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Monday, April 21, 2014
American Minute with Bill Federer 'Mark Twain' - from Nevada to the Middle East
NCALP Weekly News Summary
April 21, 2014
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ADOPTION
WISCONSIN: “Wisconsin Inks Bill to Prevent Parents From ‘Giving Away’ Adopted Children”
BY: David Stout
Wisconsin’s governor signed a bill into law to limit private custody transfers of unwanted adopted children. This legislation is the first of its kind in the country. Previously, many children were being given to abusive adults without safeguards in place. Under the new law, before parents transfer the custody of their children, approval from a judge must be obtained. Parents who do not comply with this requirement can face up to nine months in jail or a $10,000 fine.
Time, April 17th, 2104
For Full Article Click Here
BY: David Stout
Wisconsin’s governor signed a bill into law to limit private custody transfers of unwanted adopted children. This legislation is the first of its kind in the country. Previously, many children were being given to abusive adults without safeguards in place. Under the new law, before parents transfer the custody of their children, approval from a judge must be obtained. Parents who do not comply with this requirement can face up to nine months in jail or a $10,000 fine.
Time, April 17th, 2104
For Full Article Click Here
FOSTER CARE
ALASKA: “Voice of Alaska: Keeping Foster Children with Relatives Should be a Priority”
BY: Amanda Metivier
House Bill 54 seeks to keep the more than 2,000 children in foster care throughout the state of Alaska with their families instead of being placed with strangers in the foster care system. If passed, the legislation would require an extensive relative search to be completed within the first 30 days after a child is removed from their home due to abuse and neglect. Current law does require the search to be done; however, it is not always completed. The new law would ensure compliance by requiring a supervisor’s signature and verification that the search was completed.
Peninsula Clarion, April 14th, 2014
For Full Article Click Here
BY: Amanda Metivier
House Bill 54 seeks to keep the more than 2,000 children in foster care throughout the state of Alaska with their families instead of being placed with strangers in the foster care system. If passed, the legislation would require an extensive relative search to be completed within the first 30 days after a child is removed from their home due to abuse and neglect. Current law does require the search to be done; however, it is not always completed. The new law would ensure compliance by requiring a supervisor’s signature and verification that the search was completed.
Peninsula Clarion, April 14th, 2014
For Full Article Click Here
ADOPTION
NEW YORK: “Surrogacy Shouldn’t Block Adoption, Court Determines”
BY: Joel Stashenko
A Family Court Judge in New York determined that a man could legally adopt his husband’s biological twins even though they were born to a woman under an illegal surrogacy agreement. Although the surrogacy agreement is void and unenforceable under New York Law, the Judge ruled that the best interest of the twins is the most important consideration in such a matter and, because the twins are thriving with the couple, the adoption could go forward. The current policy against surrogacy contracts has not been amended since its enactment.
New York Law Journal, April 10th, 2014
For Full Article Click Here
BY: Joel Stashenko
A Family Court Judge in New York determined that a man could legally adopt his husband’s biological twins even though they were born to a woman under an illegal surrogacy agreement. Although the surrogacy agreement is void and unenforceable under New York Law, the Judge ruled that the best interest of the twins is the most important consideration in such a matter and, because the twins are thriving with the couple, the adoption could go forward. The current policy against surrogacy contracts has not been amended since its enactment.
New York Law Journal, April 10th, 2014
For Full Article Click Here
FOSTER CARE
CALIFORNIA: “Calif. Legislation Would Bolster Child Welfare, Education Info Sharing”
BY: Teddy Lederer
Assembly Bill 1878 was created to form a direct link between agencies and schools to share information about children in the foster care system. The bill proposes that local schools be required to adopt the new policies by January of 2016. In addition, the billseeks to add four new categories of information that will be required to be included in a foster youth’s case plan, including: the school and the school district the child is attending; academic progress; and school attendance records. This bill will go before the Assembly Education Committee for input later this month.
Chronicle of Social Change, April 15th, 2014
For Full Article Click Here
BY: Teddy Lederer
Assembly Bill 1878 was created to form a direct link between agencies and schools to share information about children in the foster care system. The bill proposes that local schools be required to adopt the new policies by January of 2016. In addition, the billseeks to add four new categories of information that will be required to be included in a foster youth’s case plan, including: the school and the school district the child is attending; academic progress; and school attendance records. This bill will go before the Assembly Education Committee for input later this month.
Chronicle of Social Change, April 15th, 2014
For Full Article Click Here
CHILD WELFARE
TENNESSEE: “Groups Urge Tennessee Governor to Veto Prenatal Drug Use Bill”
BY: Suzanne Presto and Dana Ford
SB 1391, which passed both the Tenessee Senate and House, would allow a woman to be prosecuted if she illegally takes drugs while pregnant and her child is harmed. Many groups believe that the bill is constitutionally unsound and would threaten the health and well-being of families because the risk of prosecution would drive women away from seeking pregnancy-related care. According to the Tennessee Department of Health, more than 900 newborns experienced drug withdrawals last year. Tennessee would be the first state in the country to pass this type of law.
CNN, April 17th, 2014
For Full Article Click Here
BY: Suzanne Presto and Dana Ford
SB 1391, which passed both the Tenessee Senate and House, would allow a woman to be prosecuted if she illegally takes drugs while pregnant and her child is harmed. Many groups believe that the bill is constitutionally unsound and would threaten the health and well-being of families because the risk of prosecution would drive women away from seeking pregnancy-related care. According to the Tennessee Department of Health, more than 900 newborns experienced drug withdrawals last year. Tennessee would be the first state in the country to pass this type of law.
CNN, April 17th, 2014
For Full Article Click Here
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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.
Alabama S.Ct. makes interesting points re: Constitution & kids
| Subject: | Alabama S.Ct. makes interesting points re: Constitution & kids |
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| Date: | Mon, 21 Apr 2014 14:16:56 -0400 |
| From: | Bruce Eden <b_eden@verizon.net> |
In a case unrelated to abortion, the Alabama Supreme Court rendered a decision that could topple the legal spires of unholy abortions here in the United States.
The case involved Sarah Janie Hicks who used illegal drugs while she was pregnant. After her baby was born, the infant tested positive for drugs and Hicks was charged with a crime and ended up pleading guilty to violating Alabama’s chemical endangerment statute. Her conviction was challenged and ended up before the Alabama State Supreme Court on the basis that the term ‘child’ did not include the unborn.
In an 8-1 decision, the court upheld the conviction of Hicks. Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Roy Moore wrote in his concurring specially part of the ruling (excerpts below taken from full document):
‘[B]ecause an unborn child has an inalienable right to life from its earliest stages of development, it is entitled ... to a life free from the harmful effects of chemicals at all stages of development.’ ___ So. 3d at ___. I write separately to emphasize that the inalienable right to life is a gift of God that civil government must secure for all personsborn and unborn.”
“I. Our Creator, Not Government, Gives to All People ‘Unalienable’ Natural Rights.”
“According to our Nation's charter, the Declaration of Independence, the United States was founded upon the ‘self-evident’ truth that ‘all Men are created equal, [and] that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.’ Declaration of Independence, ¶ 2 (1776). Denominated in the United States Code Annotated as one of the ‘Organic Laws of the United States of America,’ the Declaration acknowledges as ‘self-evident the truth that all human beings are endowed with inherent dignity and the right to life as a direct result of having been created by God. When it was signed by our Founding Fathers in 1776, the Declaration returned to first principles of God, His law, and human rights and government…”
“In its views of law and life by the most influential legal treatise of the time, Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765). See, e.g., District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 593-94 (2008) (recognizing Blackstone's work as ‘the preeminent authority on English law for the founding generation’ (quoting Alden v. Maine, 527 U.S. 706, 715 (1999))). Blackstone recognized that God's law was superior to all other laws:
"This law of nature, being co-eval [beginning at the same time] with mankind and dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this ...."
“Therefore, as stated by James Wilson, one of the first Justices on the United States Supreme Court: ‘Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is divine.’…”
“II. The Right to Life is an ‘Unalienable’ Gift of God.”
“The first right listed in the Declaration as among our unalienable rights is the right to ‘Life.’ Blackstone wrote that ‘[l]ife is the immediate gift of God, a right inherent by nature in every individual; and it begins in contemplation of law as soon as an infant is able to stir in the mother's womb.’"…
“God's creation of man and woman in His own image, Genesis 1:27 (King James), together with the divine command, ‘Thou shalt not kill,’ provides the baseline for the right to life. See Exodus 20:13 (King James). Exodus 21 provides express protection for the unborn: where fighting men ‘hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her ... [a]nd if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life.’ Exodus 21:22-23; see id. (requiring that if ‘no mischief follow’ then the offender must pay a fine). Both testaments attest to the sanctity and personhood of unborn life. See, e.g., Psalm 139:13-15 (‘For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.’); Luke 1:44 (Elizabeth declaring that ‘the babe leaped in my womb for joy’)…”
“III. All Governments Must Secure God-Given Rights.”
“Although not the source of our rights, governments are instituted in order to ‘secure these rights’ given by God, the Declaration continues, and are fashioned by the people ‘in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.’ Thomas Jefferson identified ‘the first and only legitimate object of good government’ to be ‘[t]he care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction.’…
“VI. States Have an Affirmative Duty to Protect Unborn Human Life Under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
“The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment provides that a state may not ‘deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.’ U.S. Const. amend. XIV (emphasis added). ‘[T]he framers [of the Fourteenth Amendment] attempted to create a legal bridge between their understanding of the Declaration of Independence, with its grand declarations of equality and rights endowed by a Creator God, and constitutional jurisprudence.’…”
“A plain reading of the Equal Protection Clause, therefore, indicates that states have an affirmative constitutional duty to protect unborn persons within their jurisdiction to the same degree as born persons. ‘The purpose of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is to secure every person within the state's jurisdiction against intentional and arbitrary discrimination, whether occasioned by express terms of a statute or by its improper execution through duly constituted agents."…
“VII. Conclusion.”
“Under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, states have an obligation to provide to unborn children at any stage of their development the same legal protection from injury and death they provide to persons already born. Because a human life with a full genetic endowment comes into existence at the moment of conception, the self-evident truth that ‘all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights’ encompasses the moment of conception. Legal recognition of the unborn as members of the human family derives ultimately from the laws of nature and of nature's God, Who created human life in His image and protected it with the commandment: ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ Therefore, the interpretation of the word ‘child’ in Alabama's chemical-endangerment statute, § 26-15-3.2, Ala. Code 1975, to include all human beings from the moment of conception is fully consistent with these first principles regarding life and law.”
FULL OPINION HERE:
https://www.liberty.edu/media/9980/attachments/041814-Ex_parte_Hicks_1110620.pdf
Saturday, April 19, 2014
American Minute with Bill Federer Government coming to arrest Tea Party leader, take guns - 'Patriots Day'
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