Complex Data Gathering Results in State Adoption Totals

A publication from Child Welfare Information Gateway now available online provides estimates of total adoption numbers for the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. How Many Children Were Adopted in 2007-2008? was developed with assistance from Gene Flango, Ph.D., of the National Center for State Courts and offers key findings on the numbers of public, intercountry, and other adoptions as well as data sources and cautionary notes. This publication, which will be updated periodically, provides a single source of recent statistical information on the numbers and types of adoptions in the United States, as well as the numbers of ...

Adopting Your Enemies’ Children

Today's New York Times discusses the use of adoption as an act of war in Argentina during the dictatorship of the 1970s when the nation’s top military leaders engaged in a systematic plan to steal babies from perceived enemies of the government. BUENOS AIRES — Victoria Montenegro recalls a childhood filled with chilling dinnertime discussions. Lt. Col. Hernán Tetzlaff, the head of the family, would recount military operations he had taken part in where “subversives” had been tortured or killed. The discussions often ended with his “slamming his gun on the table,” she said. It took an incessant search by a human ...

Teen Facebook Hacker Convicted of Felony Identity Theft

Last month a California state Court of Appeal ruled in In re Rolando S. that a teenage boy committed felony identity theft when he accessed a girl's account, altered her profile and posted obscene messages and comments. The boy was one of several recipients of an unsolicited text message providing the password to the victim’s email account. He used the victim’s email and password to gain access to her Facebook account where he posted, in her name, the following messages: On a male classmate’s wall: “I want to stick your dick in my mouth and then in my pussy and fuck me really hard and cum on my face.” On another male ...

Abused Child Victim Denied Lawyer at Psych Exam

Last month, a federal judge ruled that a child who is suing the Boy Scouts for emotional distress for abuse at a faith-based military camp is not entitled to have his lawyer present during a psychiatric examination. In M.S. et al v. Cedar Bridge Military Academy et al, federal Magistrate Judge Martin C. Carlson found that a lawyer's presence "interjects an adversarial, partisan atmosphere into what should be otherwise a wholly objective inquiry." Judge Carlson explained that there is a conflict between federal civil procedure and the Pennsylvania rules. The federal rule and case law discourage any observers, while Pennsylvania's Rule 4010 permits ...

NY’s $1.4 million per disabled child = death and despair

Today's NYTimes has an excellent article about the horrors in New York's residential care system for the developmentally disabled. Despite spending as much as $1.4 million per resident, the "system" has failed most of its residents with sub-standard care, abuse and death. These institutions spend two and a half times as much money, per resident, as the thousands of smaller group homes that care for far more of the 135,000 developmentally disabled New Yorkers receiving services. But the institutions are hardly a model: Those who run them have tolerated physical and psychological abuse, knowingly hired unqualified workers, ignored complaints by ...

Gay Civil Unionists and Religious Adoption Agencies Clash

The AP reported here that "gay rights groups are urging Illinois lawmakers not to let Catholic adoption agencies turn away gay couples," arguing "agencies that get state money to care for children should not be allowed to reject anyone who would be a good parent." When Illinois' gay civil unions law takes effect next month, Catholic adoption agencies "may face lawsuits or lose state funding" if they turn away gay couples. Groups including The Civil Rights Agenda and Equality Illinois are pushing for a law allowing "them to refuse to place children with gay couples on religious grounds."

Fifth Circuit Issues Landmark Ruling for Child Victims

Late yesterday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans adopted my longstanding position that there is no general proximate cause requirement governing restitution for victims of child pornography. Since the New York Times wrote this story last year about our firm's effort to obtain restitution for a child pornography victim known as "Amy," hundreds of federal district courts across the country have denied restitution or issued de minimus restitution orders on her behalf. The Fifth Circuit's unprecedented decision held that proximate cause is not a general requirement when deciding restitution and only applies to one open ended provision in ...

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