NCALP Weekly News Summary

January 27, 2014

If you are unable to access the links on this page click here. Follow us: 2014 Wells Conference The National Center for Adoption Law and Policy, in collaboration with Capital University Law Review, is pleased to sponsor the 10th Annual Wells Conference on Adoption Law: We Are Not All The Same: Meeting Children's Individual Needs . Each year the Wells Conference attracts professionals and academics who are pioneers and innovators in the fields of child welfare and adoption law. Date: March 6, 2014 Time: 8:45 am - 4:30 pm Capital University Law School 303 East Broad Street Columbus Ohio   43215 TO REGISTER and for more information, click here.   CHILD WELFARE NEW JERSEY: “Experts to New Jersey Supreme Court: Drug Treatment is not Child Abuse” 76 organizations and experts in maternal, fetal, and child health, addiction treatment, and health advocacy filed a brief before the New Jersey Supreme Court urging it to overturn a lower court ruling making the state’s civil child abuse law applicable to women who received medically prescribed methadone treatment while pregnant. In the brief, experts attested that it is nonsensical to regard methadone treatment as a form of child abuse. Unless the lower court decision is reversed, New Jersey would become the only state the in country to effectively ban pregnant women from receiving methadone treatment. The court is expected to hear oral arguments this term. Governing, November 13th, 2013 For Full Article Click Here ADOPTION NEW JERSEY: “More Than Philomena’s Story: Relinquished Children, Forced Adoptions, and the Search for Identity in Ireland and America” BY: Linda Stamato Legislators in New Jersey will decide whether to give thousands of accurate birth certificates to adult adoptees, bearing their names and the names of their birth parents. Currently, these adult adoptees have access to only falsified birth certificates as the original certificates were sealed by the state when their adoptions were finalized. Since 1940, children were issued amended birth certificates portraying their adoptive parents as their biological ones. New Jersey Senators believe this is a civil rights issue as children seeking their birth parents have a right to do so and should have access to important information about their identity and family health histories. nj.com, January 8th, 2014 For Full Article Click Here FOSTER CARE GEORGIA: “One Option to Solving Foster Care Issues: Privatization” BY: Michael King Georgia state House Speaker, David Ralston, announced that he is open to privatizing the state Department of Family and Children Services as several other states do now, outsourcing foster care to non-profit agencies. After multiple deaths of foster children last fall, Ralston believes that creating privately handled foster care could help solve mismanagement of cases. However, privatized foster care has not succeeded everywhere and each state needs its own solution. 11 Alive, January 10th, 2014 For Full Article Click Here CHILD WELFARE MICHIGAN: “Drug-Addicted Babies & the Legal System” BY: Mike Hoey Drug-addicted babies have become a serious public health concern nationwide in the last few years. Once a drug-addicted child is born, the prosecutor’s office will file a petition to get jurisdiction over the family which allows the state to make sure the baby and mother receive the help they need. Under law, there is no criminal prosecution for delivery of drugs to a fetus. Instead, the goal is to keep the child safe and to help the mother recover, using a treatment approach rather than a punitive approach. ABC 10, January 10th, 2014 For Full Article Click Here CHILD PROTECTION KENTUCKY: “Legislation to Focus on Spotting Early Signs Of Child Abuse” BY: Stu Johnson Legislation that requires training for physicians so they can better spot signs of child abuse was given a preliminary hearing at the state capital. The bill requires doctors who take care of kids, in addition to nurses, emergency room workers, and social workers, to participate in a one hour training focusing on symptoms such as bruising on the children. The proposed legislation was pushed after the Child Fatality and Near Fatality External Review Panel investigated 55 child fatalities and near fatality cases in the last year. WEKU News, January 9th, 2014 For Full Article Click Here The preceding are summaries of adoption/child welfare law news articles prepared by The National Center for Adoption Law & Policy. These summaries are provided for your information only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Center. We strive to print news that reflects the diversity of our readership and a variety of viewpoints and approaches to child welfare issues. While we may not agree with a position taken, we believe in the critical importance to our constituents of impartial reporting.