Maryland Family Law Maryland family law opinions and commentary
Foster youth are already among the most vulnerable populations in the United States. That susceptibility increases dramatically with the added variable of severe physical and mental disabilities. Youth with debilitating conditions such as cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, and neuromuscular scoliosis ...
Read More »Adjudication and disposition require separate hearings
A 4-year-old had been physically abused by her mother. At the adjudication hearing in a Child in Need of Assistance (“CINA”) proceeding, material allegations were sustained against her mother. No allegations were sustained against her father, with whom she had ...
Read More »Child support enforcement’s impact on people with limited income
The purpose of the child support enforcement system is to promote financial stability for children and families. The opposite effect can occur if enforcement actions are improperly directed at noncustodial parents (“obligors”) who are senior citizens or disabled, with incomes ...
Read More »Safe injection sites: A discussion
The opioid crisis has left a stunning amount of devastation throughout our country. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports from 1999 to 2017, more than 702,000 people have died from drug overdoses. The opioid crisis has a ...
Read More »Remembering Eileen O. Franch, champion of individual rights
On Jan. 2, 2020, Maryland lost a dedicated legal advocate for Maryland’s most vulnerable citizens, Eileen O. Franch. Eileen began her career representing disabled individuals and concluded her professional journey representing abused and neglected children. Eileen was a quiet person ...
Read More »Maryland’s SIJS process for youth in foster care
In April 2019, the Maryland Court of Appeals filed an opinion on Romero v. Perez, further developing the immigration process used by many immigrant children in the foster care system. Romero v. Perez (“Romero”), 463 Md. 182, 205 A.3d 903 ...
Read More »Foster care: The importance of bonding assessments in reunification cases
When a child comes into foster care, there is a presumptive plan of reunification with the parents, except in limited situations where a parent is convicted of serious crimes identified in the statute or the child enters care due to ...
Read More »Disabled foster youth and Social Security benefits: An overview
D. is a youth who, due to his premature birth, requires 24-hour nursing care. He has limited mobility, needs frequent respiratory treatments and requires a feeding tube. D. is in foster care and is over the age of 18. Neither ...
Read More »Support for low-income individuals to satisfy child support arrearages
When a non-custodial parent fails to pay child support, he or she accumulates a debt known as an arrearage. Failure to pay child support over an extended period of time can result in arrearages of tens of thousands of dollars. ...
Read More »The impact of the broadening rights to parent
Maryland recently passed laws that expand the right to parent. On June 1, 2019, House Bill 519 (See 2019 Md. ALS 438, 2019 Md. Laws 438, 2019 Md. Chap. 438, 2019 Md. HB 519) made changes to the laws controlling ...
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