Legislative Bill 180: Case Study

Randy Rand, Deidre Rand, and Richard Warshak developed the Family Bridges program (Warkshak, 2010). “The Family Bridges workshop has helped families with alienated children throughout the U.S. and other countries for the past 23 years” (Family Bridges: A Workshop for Troubled and Alienated Parent-Child Relationships, 2004-2013). The program was created for participation by the rejected parent and the child. It is a four-day residential, educational and experiential program. Participation in the intervention occurs when the court has made an interim or permanent award of custody to the rejected parent, and has referred the parent and child(ren)to Family

The article is stimulating to know that others states take action quickly to shield children from further abuse in their homes. The Indiana's Child Protective Services (CPS), offers a service to prevent out-home placement, and assistance to rejoin children with their families in situations where the children can return home (Indiana, 2015). This service is good, if the parents are able to resume the responsibility of taking care of their children.

The chosen population of interest for the course project is children who are placed in foster care. Children in foster care are considered vulnerable due to a variety of reasons for which they are taken away from home and placed in the child welfare system. Foster care children are often removed from their home due to physical abuse, drug exposure, or in some cases due to parental inability to fulfill the child basic necessities. Foster care children are at greater risk of mental, health, and behavioral problems (Lovie, Beadnell, & Pecora, 2015). Case management is an essential part of the care plan to improve the outcomes of the population of interest. Foster care children face additional problems when the health care system is inadequate.

Again, Section 24 authorizes the court to determine immediate “removal of a child from his home for the only reason to protect the child from serious abuse or neglect.” See Care & Protection of Robert. According to G.L. c. 119, Section 1, the court must “take into account the presumption that a child’s best interests generally are best served if the child is able to remain with her natural

Introduction The problems and concerns are a 16-year-old teenager named Tara Jones. Tara has been mandated to the Albert County Court for running away from her fostered home. The situation as of concern is Tara’s behaviors and outburst in the foster home. Tara’s beliefs are, her behaviors are under control and the foster mother needs to be more understanding and get a grasp with dealing with her behaviors. Tara had an argument about dating a 25- year old man.

“Visualize Child Protective Services (CPS) walking up to your home to take your children away from you. Now picture this, picture what the children feel like escorted away from their parents left to wonder where they will end up.” Says Larry in the beginning of our interview. “Many children experience these thoughts as they walk out the front door of what they call home.” What can we do to ease the anxiety of these young children taken away from parents? Kinship care is one viable option that can ease the worry for children. However, kinship care is not the only placement for children who are taken away from their homes. Other out-of-home placements include group homes, residential treatments, private child welfare institutions, shelters,

A mandate of the AFSA is that juvenile court judges terminate parental rights of biological parents who fail to reunify with their children. The law also states that parental rights should be terminated for parents whose children are in foster care for fifteen months within the last twenty-two months. According to the ASFA act once parental rights are terminated, children can longer return home to their biological parents and the parents are no longer entitled to rights meaning they no longer carry rights to the child. The juvenile court judge now will act as the parent of the children until they are placed up for adoption. ASFA gives state courts the option to allow juvenile court judges not to terminate parental rights in certain circumstances. One circumstance occurs when a child is in kinship care home placement. Juvenile courts usually do not terminate parental rights when children have long-term placement with relatives. Another situation would be when parental rights cannot be terminated is when the existing evidence that termination of parental rights are not in the best interest of the child. The determination of compelling evidence is at the discretion of the juvenile court judge. Last when a child welfare agency fails to provide services to the families for the safe return of the child to his/her biological

The Assembly Bill No. 746 Chapter 72 was created to amend Section 32261 of the Education Code. As an extension to the Interagency School Safety Demonstration Act of 1985, this law updates the definition of bullying to include the “post on a social network Internet Web site” (A.B. 746, 2011).

New Jersey Assembly Bill 826 prohibits smoking in automobiles when children are present. The primary sponsor is Charles Mainor, an Assemblyman for District 31. There are several co-sponsors; they are Assemblyman Vincent Prieto (District 32), Assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker (District 28), Assemblyman Herb Conaway Jr. (District 7), Assemblyman Angel Fuentes (5), Assemblyman Gilbert Wilson (District 5), and Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz (District 21). Bill A826 establishes a $100 fine to any person smoking in a motor vehicle with a child of 16 years or younger present. No motor vehicle points or automobile insurance points will be assessed from a violation of the provisions of the bill. A826 also requires the Chief Administrator of the NJ Motor Vehicle Commission to establish a public awareness campaign to inform the public about its provisions. There is no fiscal note attached (New Jersey Assembly Bill 826).

A little over three years ago, Gabriel Fernandez, an eight year old boy, was beaten to death, allegedly, by his mother and the boyfriend of his mother in Palmdale, California. Based on the reports of the boy’s teacher, who had repetitively conveyed evidence of maltreatment to social services before the child’s death, that fatal incident was not the first time he had been abused (LA Times, 2016). According to the Los Angeles Times (2016), “In the months before the boy was killed, county child protection caseworkers and sheriff 's deputies investigated allegations of abuse without removing Gabriel from the home.” Though the consequences of this situation may be imputed to possible negligence of the social workers involved, this case gruesomely highlights one of the most highly contested policies in child welfare: family preservation vs. child removal. Family preservation can be defined as a social policy which encourages, “comprehensive, short-term, intensive services for families delivered primarily in the home [and is] designed to prevent the unnecessary out-of-home placement of children or to promote family reunification” (Child Welfare League of America). While the definition may sound simple, it is often times difficult for a social worker to determine whether it is best to leave a child in a home to avoid separation, which can be painful, or to remove a child to dodge potential abuse or harm. In order to fully understand the implications of family preservation, it is

After I watched the documentary “Cradle to Jail”, my heart sank having seen Kenneth and Kentrell’s reactions to the Judge’s decision to become wards of the state and put into a placement facility. Watching their mother make such a difficult decision being she loved them so much that she agreed that her sons needed help and she needed the court's assistance steering them into maturity. She knew that if they went home with her they would get into illegal activities again.

Divorcing parents need to learn the child custody and visitation options that are available to them and the legal standards applied to the different options. They need to balance that knowledge against an unflinching assessment of their ability to work with their former spouse to make a fully informed decision about their children's future. Most divorcing couples are ultimately able to agree on custody and visitation issues without the need for a court order. Knowledgeable advice and representation from an experienced family law attorney often makes the difference in reaching a fair, mutually satisfactory agreement. When an agreement cannot be reached, success at trial may depend on the early involvement of a family law attorney with an established track record in contested custody matters.

The current rules for reuniting minors back with their family, consists of a multitude of parts. Some of these rules consist of the parent(s) having a stable home and environment, which has to be drug and abuse free. Another rule is that in order to regain custody back of the children, the parent(s) must pass a multitude of drug tests, in order to prove that the parent is stable enough to raise children. And, there

Before ordering a change to the custody order, the court will scrutinize the reasons provided by the parent requesting the change. The court makes every attempt to avoid interrupting a child’s lifestyle and well-being

Finally, it is important to note that the Social Services Administration, family courts, and foster children have their own unique needs with regards to parental visitation. Historically, courts have typically terminated the guardianship of an incarcerated parent for three main reasons: (1) abandonment, (2) the nature of the felony conviction, and (3) the length of time in foster care. However, many states have since