Children & the Law Section Blog | Children & the Law Section

This blog discusses information of interest to attorneys who represent various parties, including children, parents, and grandparents, as well as agencies that serve children. Published by the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Children & the Law Section, articles include those on changes in the statutes, important appellate and Supreme Court decisions, and family law, juvenile delinquency and child welfare proceedings.

Section members include judges, court commissioners, prosecutors, guardians ad litem, agency attorneys, and private practice attorneys. The practice areas of the section members include family, juvenile delinquency and child welfare proceedings. The section has an email list, monitors and proposes legislation, produces CLE programs, and publishes a newsletter.

Members of the State Bar of Wisconsin may join the section by visiting https://www.wisbar.org/formembers/groups/pages/join-a-group.aspx (login required).

Section website: https://www.wisbar.org/formembers/groups/sections/ChildrenandtheLawSection/pages/home.aspx

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By: Children & the Law Section | State Bar of Wisconsin

Blog Authors

Christie A. Christie
Rebecca A. Foley
Beth A. Lauck
Monika Allis
Payton Altman
Nicole Beitzinger
Sienna Borchardt
Morgan Boyd
Jessica Brown
Emily Dudak Leiter
Eileen E. Fredericks
Jennifer E. Lehner
Rozita Gerhardt
Azucena Guizar
Alyssa H. Paulus
Abigail Hean
Bailey Holt
Brooke Houston
Melissa Ivens
Michael J. Puerner
Alexandra K. Evans
Alaina K. Fahley
Steven Konitshek
Courtney L.A. Roelandts
Kelsey L. Stefka
Lisa-Marie Line
Erin M. Idler
Heather M. Miller
Jennah Marie Curtin
Yolanda Mercedes Gauna
Renee Pasciak
Marco R. Bichanich
Diane R. Rondini
Clarice R. Ruehl
Matthew S. Young
Jenni Spies Karas
Elisabeth Stockbridge
Grace Tressler
Kristen Wetzel

Latest from Children & the Law Section Blog | Children & the Law Section

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Diane Rondini, a retired public defender, has received the 2024 Robert E. Shepherd Jr. Leadership Award for Excellence in Youth Defense. Diane Rondini, a retired public defender and past chair of the State Bar of Wisconsin Children and the Law Section Board, has received the 2024 Robert E. Shepherd Jr. Leadership Award for Excellence in Youth Defense at the Gault Center’s Youth Defense Leadership Summit in Denver, Colorado, on Oct. 19, 2024. About the Award The Shepherd Award celebrates…
Continue Reading Diane Rondini Wins Prestigious Leadership Award for Excellence in Youth Defense

The sibling bond is a fundamental aspect of human relationships. The bond often outlasts many other connections throughout a person’s life.

In the area of foster care and adoption, where stability and emotional support are important, the preservation of sibling relationships takes on an even greater significance.

As children navigate their self-discovery and personal development, the sibling relationship is a critical influence in their lives. Thus, understanding the impacts of sibling separation in foster care and adoption settings is…
Continue Reading The Sibling Bond: Its Importance in Foster Care and Adoptive Placement

In May 2024 in this blog, 1 my co-author Jenni Spies Karas and I warned that practitioners and judges should be mindful to cite the authority by which they are requesting or entering default judgment, pending the outcome of the Wisconsin Supreme Court case State v. R.A.M.

That caution has become a reality.

Courtney L.A. Roelandts, Marquette 2018, is the assistant managing attorney of the Children’s Court Guardian ad Litem Division of the Legal Aid Society of…
Continue Reading State v. R.A.M. and a Parent’s Right to Counsel in TPR Cases

Transracial adoption has elicited strong responses for over five decades, with the country split between two extreme ends of the spectrum. On one end, transracial adoption is compared to cultural genocide, while on the other, transracial adoption provides children of color with better opportunities and diverse cultural experiences.1 There is little agreement regarding transracial adoption. However, what is certain is that colorblindness and a lack of cultural competency pose significant threats to children who are transracially adopted. A…
Continue Reading Colorblindness and Cultural Competency in Transracial Adoptions

A parent in a termination of parental rights proceeding has a near absolute statutory right to counsel, pursuant to Wis. Stat. section 48.23. Case law establishes that a parent’s statutory right to counsel is not limited to those who appear in person, and that such a right can withstand default judgment.1Wis. Stat. Section 48.23(2)(b)3 In response to these cases, the Wisconsin Legislature amended the statutes to create a process by which a parent may presumptively waive their…
Continue Reading ‘Egregious’ and Accidental Waiver of Counsel in TPR Cases

For the past several years, Wisconsin has ranked near the top of the country for racial disparity in nearly every category related to the juvenile justice system.1

State and national trends also support that there is a particular group of youth of color that are uniquely susceptible to involvement in the juvenile justice system: those who have a disability. Nationally, children with disabilities are removed from school and referred to and involved in the juvenile justice system at…
Continue Reading Interrupting the School to Prison Pipeline at the Intersection of Race and Disability

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The idea of a family drug treatment court is that it takes teamwork, collaboration, and commitment to successfully rehabilitate participants with substance use disorders via a community-based alternative to incarceration.

Milwaukee County’s Family Drug Treatment Court (FDTC), begun in May 2011, and was a first for Wisconsin. The program diverts participants from the traditional justice system into a specialty court and creates an individualized plan that takes into account the participant’s mental and physical health as well as any…
Continue Reading An Overview of Milwaukee County’s Family Drug Treatment Court

For the past several years, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) has researched models that promote family engagement with parent experiences in the child welfare system to effect change. DCF explored many different models, and selected Iowa’s Parent Partner Model to adapt in Wisconsin because of its many potential benefits as well as for the ability for Wisconsin to contribute to the research base. Parents Supporting Parents in Wisconsin The Wisconsin Parent Partner Model, known as Parents Supporting …
Continue Reading Invaluable: Wisconsin’s Parent Support Program

Earlier this year, the Wisconsin Supreme Court again waded into the waters of termination of parental rights law in State v. A.G.1 The Court, in its decision, addressed whether, A.G.’s plea was knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently entered, based on the circuit court informing him during the plea colloquy that the State would have to prove at disposition that termination of parental rights was in the best interests of his child by “clear and convincing” evidence. Wis. Stat. section…
Continue Reading Burden of Proof: ‘A.G.’ and TPR Dispositional Hearings

On June 15, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court critically upheld the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in a 7-2 decision written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, in Haaland v. Brackeen.1

Indian community members, advocacy groups, and family law practitioners awaited the decision with bated breath since oral arguments concluded on Nov. 9, 2022.

The Haaland decision validates and protects adoption practices that preserve the heritage of Indian children. This decision further solidifies the relationship between…
Continue Reading Implications of Haaland and the Indian Child Welfare Act

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The Tailored Dispositional Orders Project is led by the Children’s Court Improvement Program (CCIP) and the Department of Children and Families (DCF).

The CHIPS Tailored Dispositional Project was piloted in three counties during 2021-22. The project is now being expanded statewide to counties that are interested in improving their CHIPS and Youth Justice conditions.

Counties participating in the project have seen a reduction in the number of conditions, language that is easier for parents and youth to understand, and…
Continue Reading Improving CHIPS and Youth Justice Conditions through the Tailored Dispositional Orders Project

Guardians ad litem (GAL) ​​are tasked with the unique role of representing a child’s wishes and their best interest. Everything a GAL does is to ensure that children have safe environments to grow up in and the most meaningful relationships possible with their families.

It is important that GALs understand the impact a child with disabilities has on their family, so they can effectively be an advocate for the child.

Every professional who works within and around the child…
Continue Reading Unveiling the Gaps: Improving Our Advocacy for Disabled Children

Transgender children and their families are under attack. In the last two years, politicians and lawmakers have sought to limit transgender youth from accessing health care, education, and other basic rights.

Through a campaign of moral outrage based on misleading, incorrect, and at times outright fabricated information, state legislators have introduced at least 306 bills from 2020 to 2022 that target the trans community. Most concerning, the majority of these laws, 86%, center on transgender youth.1

Transgender youth…
Continue Reading Gender-affirming Care Is Not Child Abuse

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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?

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

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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…
Continue Reading Transitioning CHIPS Children to Adult Guardianship