Birdman Adoptive Father Stephen Melinger Back in the News
Look who's back! Was it adoption for love? Child trafficking via surrogacy? Or something else? The bizarre case of birdman Stephen Melinger is back in the news, this time in a New York Times article on the perils and pitfalls of surrogacy. Do check out this story in the Times, but just remember from Melinger to womb outsourcing, snowflake adoptions and sperm donor introductions for lesbians, this blog gave you the scoop first.
Legal Immunity for CPS Workers who Lie?
The critics and plaintiffs’ attorneys are out there. They seethe with frustration in their assertion that there are child protection workers who are as dysfunctional and flawed as some of the abusive and neglectful parents they investigate. They feel mistreated, ambushed, without recourse to a neutral oversight authority, and fume that the courts will believe the word of child protection workers over their clients.
And yet, when there is a credible allegation that a child protection worker has knowingly made misleading or false statements which resulted in the ...
Virtual Child Porn and Child Exploitation
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 ...
When a Child Safety Plan = Coercion
The recent trend in child protective services (CPS) of creating safety plans received a set back recently in federal court. Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer of the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois ruled that in-home safety plans created by the Illinois Department of Children and Families (DCFS) were illegal because they were secured in a coercive manner.
The coercion at issue was the CPS worker's express or implied threat of to take the child into protective custody lasting more than a brief or temporary period of time. The court also ruled that ...
Adoptive Mother Abandons Children in Africa
In one of the more bizarre stories I've encountered, seven adopted American children, ages 8 to 17, were recently discovered in an African orphanage. The adoptive mother, Mercury Denise Liggins, had apparently left the children with a relative in Nigeria while she went to work for Haliburton in Iraq. After the children were discovered by a passing missionary, House Majority Speaker Tom DeLay, Senator John Cornyn and State Department officials intervened to return the children to Houston. The children, who were born and raised in Texas, were placed with Liggins by Houston ...
Doe v. Little Rock School District
This case required the court to decide whether the practice of the Little Rock School District that subjects secondary public school students to random, suspicionless searches of their persons and belongings by school officials is unconstitutional. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals held that such searches violate the students' fourth amendment rights because they unreasonably invade their legitimate expectations of privacy.