Effective Strategies for Courtroom Advocacy on Drug Use and Parenting By Dr. Ron Abrahams and Nancy Rosenbloom An overview of harm reduction approaches for pregnant and parenting mothers accused of child neglect or abuse related to drug or alcohol use and advocacy strategies.
Fifth Circuit Holds Indian Child Welfare Act is Constitutional By Beth Kurtz The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a 2018 district court decision and held the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA): (1) does not amount to race-based discrimination in violation of the Equal Protection Clause; (2) does not violate the Tenth Amendment’s anti-commandeering doctrine; and (3) does not violate the non-delegation doctrine of Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution. The Fifth Circuit also held the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) had authority to promulgate its 2016 ICWA regulations.
Influencing and Challenging Judges and Their Decisions in Child Welfare Cases By Andrew Cohen Although judges have the power to control almost every aspect of a dependency case, counsel for parents and children can influence that power to their clients’ benefit. To influence judges, counsel must understand the nature and limits of judicial authority. And when judges exceed those limits, counsel must know what actions to take to protect their clients’ rights and interests.
How Adolescent Brain Science Supports Youth Engagement in Court Hearings and Case Planning By ABA Youth Engagement Project Guidance for attorneys and child welfare professionals on using the latest adolescent brain science to engage youth in the child welfare system in their case plans and court hearings.
Montana Supreme Court Clarifies Reasonable Efforts in Child Welfare Case By Nicole Goodman Johnson The Montana Supreme Court overturned a termination of parental rights decision, holding: (1) the child welfare agency failed to make reasonable efforts to reunite the mother with her child; and (2) the agency did not establish by clear and convincing evidence that the mother’s substance use disorder was unlikely to change within a reasonable time.
Providing Parents Multidisciplinary Legal Representation Significantly Reduces Children’s Time in Foster Care By Martin Guggenheim and Susan Jacobs Marty Guggenheim and Susan Jacobs share the practical significance of a landmark study showing the type of legal representation parents receive significantly affects how long children stay in foster care. A multidisciplinary, or team, approach to representation offers many benefits and improves outcomes.
High-Quality Legal Representation is Critical to Creating a Better Child Welfare System By David Kelly and Jerry Milner The U.S. Children's Bureau has a new vision for child welfare in the U.S.: preventing child maltreatment from occurring and reducing the need for family separation and foster care. This article offers explains the importance of high-quality legal representation in bringing that vision to life.
Illegal Drug Use While Pregnant is Not Child Abuse By Nicole Johnson The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that a mother’s use of opioids while pregnant is not civil child abuse under the Child Protective Services Law, which carries with it inclusion in a statewide database of child abuse perpetrators.
Incarcerated Parents Must be Allowed to Participate in Entire TPR Hearing By Nicole Johnson The Iowa Supreme Court held an incarcerated parent has a constitutional due process right to participate in the entire termination of parental rights (TPR) hearing and the trial court has a responsibility to ensure the parent can respond to the state’s evidence.
Claiming Title IV-E Funds to Pay for Parents’ and Children’s Attorneys: A Brief Technical Overview By Mark Hardin An overview of the recent federal policy change that allows states to claim federal matching funds through Title IV-E of the Social Security Act to help pay the costs of attorneys representing certain children and their parents in child welfare legal proceedings.
Overcoming Barriers to Making Meaningful Reasonable Efforts Findings By Judge Leonard Edwards (ret.)* This article explains what reasonable efforts findings the judge must make, barriers that prevent the judge from making these findings, and a solution that could make reasonable efforts findings more meaningful.