July 2008 Archives

These words, spoken by federal District Court (and former NY Family Court) Judge Richard M. Berman, ushered in the 11 year sentence he levied on impostor Judith Leekin for adoption fraud. You might remember Leekin from last year's news as the woman who lied to adopt 11 disabled children while raking in more than $1 million in government adoption subsidies.

Once again public school administrators, in their infinite wisdom and finely honed reasoning that only a Ph.D. can provide, have decided to strip search a 13 year old girl in the timeless pursuit of prescription-strength ibuprofen. And once again, a United States court of appeals has determined that this is unconstitutional.

According to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Redding v. Safford Unified School Dist. #1, the strip search of honor student Savana Redding "was neither 'justified at its inception,' nor, as a grossly intrusive search of a middle school girl to locate pills with the potency of two over-the-counter Advil capsules, 'reasonably related in scope to the circumstances' giving rise to its initiation."

Last month, in a widely criticized decision, the United States Supreme Court upheld criminal penalties for promoting virtual child pornography. The 7-2 decision in United States v. Williams, however, rightfully empowers law enforcement in the battle against the worldwide criminal networks where child pornography is freely produced, solicited and offered.

What most people do not realize is that child pornography is per se illegal. Although some child pornography might fall under the legal definition of obscenity, it does not have to be analyzed under traditional First Amendment guidelines.

I could not let this Fourth of July holiday weekend slip by without a mention of MTV's new TRUELIFE drama entitled "I'm Placing my Baby for Adoption!" Thanks to the NCFA announcement supporting the show, I'm happy to bring this tidbit to a much wider audience.

According to the NCFA email I received last month (there is no mention of the show on the NCFA website):

The National Council For Adoption is lending a helping hand to the producers of an adoption documentary for the successful and popular MTV's True Life series.

The adoption documentary will follow three or four young unwed birthmothers on video as they go through difficult and emotional decisions in developing adoption plans for their babies.

The phrase "best interests of the child" is a cornerstone of American legal jurisprudence concerning children and children's rights. Surprisingly, or perhaps not surprisingly, this fundamental concept is not limited to the United States or other common law countries.

A recent lecture by Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, entitled The Best Interests of the Child - what it means and what it demands from adults, discusses this idea from a European and international human rights perspective as established in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Here are some excerpts: