On May 14, 2019,
Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos announced the creation of the Speaker’s Task Force on Adoption, charged with addressing the barriers faced by biological and adoptive parents in the adoption process. On Oct. 3, 2019, the task force
published an interim report – and proposed
numerous bills in the 2019-20 legislative cycle. One of the task force’s recommendations was to eliminate jury trials in the fact-finding portion of the adoption process.
Wisconsin Assembly Bill 628
Continue Reading For Efficiency’s Sake: Should Jury Trials be Eliminated in Involuntary TPR Actions?
Latest from Children & the Law Section Blog | Children & the Law Section
No Contest Pleas to Grounds in TPR Cases: A Practical Guide
The primary goal of Wis. Stat. chapter 48 is to protect children and to preserve families, whenever appropriate. When this cannot be done, “instability and impermanence in family relationships are contrary to the welfare of children and … [there is] importance of eliminating the need for children to wait unreasonable periods of time for their parents to correct the conditions that prevent their safe return to the family.“1
As practitioners, one simple way we can ensure children achieve
Continue Reading No Contest Pleas to Grounds in TPR Cases: A Practical Guide
Transitioning CHIPS Children to Adult Guardianship
I have practiced children’s law for a very long time. In the beginning of my career, I was a social worker and employed in the delinquency, CHIPS, and family arenas in the court system. During and after law school, I remained entrenched in the court system, working for the district attorney’s office prosecuting delinquency and CHIPS cases, and the Public Defender’s Office as advocate counsel for criminal, chapter 51, CHIPS, TPR, and guardianship cases. Over the past two
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Fictive Kin and Guardianship: Acknowledging Emotionally Significant Relationships with Children
Across the U.S., 2,529,000 children were raised in kinship care from 2020 through September 2022, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. In Wisconsin, there were approximately 32,000 children in kinship care during this time frame. This data includes in its definition of kinship care children who are cared for full time by blood relatives or other adults with whom they have a family-like relationship, such as godparents or close family friends. Most children are raised by kin
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We Need to Recognize the Implicit Bias in Wisconsin’s Youth Justice System
In the past few years, there has been a reckoning nationwide as to the history of racial injustice and its continued effects on people of color. The murder of George Floyd and countless other Black people by police has reinvigorated a national discussion of racial injustice in the U.S.
One only needs to observe one day in a Wisconsin courtroom to see racial disparity in stark reality. As a youth defense attorney in northeast Wisconsin for the past nine
Continue Reading We Need to Recognize the Implicit Bias in Wisconsin’s Youth Justice System
Youth Justice Reform: Progress in Replacing Lincoln Hills is Much-Needed Step Forward
Youth justice advocates have been on a rollercoaster the past several years, waiting to see if the promised changes to juvenile correctional facilities, such as closing Lincoln Hills/Copper Lake and opening one or more new facilities, will happen. While the number of children being held at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake has declined, there are still troubling issues with the facilities, including staffing shortages and the fact that most of the children are hours away from their
Continue Reading Youth Justice Reform: Progress in Replacing Lincoln Hills is Much-Needed Step Forward
Vaccines for Children and the Role of the GAL
The sudden emergence of the COVID-19 virus in early 2020 left families around the world with questions about how to best protect themselves. The development and ultimate approval of the COVID-19 vaccine for children has created an additional layer of uncertainty for many families when they do not agree on whether to vaccinate their children against COVID. This decision implicates the joint legal custody decisions, since it involves medical decision-making for the child. In Wisconsin In Wisconsin, when parents
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Family First and Qualified Residential Treatment Programs
The Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018 was signed into law in an effort to induce a dramatic shift in child welfare goals toward prevention and family preservation.1 Although Wisconsin deferred implementation until Oct. 1, 2021, the prevention services and appropriate placement model is now in full effect in the state.2 The child welfare system’s reconceptualization focuses on changing from reaction to abuse and neglect, to connection with services for families at risk of entering the
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Mental Health Resources for Children in Wisconsin
In recent years, further research into mental health and the continued efforts to destigmatize mental illness have contributed to an increase in access to resources for mental health information and treatments. These resources become increasingly important in providing children with mental and behavioral illnesses with the services they need to thrive, as these illnesses are developing earlier and at increasing rates in children. More Diagnoses Each Year Mental, behavioral, and developmental disorders in children begin developing in the early
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Due Process Rights in the Era of Video Proceedings
The spread of COVID-19 in early 2020 initiated a major shift in how people interacted with one another. What once took place in person moved online, and for some, the change was nice. Showing up virtually to work or school provided a getaway from the hassles of getting ready or commuting. While the push to an almost all-virtual way of living may have provided some with a reprieve from the stresses of everyday life, for others it made life
Continue Reading Due Process Rights in the Era of Video Proceedings
From a Juvenile’s Perspective: How Effective is the Milwaukee County Accountability Program?
The Milwaukee County Accountability Program (MCAP)started in 2012 as a diversion program to rehabilitate juveniles in the court system. Male youth (ages 13 to 16½) charged with delinquency cases who were at risk of being sent to the Department of Youth Corrections could be court ordered to MCAP as a postdispositional placement.1 This one-year program consisted of an out-of-home placement and an in-home placement with the supervision of the parent or guardian. Participating youth had been adjudicated delinquent
Continue Reading From a Juvenile’s Perspective: How Effective is the Milwaukee County Accountability Program?
A Reminder from Family Court: Domestic Violence Affects Children
In re The Marriage of Valadez, an ongoing divorce case in Waukesha County, has been the subject of consternation on both the part of legal journalists and members of the Wisconsin family law bar (notably for entirely different reasons).
The battle in the courtroom is ongoing, with the Wisconsin District 2 Court of Appeals ruling in February 2022 on three separate contempt findings issued by the trial judge, who thereafter
recused himself from the case.
The Case
Continue Reading A Reminder from Family Court: Domestic Violence Affects Children
U.S. Immigration Policy and Migrant Family Separation
One of the mainstays of President Donald Trump’s administration’s policies was a crackdown on immigration. This objective manifested in the “zero tolerance” policy, which encouraged attorneys to prosecute adults in federal court for crossing the border illegally.
Federal prosecutions then often required separation of the migrant from their families. Because entering the U.S. without proper documentation is a misdemeanor, it was not commonly prosecuted in federal court. Attorneys used to be given discretion to bring the case in federal
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LGBTQ Youth Need You to Educate Courts on Their Unique Issues
An estimated 35,000 youth in Wisconsin identify as belonging to the LGBTQ population. Given that this statistic comes from self-reported data, it is likely the number is even higher, as not everyone may feel ready or comfortable identifying themselves as such.
While courts are becoming more open to expert testimony regarding LGBTQ issues, a knowledge gap exists among legal practitioners and judges that requires closing. In particular, understanding the needs of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex youth may be challenging
Continue Reading LGBTQ Youth Need You to Educate Courts on Their Unique Issues
Incorporating Lived Experience in Wisconsin’s Child Welfare System
Attorneys who practice law in the child welfare system play a variety of roles – agency representation, guardian ad litem or youth attorney, parent attorney, judicial officer – but one thing is almost certain: they will have some level of interaction with parents of the children involved in their cases. How much value is given to a parent’s perspective or input may vary greatly, but hearing that voice is a vital part to child welfare transformation. While Wisconsin works
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The Proposed Guardian Training Requirement: Consequences for Petitioners
As it stands, Wisconsin has no training requirements for those who volunteer and are appointed as a guardian, but a bill currently before the Wisconsin Legislature may change that.
Senate Bill 92 proposes a list of requirements and training that a potential guardian must go through before taking guardianship.
Over time, it has become clear that some guardians can lack the adequate knowledge and or resources necessary for effectively carrying out their role. It is of vital importance to
Continue Reading The Proposed Guardian Training Requirement: Consequences for Petitioners