Family Law Commons^™

The Principle Of Subsidiarity Applied: Reforming The Legal Framework To Capture The Psychological Abuse Of Children, Jessica Dixon Weaver

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Psychological abuse is the most prevalent type of child abuse. It lies at the core of child maltreatment because it is embedded in and interacts with physical and sexual abuse, as well as physical neglect. It also has a more extensive and destructive impact on the development of children than any other type of abuse. Yet, the current child protection system fails to adequately address the problem because the normative framework of the child protection system does not always include the psychological abuse of children. For the majority of states, the physical health, safety, and well-being of children are focal …

Getting To Stay: Clarifying Legal Treatment Of Improper Adoptions, Elena Schwieger

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Memorandum: Accommodating The Uccjea And The 1996 Hague Convention, Robert G. Spector

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Meaningful Legal Representation For Children And Youth In Washington's Child Welfare System: Standards Of Practice, Voluntary Training, And Caseload Limits In Response To Hb 2735, Lisa Kelly

Books

Introduction, pages 1-2

Executive Summary, pages 3-4

Child Recommendation Practice Standards, pages 5-14

Voluntary Training Recommendations, page 15

Supporting Documentation

• Appendix A, HB 2735, Tab A
• Appendix B, Children's Representation Sub-Workgroup Membership List, Tab B
• Appendix C, American Bar Association Standards of Practice for Lawyers Who Represent Children in Abuse and Neglect Cases, Tab C

Respect For Me But Not For Thee: Reflections On The Impact Of Same-Sex Marriage On Education, Charles J. Russo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Examples of the ramifications of same-sex marriage in education are beginning to emerge whether in K-12 public or non-public schools or higher education. In K-12 schools, controversies have surfaced over whether school officials can use gay friendly curricular material for young children, 15 whether religiously affiliated non-public schools are obligated to enroll children who are being raised by couples in same-sex unions, 16 and whether students can bring same-sex dates to proms. 17 In like manner, disputes have arisen in higher education, particularly in the context of graduate counseling programs where two students unsuccessfully challenged their dismissals for professing their …

Cutting Edge Issues In Family And Matrimonial Law: An Annotated Bibliography, Nancy Levit

Faculty Works

This bibliography covers law review articles published, for the most part, after 2007. Articles for which the title is self-explanatory or that concern only a single case, state, or statute are cited, but not annotated. Property-related issues will appear in the fall 2011 bibliography.

The Fourth Amendment Rights Of Children At Home: When Parental Authority Goes Too Far, Kristin N. Henning

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Although it is virtually undisputed that children have some Fourth Amendment rights independent of their parents, it is equally clear that youth generally receive less constitutional protection than adults. In a search for continuity and coherence in Fourth Amendment jurisprudence involving minors, Professor Henning identifies three guiding principles—context, parental authority, and the minor’s capacity—that weave together children’s rights cases. She argues that parental authority too often prevails over children’s rights, even when context and demonstrated capacity would support affirmation of those rights. Context involves both the physical setting in which Fourth Amendment protections are sought and the nature of the …

Victimized Twice: The Reasonable Efforts Requirement In Child Protection Cases When Parents Have A Mental Illness, Jeanne M. Kaiser

Faculty Scholarship

State child protection agencies are required by federal law to exert reasonable efforts to keep families together before seeking termination of parental rights. Some states, however, have created an exception to this requirement when the parent involved suffers from a chronic mental illness. Moreover, even in those states that enforce the requirement, the reunification services provided to parents with a mental illness often do not meet the needs of those parents.

This Article argues that although parents with a mental illness face serious challenges in caring for their children, they should not be categorically excluded from reunification efforts by means …

Sifre V. Sifre, Victoria Rosner

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

International Adoption: A Way Forward, Elizabeth Bartholet

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Finding Home In The World: A Deontological Theory Of The Right To Be Adopted, Paulo Barrozo

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Seeking The Better Interests Of Children With A New International Law Of Adoption, Richard Carlson

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Permanency Is Not Enough: Children Need The Nurturing Parents Found In International Adoption, Elizabeth Bartholet

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reflections On The Special Humanitarian Parole Program For Haitian Orphans, Whitney A. Reitz

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Imperfect Remedies: The Arsenal Of Criminal Statutes Available To Prosecute International Adoption Fraud In The United States, Katie Rasor, Richard M. Rothblatt, Elizabeth A. Russo, Julie A. Turner

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Re-Invention Of Adoption Law: A Reflection, Diane B. Kunz

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Embryo “Adoption”? The Rhetoric, The Law, And The Legal Consequences, Polina M. Dostalik

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Availability Of Spousal Privileges For Same-Sex Couples, Lisa Yurwit Bergstrom, W. James Denvil

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

Use And Disposition Of Life Insurance In Dissolution Of Marriage, Jani Maurer

Barry Law Review

This article explores life insurance considerations in Florida dissolution of marriage proceedings, reviews current applicable law, and suggests methods of effectively dealing with life insurance in the divorce context.

Collaborative Law: Recognizing The Need For A New Default Method Of Family Law Resolution, Marsha B. Freeman

Barry Law Review

No abstract provided.

Collaborative Law: A Better Way For Families, Alice L. Blackwell

Barry Law Review

No abstract provided.

More Therapeutic, Less Collaborative? Asserting The Psychotherapist-Patient Privilege On Behalf Of Mature Minors, Bernard P. Perlmutter

Barry Law Review

No abstract provided.

Preventing The Unnecessary Entry Of Children Into Foster Care, Vivek Sankaran

Articles

A young mother of three endures abuse at the hands of the children's father. Her children repeatedly witness the violence in their home and describe it to a school teacher, who in turn places a call to Child Protective Services (CPS). A CPS investigator arrives at the home the next morning with a plethora of questions for the mother and her children. Have the children been hit? Did they observe the beatings? What steps has their mother taken to protect them? An adversarial conversation ensues. Unsatisfactory answers may lead to tragic consequences-the removal of the children from their home.

Family Law Scholarship Goes To Court: Functional Parenthood And The Case Of Debra H. V. Janice R., Suzanne B. Goldberg, Harriet Antczak, Mark Musico

Faculty Scholarship

Family law literature, while diverse in its exploration of contemporary families, also offers important threads of consensus. These strong points of coherence, when brought together with relevant case law, can be a useful means of advancing the academic conversation as well as engaging directly with courts to shape the law's development.

In a field as complex as family law, myriad academic viewpoints on any given issue often make it difficult to imagine scholarly discussion having utility for courts. As we aim to show here, however, amicus briefs can be important vehicles for synthesizing the literature, highlighting basic points of consensus …

Common Law Same-Sex Marriage, Peter Nicolas

Articles

In this Essay, I demonstrate that, with the extension of the right to marry to same-sex couples in Iowa, the District of Columbia, and New Hampshire (all states that recognize common law marriage), there now exists the possibility that—for the first time in the United States—a same-sex couple may enter into a legally recognized common law marriage.

In the Essay, I first show, as a doctrinal matter, that same-sex couples have the right to enter into common law marriages in these three jurisdictions, and I explain and compare the criteria for entering into common law marriages in each of them. …

The Lavender Letter: Applying The Law Of Adultery To Same-Sex Couples And Same-Sex Conduct, Peter Nicolas

Articles

In this Article, I explore the division in the courts over the question of whether same-sex sexual conduct constitutes adultery in four contexts: (1) criminal adultery prosecutions, (2) fault-based divorce actions, (3) civil tort actions for interference with the marital relationship, and (4) murder cases raising a provocation defense based on a spouse's act of adultery.

In so doing, I arrive at the following conclusions. First, as illustrated in Part I, there is a significant overlap between states that recognize same-sex marriage and states where adulterous conduct is legally relevant, making this more than an interesting theoretical exercise. Second, Part …

Give Peace A Chance: A Guide To Mediating Child Welfare Cases, Jennifer Baum

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Would you like to speed up your cases, achieve more satisfying results for your clients, and cut back on needlessly polarizing motion practice? Since its introduction in the 1980s, child welfare mediation has helped attorneys do just that by facilitating resolutions in child protective disputes more quickly, less contentiously, and with more acceptance from stakeholders than its courtroom alternative, adversarial litigation.

If you've handled dependency cases for any length of time, you are already familiar with the crushing caseloads, emotional volatility, and high-stakes decision-making that are the hallmarks of child welfare litigation. In a growing number of jurisdictions, attorneys …

Sham Marriages, Ancillary Powers, And Moral Discourse: Toh Seok Kheng V. Huang Huiqun; Adp V. Adq, Siyuan Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Is marriage an institution (of public morality) or a contract (of private ordering)? In Toh Seok Kheng, the High Court concluded that it was unable to declare a “sham marriage” void just because the motives behind the marriage seemed improper. In ADP, the High Court held that since a void marriage meant there was no marriage to begin with, the “wife” was not entitled to maintenance, and there could not have been any “matrimonial assets” to be divided, unless she had a strong “moral” claim. This piece considers how the aforementioned moral-contractual dichotomy emerges in these cases.

A Primer On The History And Proper Drafting Of Qualified Domestic-Relations Orders, Terrence Cain

Law Faculty Scholarship

The divorce rate in the United States is slightly more than one-half the marriage rate. Divorce is a fact of life in this country, and will likely be so for the foreseeable future. On August 23, 1984, the divorce lawyer’s job got more complicated when Congress created the Qualified Domestic Relations Order ("QDRO") as part of some significant amendments to ERISA. QDROs are necessary because before those 1984 ERISA amendments, a lot of divorced persons discovered that they could be deprived of their marital or community property interest in their former spouses' retirement plans. For most divorcing couples, the two …

Cloning And The Lgbti Family: Cautious Optimism, Erez Aloni

All Faculty Publications

While fertile, opposite-sex couples can have children who carry a mix of their genes without involving third parties in the reproductive process, this option is not available to the majority of the LGBTI community. If this were simply a biological fact, it would not raise any equal protection or other constitutional issues. However, emerging technologies in the field of reproductive cloning may offer the LGBTI community the chance to have genetically related children - possibly even with a mix of both partners’ genes. As such, bans on federally funding research that would help to refine and ensure the safety and …