Category: What I’m Reading
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What I’m Reading: Parsing Parenthood
PARSING PARENTHOOD Cynthia Godsoe Lewis & Clark Law Review (Approx. 62 pages) The story public family law tells about parenthood is both inaccurate and normatively misguided. Parents are deemed “bad” because of their need for state support, and the parent-child relationship is accordingly devalued. This devaluation has resulted in costly and ineffective child welfare policies,…
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What I’m Reading: Children’s Health Rights and Family Preservation
Mutcherson, Kimberly M. WHOSE BODY IS IT ANYWAY? AN UPDATED MODEL OF HEALTHCARE DECISION-MAKING RIGHTS FOR ADOLESCENTS, 14 Cornell J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 251 (2005). Tracy J. Simmons. RELINQUISHING CUSTODY IN EXCHANGE FOR MENTAL HEALTHCARE SERVICES: UNDERMINING THE ADOPTION AND SAFE FAMILIES ACT’S PROMISE OF REASONABLE EFFORTS TOWARDS FAMILY PRESERVATION AND REUNIFICATION, 10 J. L. & Fam. Stud. 377 (2008). Susan…
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What I’m reading: Brooklyn Law Review
Brooklyn Law School held what looks like an amazing symposium on reforming child protection law. The TOC of the law review issue that came out of it is below. You can access the full issue for free here. Symposium: Reforming Child Protection Law: A Public Health ApproachIntroduction by Introduction by Marsha Garrison, J.D. and Cynthia…
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Catching up: 3-Party Adoptions, SIPP, and my reading list for this weekend
I’ve been behind on posting the news, but what a news week it has been: News #1. Judge Antonio Marin allows a three-person adoption: two moms and a dad. DO NOT read the comments unless you want your eyes to roll out of your head. News #2. Judge Michael Hanzman writes a very long order…
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What I’m Reading: Dorothy E. Roberts — Prison, Foster Care, and the Systemic Punishment of Black Mothers
Abstract This Article analyzes how the U.S. prison and foster care systems work together to punish black mothers in the service of preserving race, gender, and class inequality in a neoliberal age. The intersection of these systems is only one example of many forms of overpolicing that overlap and converge in the lives of poor women of color.…
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Interesting Law Review Articles on Child Welfare
I’m about a year behind on law reviews, but here are some recent articles of interest. I’ll get to my backlog later. Sedating Forgotten Children: How Unnecessary Psychotropic Medication Endangers Foster Children’s Rights and Health Matthew M. Cummings 32 B.C. J.L. & Soc. Just. 357 Boston College Journal of Law & Social Justice Spring, 2012…
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Next Friends in Dependency
Robin Rosenberg and Sarah Campbell are proposing the use of next friends to assert a child’s request for an attorney in dependency proceedings. The next friend would then have standing to appeal a denial of the order to appoint counsel. Has anyone tried this?
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Too Many, Too Much, Too Young – Oversight of Psychotropic Medication for Children in Foster Care
I was prepared to eye-roll, but this ACYF memo is the most comprehensive government document on psych meds I have seen yet. Until all drugs are properly studied in the populations for which they are being used, the lack of specific evidence-based recommendations reinforces the need for close supervision and monitoring for patients receiving psychotropic…
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Juvenile in Justice
If you have not seen the Juvenile-In-Justice blog yet, you should. Stark pictures of a system that is not living up to anyone’s expectations. From wired.com: The resulting photo-survey, Juvenile-In-Justice, documents 350 facilities in over 30 states. It’s more than a peek into unseen worlds — it is a call to action and care. “I grew up in…
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Ethical Issues in Child Representation (video)
A few months ago, the Florida Legal Needs of Children Committee put on a panel to discuss ethical issues in the representation of children. The video is here. I haven’t had a chance to review it fully yet, because it is LONG.