Pepe Le Pew? The Commission’s Report on Children in Foster Care

In late May the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care released its final report. The Commission "was charged to develop a practical set of policy recommendations to reform federal child welfare financing and strengthen court oversight of child welfare cases." I must admit that I was and continue to be a bit skeptical about the Commission and its underlying premise. Who exactly charged the Commission with this mission? Who identified "child welfare financing" and "court oversight" as the critical issues facing child welfare and foster care? The Commission was premised on the notion that "current federal funding mechanisms for child welfare ...

Pregnant by God or Blessed for Adoption?

First there was adoption music, then adoption sermons, even adoption recipes, jewelry and an ISP. Adoption.com is a virtual adoption marketplace; everything adoption is for sale except the children. Then the National Center for Lesbian Rights sued Adoption.com for discriminating against same-sex couples. The lawsuit alleges that among other for-profit services, Adoption.com permits prospective adoptive parents to post their personal profiles in hopes of connecting with potential birth mothers. They will not, however, permit same-sex couples to post their profiles. Now adoption art has surfaced on the Adoption.com website which provides interesting ...

Confidential Child Welfare Records Released on the Internet

In another black eye for Florida's child-welfare agency, officials acknowledged that confidential records for nearly 4,000 abused and neglected children were available on the Internet until last week. The files were accessible on the Web site of Kids Central, a privately run child welfare agency. They included the names of foster children, birth dates, Social Security numbers, photographs and case histories. They even provided directions and maps to children's foster homes. Kids Central began phasing in the computer system, called CoBRIS, around April or May. It was designed to let private caseworkers access the state's child welfare computer ...

Pregnant by Jesus or Abducted for Adoption?

The story of Gilbert Deya, and his "miracle" babies, was first aired on the BBC Radio 4's Face the Facts. Apparently women are traveling from the UK to Nairobi to give "birth" to children in slum clinics. According to a BBC investigation, Kenyan-born Deya prays over the childless women, some post-menopausal, and they are pronounced pregnant by Jesus. One woman gave birth every four months to a total of eleven children. Talk about faith-based initiatives! When the British authorities did DNA tests on one of the "miracle" babies, however, the child was found to have no link to the alleged mother. The church itself says it is not surprised that the ...

States Clash Over Same-Sex Parental Rights

Four years ago, when courts in Vermont began recognizing the legality of same-sex civil unions, it was only a matter of time before cases came along to test whether sister states would give full faith and credit to those decisions. The time has come. One of the earliest cases to raise that issue is a same-sex parental rights challenge that has provoked a jurisdictional debate between Virginia and Vermont. According to an attorney for New York-based Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, it is also one of the earliest cases to test how state courts will respond to orders that derive from the legality of civil unions. The main legal issue is ...

The Circle School v. Pappert

Pennsylvania law mandates that all public, private, and parochial schools display the national flag in every classroom and provide for the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance or the national anthem at the beginning of each school day. Like similar statutes in other states, the law allows private and parochial schools to opt out of its requirements on religious grounds, and gives students the option of refraining from participating in the recitation and saluting the national flag on religious or personal grounds. However, it also requires school supervising officials to notify, in writing, parents or guardians of those students who have declined ...

State v. Nguyen

In this Oregon case, the parents appealed a judgment terminating their parental rights in their three-year-old son Matthew. They argued that the state failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that they are unfit parents, that reintegration into their home is improbable within a reasonable time because they are unlikely to change, and that termination of their parental rights was in Matthew's best interest. The TPR was filed after one of the parents inflicted serious abuse on Matthew's sibling, four-month old Martha, repeatedly breaking her limbs and fracturing her skull. The lower court found that the other parent was aware of that conduct ...

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