Family Law Commons^™

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.

Where Are The Records? Handling Lost/Destroyed Records In Child Welfare Tort Litigation, Dale Margolin Cecka

Law Faculty Publications

As child welfare professionals, we have all encountered the “missing” record, most often during day-to-day advocacy. For those who practice child welfare tort litigation, incomplete discovery is also common, even though case records can be critical in determining negligence or malfeasance. In other forms of civil litigation, judges are asked to hold parties accountable for losing or destroying records, and juries are allowed to draw negative inferences about the missing evidence. In contrast, an investigation of child welfare torts reveals that when a defending agency fails to produce credible records, the issue is simply not litigated or does not affect …

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 …

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.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Of Employment Division V. Smith For Family Law, James G. Dwyer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Belonging And Trust: Divorce And Social Capital, Margaret F. Brinig

Journal Articles

To whom do spouses belong? Do they belong to their communities as well as each other and their immediate families? These questions are explored in an empirical paper demonstrating ways in which social capital in communities may affect even the marriages of people living in them.

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 …

Legislating After Janice M.: The Constitutionality Of Recognizing De Facto Parenthood In Maryland, Rachel Simmonsen

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Parents: Trusted But Not Trustees Or (Foster) Parents As Fiduciaries, Margaret F. Brinig

Journal Articles

Some fifteen years ago, Elizabeth and Robert Scott wrote an important article making the case that parents could be usefully described using a fiduciary model. This paper explains why their model fits foster parents better than biological or adoptive parents, at least in the sense that Tamar Frankel explains in her new book on fiduciary law.

What’S The Border Got To Do With It? How Immigration Regimes Affect Familial Care Provisions—A Comparative Analysis, Hila Shamir

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Re-Regulating The Baby Market: A Call For A Ban On Payment Of Birth Mother Living Expenses, Andrea B. Carroll

Journal Articles

More than fifty years ago, state law on domestic infant adoption changed to uniformly prohibit the practice of baby selling, a development that eliminated the “black market” for babies that many argued previously existed. Nonetheless, one need not look far to find that the United States’ domestic adoption system is broken even today, and the cost structure of the domestic adoption scheme is the greatest offender. A domestic adoption currently costs in the neighborhood of $40,0000, with the vast majority of the associated expenses coming not from the payment of any professional fees, but rather from the payment of living …

Child Support Guidelines: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, Margaret F. Brinig, Douglas W. Allen

Journal Articles

Child support guideline systems do more than simply determine the amount of income to be transferred from the noncustodial to the custodial household. They create incentives, one way or another, for spouses to divorce and seek custody and support payments. We examine three cases found in North America, and find that the common method of income shares provides a decent guideline that does not create any perverse incentives for divorce. Percentage-of-obligor-income methods do worse than other systems, and can cause increases in divorce rates for families in which one spouse earns a high income. Finally, the Canadian system, which is …

Polygamy, Publicity, And Locality: The Place Of The Public In Marriage Practice, Allison Anna Tait

Law Faculty Publications

This Article offers a reading of State v. Holm that highlights the Utah court's struggle to define marriage and presents the court's eventual definition of marriage as one that is based on visual indicators.

Child Protection Law And Procedure, Frank Vandervort

Book Chapters

Child protective proceedings involving non-Indian children are primarily governed by the Child Protection Law (CPL), MCL 722.621 et seq.; the Juvenile Code, MCL 712A.1 et seq.; and subchapter 3.900 of the Michigan Court Rules. Taken together, these sources of authority establish a comprehensive scheme for reporting cases of suspected abuse and neglect, investigating those reports, and responding, when necessary, with appropriate legal action. For child protective proceedings concerning Indian children, see chapter 25. While these statutes form the primary authority for handling child protection proceedings, practitioners must be aware that federal law, specifically Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, …