relying on questionable precedent, these courts hold that the defendant's right to directly confront the child, as well as strict compliance with evidentiary rules, overrides that child's interest in freedom from embarrassment or psychological trauma. This Note focuses on pressures felt by the testifying child and the ways in which these pressures affect her testimony; it then proposes using videotaped testimony as …

Representation Of Children In Child Abuse And Neglect Cases: An Empirical Look At What Constitutes Effective Representation, Donald N. Duquette, Sarah H. Ramsey

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article describes the purposes and design of our empirical study and analyzes the study's findings. Part I presents a case study of the representation of a child by a volunteer in a way that exhibits the role definition and training of the demonstration groups. Parts II and III discuss who should represent children and how those child advocates should be trained. Part IV discusses the design of the study. Part V presents an analysis of the study's findings. Finally, Part VI considers the policy implications of the study and concludes that the demonstration groups improved the quality of representation …

The Right To Treatment, Adrienne E. Volenik

Law Faculty Publications

This article seeks to. trace the development of the right to treatment in the juvenile justice system from its origins to the present. This exposition does not represent an in-depth analysis of the concept. Instead it seeks to acquaint the reader with how the right has been interpreted as being applicable to various phases of the juvenile system. This is accomplished through a summary of individual cases.

The author does not intend to posit her views on the future role the right to treatment will play in the juvenile justice system or the influence that it will have on decision …

Lay Advocacy And "Legal Services To Youth": Summaries On The Use Of Para-Legal Aides, Henry Mcgee

Faculty Articles

This article discusses the incredibly effective use of legal assistants in the project implemented to assist poor urban youth with legal issues—Legal Services to Youth sponsored by the University of Chicago Law School's Center for Studies in Criminal Justice, under a Ford Foundation grant, was directed to a specialized consumer group, boys under 17 and girls under 18, the jurisdictional age ceiling in the Cook County, Illinois Juvenile Court. Legal assistants were recruited in the area served, and an attempt was made to locate persons who were by background and experience likely to be sympathetic to youth "in trouble." The …