Family Law Commons^™

(Still) Not Fit To Be Named: Moving Beyond Race To Explain Why 'Separate' Nomenclature For Gay And Straight Relationships Will Never Be 'Equal', Courtney Megan Cahill

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Virtual Parentalism, Joshua A.T. Fairfield

Washington and Lee Law Review

Parents, not Laws, ultimately protect children both online and offline. If legislation places adults at legal risk because of the presence of children in virtual worlds, adults will exit those worlds, and children will be isolated into separate spaces. This will not improve safety for children. Instead, this Article suggests that Congress enact measures that encourage filtering technology and parental tools that will both protect children in virtual worlds, and protectfree speech online.

Parent Education Programs: Review Of The Literature And Annotated Bibliography, Barbara A. Babb, Gloria Danziger, Judith D. Moran, Itta Englander

All Faculty Scholarship

Court-connected parent education programs are an integral family service component in most of the nation’s family courts. These programs are implemented to enable the courts to respond efficiently and effectively to the proliferation of cases involving separation, divorce, and related issues such as child custody and access (Sigal, Sandler, Wolchik, and Braver, 2008; Pollet and Lombreglia, 2008; McIntosh and Deacon-Wood, 2003). Since 2007, parent education classes are mandatory in forty-six states (Pollet and Lombreglia, 2008). In Maryland, every court with jurisdiction over divorce and child custody matters utilizes some form of parent education.

The findings discussed in this literature review …

Public Policy Platform On Flexible Work Arrangements

Published Reports

On May 13, 2009, Workplace Flexibility 2010 released a comprehensive set of policy solutions to expand Americans’ access to flexible work arrangements such as compressed workweeks, predictable schedules, and telecommuting.

Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs) alter the time and/or place that work is conducted on a regular basis - in a manner that is as manageable and predictable as possible for both employees and employers. FWAs provide:

• Flexibility in the scheduling of hours worked, such as alternative work schedules (e.g., non-traditional start and end times, flex time, or compressed workweeks) and arrangements regarding overtime, predictable scheduling, and shift and break schedules; …

Eight Is Enough, Naomi R. Cahn, Jennifer R. Collins

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

Administering Marriage: Marriage-Based Entitlements, Bureaucracy, And The Legal Construction Of The Family, Kristin A. Collins

Vanderbilt Law Review

In 1985, Gertrude Thomas sought Social Security survivors' benefits as Joseph Thomas's widow. Gertrude had been married to Joseph-or thought herself to have been-for forty-seven years. She bore and raised ten children over the course of their marriage. Gertrude knew Joseph had been married briefly before they wed, but she thought that his first marriage had ended in divorce. When the Department of Health and Human Services asked Gertrude for proof of her marriage to Joseph, she could not produce a marriage certificate or any other record of her marriage. She did have a statement signed by Joseph acknowledging their …

Incentivizing Divorce, Andrea B. Carroll

Journal Articles

Marriage is an important relationship, both for the parties to it and for society as a whole. Its benefits, stemming from the economies of scale and joint consumption inherent in the relationship, are largely unquestionable. And when marriage fails, the results are rather staggering. Economically, it is estimated that the annual cost of divorce to American taxpayers approaches $30 billion. From a social science perspective, the negative impacts of divorce on women and children have long been decried. In the face of these facts, we expect family law to fulfill a certain role. It should channel parties into the relationship …

Administering Marriage: Marriage-Based Entitlements, Bureaucracy And The Legal Construction Of The Family, Kristin Collins

Faculty Scholarship

Today marriage-based entitlements are considered part and parcel of marriage itself. This was not always the case. Mining hundreds of handwritten administrative records, executive branch reports, and federal statutes, this Article traces the origins of public marriage-based entitlements to an underexamined and surprisingly broad-scale system of early nineteenth-century federal military pensions and land grants that provided financial assistance to tens of thousands of widows. The story of widows’ military subsidies challenges claims to laissez-faire liberalism’s particular hold on the nineteenth century and, as important, evidences the complex mutually constitutive relationship between marriage law and social provision for women. While traditionally …

Jurors’ Perceptions Of Juvenile Defendants: The Influence Of Intellectual Disability, Abuse History, And Confession Evidence, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Bette L. Bottoms, Maria C. Vargas

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Understanding jurors’ perceptions of juvenile defendants has become increasingly important as more and more juvenile cases are being tried in adult criminal court rather than family or juvenile court. Intellectual disability and child maltreatment are overrepresented among juvenile delinquents, and juveniles (particularly disabled juveniles) are at heightened risk for falsely confessing to crimes. In two mock trial experiments, we examined the effects of disability, abuse history, and confession evidence on jurors’ perceptions of a juvenile defendant across several different crime scenarios. Abused juveniles were treated more leniently than nonabused juveniles only when the juvenile’s crime was motivated by self-defense against …

A Knife In A Gunfight: The Inadequate Protection Provided To West Virginia's Foster Children By Statutory And Common Law, Matt Davis

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Advancing The Study Of Violence Against Women: Evolving Research Agendas Into Science, Carol E. Jordan

Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women Publications

Decades of research produced by multiple disciplines has documented withering rates of violence against women in the United States and around the globe. To further an understanding of gendered violence, a field of research has developed, but recent critiques have highlighted weaknesses that inhibit a full scientific exploration of these crimes and their impacts. This review extends beyond prior reviews to explore the field’s unique challenges, its community of scientists, and the state of its written knowledge. The review argues for moving beyond “research agendas” and proposes creation of a transdisciplinary science for the field of study of violence against …

Fathers, Foreskins, And Family Law, Dena S. Davis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

In the United States, a custodial parent has the right and responsibility to make medical decisions for one's child. But does that right encompass consenting for a surgical procedure for which there is little or no medical justification? What if the noncustodial parent opposed the procedure? And when is a child old enough to make the decision for him- or herself? How should a physician respond when asked to perform a surgical procedure when the decision is enmeshed in family controversy? These and other questions are considered in Boldt, a recent family law case decided by the Supreme Court of …

Foreword - A Dedication To Barbara Bennett Woodhouse, Nancy E. Dowd

UF Law Faculty Publications

Families and family law are at the cutting edge of social policy. As we navigate through difficult times, we are reminded not only of the importance of families, but also of their vulnerability. The challenge for family law and policy is to remain responsive and relevant. This requires that we confront the realities of families, their needs and issues. We live in times of enormous diversity in family forms. That reality is frightening and worrisome to some, but reminds us that it is how families function, rather than what they look like, that is most important. Embracing function over form …

Advancing The Study Of Violence Against Women: Response To Commentaries And Next Steps, Carol E. Jordan

Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women Publications

No abstract provided.

Not Very Collegial: Exploring Bans On Illegal Immigrant Admissions To State Colleges And Universities, Marcia A. Yablon-Zug, Danielle R. Holley-Walker

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Failing To Speak For Itself: The Res Ipsa Loquitur Presumption Of Parental Culpability And Its Greater Consequences, Allyson B. Levine

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Polygamy's Inscrutable Criminal Mischief, Susan G. Drummond

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The polygamy charges laid in the settlement of Bountiful, British Columbia, in January 2009, give rise to questions about the particular mischief of the polygamy offence in section 293 of Canada's Criminal Code. This article argues that, as a result of developments within related areas of law, polygamy's mischief under the current wording of the section is virtually inscrutable. When used, this section has principally served as a mechanism to discipline socially and politically marginalized groups. Developments in family law over the last forty years have generated a host of exceptions to the application of the polygamy section, including religious …

What's An Intimate Relationship, Anyway? Expanding Access To The New York State Family Courts For Civil Orders Of Protection, Jennifer Cranstoun, Christopher O'Connor, Tracey Alter

Pace Law Review

No abstract provided.

Redefining Harm, Reimagining Remedies And Reclaiming Domestic Violence Law, Margaret E. Johnson

All Faculty Scholarship

Civil domestic violence laws do not effectively address and redress the harms suffered by women subjected to domestic violence. The Civil Protective Order (“CPO”) laws should offer a remedy for all domestic abuse with an understanding that domestic violence subordinates women. These laws should not remedy only physical violence or criminal acts. All forms of abuse — psychological, emotional, economic, and physical — are interrelated. Not only do these abuses cause severe emotional distress, physical harm, isolation, sustained fear, intimidation, poverty, degradation, humiliation, and coerced loss of autonomy, but, as researchers have demonstrated, most domestic violence is the fundamental operation …

Family Law—Application Of Equitable Estoppel In Paternity And Visitation Cases—Mommy's Baby, Mama's Maybe: A New York Court's Decision To Hold A Same-Sex Partner Financially Responsible For A Non-Biological And Non-Adoptive Child. H.M. V. E.T., No. U-110-07 (N.Y. Fam. Ct. Sept. 11, 2007)., Carla S. Johnson

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Legal See-Saw: The Rights Of The Sex Offender V. The Perception Of A Safe Community, Brittany E. Kane

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

The question of how to safely deal with convicted sex offenders upon release from incarceration has been an ongoing hotly-debated topic within American society for decades, with one of the earliest approaches to dealing with these criminals dating back to the 1930s (Petrunik 486). Although it is universally acknowledged that sex crimes are deemed wrong from both the criminal and moral aspect, indecision exists with respect to the constitutionality and effectiveness of current legislation in place for the offenders to maintain rehabilitation and keep neighborhoods safe. Statutes, such as the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration …

Child Custody Evaluations: Review Of The Literature And Annotated Bibliography, Barbara A. Babb, Gloria Danziger, Judith D. Moran, J. Mason Weeda, William A. Mack

All Faculty Scholarship

This review of custody evaluation literature encompasses a number of perspectives gleaned from the following: practitioners who perform the evaluations; the professional organizations that recognize the necessity to establish performance standards for practitioners; and the judges who depend on the findings and recommendations in the evaluations to assist with difficult custody decisions.

General agreement exists among practitioners about the components of a comprehensive evaluation (interviews of adults responsible for child care, interviews of children and their preferences, life histories, observations, psychological testing, document review, and collateral source data), though little consensus exists about the details of performance concerning a given …

Supervised Visitation And Monitored Exchange: Review Of The Literature And Annotated Bibliography, Barbara A. Babb, Gloria Danziger, Judith D. Moran, William A. Mack

All Faculty Scholarship

Though courts increasingly rely on supervised visitation services in custody disputes and child welfare cases (Salem, Kulak, & Deutsch, 2007), a search of the literature produces few studies reporting empirically validated aspects of supervised visitation programs. The current literature about supervised visitation extensively documents the rationale for providing the service and contains numerous descriptions of provider programs (Birnbaum & Alaggia, 2006). The next generation of research must focus on long-term outcomes that demonstrate effectiveness of supervised visitation programs (Birnbaum & Alaggia, 2006).

This project involves a review of the literature concerning supervised visitation and child access services. The intent of …

Guest Editors’ Introduction To Special Issue On Substance Abuse And Addiction In Family Courts, Barbara A. Babb, Gloria Danziger, Judith D. Moran

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

New Family V. Minister Of Labor And Welfare, Dorit Beinisch, Eliezer Rivlin, Ayala Procaccia

Translated Opinions

Facts:     The institution of intercountry adoption of children in Israel, i.e. the adoption in Israel of children from abroad, is regulated by the Adoption of Children (Amendment no. 2) Law, 5756-1996.  By virtue of his authority under this Law, the Minister of Labor and Welfare has issued “Rules and Professional Guidelines for the Operation of a Recognized Non-Profit Organization”, rule 4(b)(1) of which states that a person wishing to adopt a child in the framework of an intercountry adoption will not be deemed eligible to do so if the age difference between himself and the child exceeds 48 years on …

Parental Rights And The State Regulation Of Religious Schools, Matthew Steilen

Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Constitutionality Of Home Education: How The Supreme Court And American History Endorse Parental Choice, Chad Olsen

Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Aftermath Of Crawford And Davis: Deconstructing The Sound Of Silence, Kimberly D. Bailey

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Judging Vanessa: Norm Setting And Deviance In The Law Of Motherhood, Michelle Oberman

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

This article, by an author who has devoted over a decade to the study of women whom the law deems "bad" mothers, undertakes a more probing consideration of what truly separates the deviant mother from the "good" mother. In this article, she exposes the flaws in a binary classification of mothers as either "good" or "bad." She accomplishes this task by juxtaposing the stories, both legal and personal, of Vanessa, a woman whom society has judged to be a "bad" mother, and the author, a mother most in society would view as "good." In the end, the author not only …

Kairos And Safe Havens: The Timing And Calamity Of Unwanted Birth, Susan Ayres

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

It is impossible to know the number of infants killed or illegally abandoned at birth. No official reporting requirements exist, but conservative estimates claim that in the United States, 150-300 infants are killed within twenty-four hours of life and that over 100 infants are illegally abandoned. Beginning in 1999, in an effort to stem the problem of neonaticide and illegal abandonment, states began enacting laws to legalize abandonment. By 2008, all fifty states had enacted safe haven laws, which allow parents to anonymously abandon newborns by delivering them to designated providers, such as hospitals. This article provides a practical and …