Family Law Commons^™

Family Group Conferencing And Child Protection Mediation: Essential Tools For Prioritizing Family Engagement In Child Welfare Cases, Kelly Browe Olson

Law Faculty Scholarship

Family group conferencing (FGC) and child protection mediation maximize family engagement in child welfare cases by prioritizing families' roles in discussions and decisions. This article examines how FGC helps professionals to focus on family and community strengths, encourages family engagement, and provides targeted case plans for families and timely, permanent placements for children. It explores how courts and agencies use these interventions to empower families to contribute to resolutions in ways that are not possible in traditional litigation processes. These complementary processes help children and families by providing forums where families are allowed to make informed choices and take an …

Potato, Potahto: Whether Ineffective Assistance Or Due Process, An Effective Rule Is Overdue In Termination Of Parental Rights Cases In Florida, Anthony C. Musto

St. Thomas Law Review

Pat X., a Florida resident, is a good father who loves, provides for, and takes care of his child. So, he is stunned one day when his child is removed from him and a petition for termination of his parental rights is filed. The petition alleges that Pat, who has never had any problems with the law, was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. It seeks termination on the basis that Pat will be incarcerated for a substantial portion of his child's remaining minority.' Pat's lawyer investigates the matter. The lawyer speaks with the prosecutor who …

Post-Mortem Sperm Retrieval And The Social Security Administration: How Modern Reproductive Technology Makes Strange Bedfellows, Mary F. Radford

Faculty Publications By Year

This article was prepared in conjunction with the Thurgood Marshall School of Law March, 2009 symposium on "Emerging Issues in Estate Planning, Probate & Trust Law." The article examines a relatively new assisted reproduction technique through which the sperm of a man who has recently died is retrieved after his death, cryopreserved, and then later used by a woman (spouse, partner, or other) to produce a child. While much has been written about posthumously-conceived children (children conceived from sperm that were banked by the father while he was alive), there has to date been little examination of the ramifications of …

What About The Children? A Call For Regulation Of Assisted Reproductive Technology, Cahterine A. Clements

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Foreword: Assisted Reproductive Technology And The Law, Mary P. Byrn

Faculty Scholarship

This foreword introduces Issue 2: Assisted Reproductive Technology and the Law of the 35th Volume of the William Mitchell Law Review. It begins by outlining the author's personal experience with ART, and contrasts her reasoning for using ART with the traditional need for ART. Finally, it lists some of the many legal questions yet to be conclusively answered.

Beyond Duluth: A Broad Spectrum Of Treatment For A Broad Spectrum Domestic Violence, Johnna Rizza

Montana Law Review

Beyond Duluth

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

Faculty Scholarship

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 …

Myths And Tips On The Support Guidelines, Rollie Thompson, Carol Rogerson

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The spousal support advisory guidelines have now become part of the standard toolkit of lawyers, mediators and judges across the country. The “final version” of the guidelines was released last July, after extensive feedback and some revisions to the 2005 draft proposal. But “myths” or “misses” have developed around the guidelines, frequently found in the case law — and I offer some tips that can help deal with specific cases.

Thou Good And Faithful Servant, Carl E. Schneider

Articles

Lawmakers are stewards of social resources. A current debate-over screening newborns for genetic disorders-illuminates dilemmas of that stewardship that have particularly plagued bioethics. Recently in the Report, Mary Ann Baily and Thomas Murray told the story of little Ben Haygood. He died from MCADD, a genetic disorder that can make long fasting fatal. Screening at birth would have let doctors alert Ben's parents. "After Ben died," Baily and Murray wrote, "his father became a passionate advocate for expanding Mississippi's newborn screening program to add MCADD and other disorders." Soon, the Ben Haygood Comprehensive Newborn Screening Act increased the number …

Parens Patriae Run Amuck: The Child Welfare System's Disregard For The Constitutional Rights Of Non-Offending Parents, Vivek Sankaran

Articles

Over the past hundred years, a consensus has emerged recognizing a parent's ability to raise his or her child as a fundamental, sacrosanct right protected by the Constitution. Federal courts have repeatedly rejected the parens patriae summary mode of decision making that predominated juvenile courts at the turn of the twentieth century and have instead held that juvenile courts must afford basic due process to parents prior to depriving them of custodial rights to their children. This recognition has led to the strengthening of procedural protections for parents accused of child abuse or neglect in civil child protection proceedings. Yet, …

Public Perceptions Of Registry Laws For Juvenile Sex Offenders, Carrie E. Reynolds, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Jessica M. Salerno, Margaret C. Stevenson, Tish R.A. Wiley, Bette L. Bottoms

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 …

Marriage And Divorce: Legal Foundations, Azizah Y. Al-Hibri

Law Faculty Publications

A six-volume work, this set constitutes a major revision and massive expansion of the 1995 Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World. In addition to covering Islamic societies in the modern world from the eighteenth century to the present, as the earlier four-volume set did, it will add a depth of historical background going back to the pre- Islamic era. The new reference also covers the full geographical extent of Islam by focusing not only on the countries in which Islam is dominant, but also on regions in which Muslims live as minorities, such as Europe and the Americas.

Equality And Justice For Lesbian And Gay Families And Relationships, Nancy Polikoff

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

In 1989, Tom Stoddard and Paula Ettelbrick, attorneys with the gay rights group Lambda Legal, published side-by-side opposing essays about whether marriage for same-sex couples should be a movement priority. Rutgers Law Review is publishing a 2009 symposium commemorating the 20th anniversary of these now-iconic essays. This article is part of that symposium. It places the Ettelbrick essay, and the groundbreaking case of Braschi v. Stahl Associates decided the same year, in the context of the gay rights movement's strong support of family diversity. It then critiques the contemporary right-wing marriage movement for blaming all social problems on family diversity/aka …

Reforming Family Court: Getting It Right Between Rhetoric And Reality, Jane M. Spinak

Faculty Scholarship

What do we say about the reform work we do, and to what degree is what we say accurate? How does the way in which we talk about family court reform implicate our analysis of what we are achieving? How does our place or role within the system affect our perceptions of reform? What limits our willingness and ability to apply rigorous evaluative techniques to determine whether we are reaching our goals? And if we are failing, can we acknowledge failure and learn from it? Answering these questions may lead to a better understanding of why family court reform is …

The Unbearable Lightness Of Marriage In The Abortion Decisions Of The Supreme Court: Altered States In Constitutional Law, William W. Van Alstyne

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Becoming A Citizen: Marriage, Immigration, And Assimilation, Kerry Abrams

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Knowing Law’S Limits: Comments On ‘Forgiveness: Integral To Close Relationships And Inimical To Justice?’, Kathryn Webb Bradley

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Dividing Lives: How Deporting Legal And Illegal Immigrants With United States-Born Children Is Separating Families And Why United States And International Laws Are Failing Families, Anna-Liisa Jacobson

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

This Article explores the current immigration laws causing mixed immigration status families to become separated and analyzes what the role of the United States government should be in solving this crisis. Part II discusses the current crisis occurring when families are separated due to factors such as deportation. Part III analyzes the changes brought by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 ("IIRIRA") and how these changes have negatively impacted immigrant families. Part IV examines the increasing number of deportations due to changes in the penalties for crimes committed by immigrants. Part V explores the legal protections …

Raising The Cut-Off: The Empirical Case For Extending Adoption And Guardianship Subsidies From Age 18 To 21, Josh Gupta-Kagan

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Alternative Visions Of The Family: The European Constitutional Perception Of Family Law: Comparison With American Jurisprudence., Allen E. Shoenberger

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

Who Says "I Do"?, Noa Ben-Asher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Book Review offers an analogy between two forms of resistance to legal discrimination by marginalized minorities: singing the national anthem in Spanish on the streets of Los Angeles in the spring of 2006 by undocumented immigrants, and possible future public marriage ceremonies by LGBT people and other marriage outlaws. Based on the conceptual grounds laid by Judith Butler and Gayatri Spivak, and earlier by Hannah Arendt, the Review uses an analogy to the public singing of the anthem in Spanish in order to argue that the performance of public marriage ceremonies by LGBT people and other marriage outlaws may …

Celebrating The Differences That Could Make A Difference: United States V. Virginia And A New Vision Of Sexual Equality, Courtney Megan Cahill

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

When Reading Between The Lines Is Not Enough: Lessons From Media Coverage Of A Domestic Violence Homicide-Suicide, Elizabeth L. Macdowell

Scholarly Works

In October 2008, Karthik Rajaram murdered his wife, mother-in-law, sons and, ultimately, himself, in a wealthy Los Angeles suburb. This Article analyzes media reports about the deaths to illustrate the resilience of patriarchy and significant gaps in research and scholarship about domestic violence, and suggests a strategic approach to building counter-narratives about violence against women.

The Article is composed of five parts. Part I is the Introduction. Part II draws on narrative theory and critical media scholarship to lay the groundwork for analysis, and to show why media coverage of homicide-suicide is implicated in the production of dominant ideology.

Part …

How Embedded Knowledge Structures Affect Judicial Decision Making: An Analysis Of Metaphor, Narrative, And Imagination In Child Custody Disputes, Linda L. Berger

Scholarly Works

We live in a time of radically changing conceptions of family and of the relationships possible between children and parents. Though undergoing "a sea-change," family law remains tethered to culturally embedded stories and symbols. While so bound, family law will fail to serve individual families and a society whose family structures diverge sharply by education, race, class, and income.

This article advances a critical rhetorical analysis of the interaction of metaphor and narrative within the specific context of child custody disputes. Its goal is to begin to examine how these embedded knowledge structures affect judicial decision making generally; more specifically, …

Altruism And Intermediation In The Market For Babies, Kimberly D. Krawiec

Washington and Lee Law Review

Central to every legal system is the principle that certain items are offlimits to commercial exchange. In theory, babies are one such sacred object. This supposed ban on baby selling has been lamented by those who view commercial markets as the most efficient means of allocating resources, and defended by those who contend that commercial markets in parental rights commodify human beings, compromise individual dignity, or jeopardize fundamental values. However, the supposed and much-discussed baby selling ban does not, and is not intended to, eliminate commercial transactions in children. Instead, it is an asymmetric legal restriction that limits the ability …

Beyond The Bounds Of Decency: Why Fault Continues To Matter To (Some) Wronged Spouses, Robin Fretwell Wilson

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Comment On Wrongs Committed During A Marriage: The Child That No Area Of The Law Wants To Adopt, By Michelle L. Evans, Robert E. Shepherd

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Finding A Reasonable Way To Enforce The Reasonable Efforts Requirement In Child Protection Cases, Jeanne M. Kaiser

Faculty Scholarship

Under federal law, state child protection agencies are required to exert "reasonable efforts" to reunite abused and neglected children with their parents before seeking to terminate parental rights and free the children for adoption. The scope of this requirement is undefined in federal statutes and in the statutory law of many states. As a result, it has fallen to appellate courts to determine the degree of effort a state agency must exert before the relationship between a parent and a child is severed. This has proven no easy task. By the time a parental termination case has reached an appellate …

Dividing Lives: How Deporting Legal And Illegal Immigrants With United States-Born Children Is Separating Families And Why United States And International Laws Are Failing Families, Anna-Liisa Jacobson

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This Article explores the current immigration laws causing mixed immigration status families to become separated and analyzes what the role of the United States government should be in solving this crisis. Part II discusses the current crisis occurring when families are separated due to factors such as deportation. Part III analyzes the changes brought by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 ("IIRIRA") and how these changes have negatively impacted immigrant families. Part IV examines the increasing number of deportations due to changes in the penalties for crimes committed by immigrants. Part V explores the legal protections …

New Options For Child Support Payments, Sue K. Varon, Jennifer Varon

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Non-custodial parents pay child support in a variety of ways. Divorced parents should be provided with all possible options for making these payments. Some new options have emerged both in the public and private sectors.