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Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Law

Bringing Up Baby: Adoption, Marriage, And The Best Interests Of The Child, Robin Fretwell Wilson, W. Bradford Wilcox Feb 2006

Bringing Up Baby: Adoption, Marriage, And The Best Interests Of The Child, Robin Fretwell Wilson, W. Bradford Wilcox

Faculty Scholarship

In the piece, Professor Brad Wilcox and I ask who should care for children when their biological parents cannot? This is a question of potentially explosive dimensions under new definitions of legal parentage proposed in this volume of the WILLIAM & MARY BILL OF RIGHTS JOURNAL. This question is also important today for evaluating state adoption laws. A significant number of states bar consideration of a prospective adopter’s marital or non-marital status. We believe these laws miss an important opportunity to maximize the best interests of each child being placed. In this piece, we take an exclusively child-centered approach, drawing …


Private Ordering Under The Ali Principles: As Natural As Status, Martha M. Ertman Jan 2006

Private Ordering Under The Ali Principles: As Natural As Status, Martha M. Ertman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


To Protect And Defend: Assigning Parental Rights When Parents Are Living In Poverty, Karen Czapanskiy Jan 2006

To Protect And Defend: Assigning Parental Rights When Parents Are Living In Poverty, Karen Czapanskiy

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Marriage, Biology, And Paternity: The Case For Revitalizing The Marital Presumption, Jana B. Singer Jan 2006

Marriage, Biology, And Paternity: The Case For Revitalizing The Marital Presumption, Jana B. Singer

Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the recent history and current status of the marital presumption of paternity. It explores the social, economic and legal developments that have contributed to the erosion of the presumption, focusing in particular on the efforts of federal and state governments to identify and collect financial support from unmarried biological fathers. The article then describes the procedural and equitable doctrines that some courts and legislatures have used to bolster the marital presumption in the face of conflicting biological evidence. Finding these approaches problematic, the article advocates a revitalized marital presumption as a substantive rule of law. It argues …