Administrative law –Adoption — Arbitrary and capricious Javier and Brenda Ferreira wanted to serve as foster or adoptive parents in Frederick County, and they applied to the county’s Department of Social Services (the “Department”) to become “resource parents” for children ...

CINA — Termination of parental rights — Child’s right to reasonable stability On September 16, 2015, the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, sitting as a juvenile court, entered an order granting a petition by the Montgomery County Department of Health ...

CINA — Termination of parental rights — Exceptional circumstances This appeal, by the mother of D.W., is from a judgment of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City terminating appellant’s parental rights with respect to her daughter and granting guardianship of ...

CINA — Termination of paternal rights — Unfitness and exceptional circumstances This is an appeal from an order of the Circuit Court for Cecil County, sitting as a juvenile court, terminating the parental rights of Christopher B. (“Father”) and Michelle ...

Family law — Petition for guardianship — Denial April 14, 2014, Henry Melgar Serrano, appellant, petitioned for guardianship of the person of Jason Daniel M.-A. (“Jason”), in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County. On January 29, 2015, the circuit court ...

ST. LOUIS, MO — A grandmother who gave up her quest to adopt her granddaughter in exchange for visitation rights was left emptyhanded after the adoptive grandparents challenged her standing, the Missouri Court of Appeals has held. An adoption judgment ...

GUARDIANSHIP — ABUSE — PAYMENT OF INVESTIGATOR’S FEE Appellee, Glen Yonkers, filed a guardianship petition in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, requesting that the court appoint him as guardian of the person and property of Darnetta Thomas, his ...

GUARDIANSHIP -- JUDICIAL DISCRETION -- APPOINTMENT OF GUARDIAN -- In this appeal, Sherry Feggins, appellant, challenges the order of the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County appointing Theresa Grant (the acting director of the Prince George’s County Department of Family Services), appellee, as permanent guardian of appellant’s mother, Mary Boone. QUESTION PRESENTED Appellant submitted the following question for our review: Did the [circuit] court properly exercise its discretion in appointing Theresa Grant, Director, Prince George’s County Department of Family Services, Area Agency on Aging as guardian of the person [of Mary Boone]?

For a moment, Ellaztre Barnett looked at the woman before her without a glint of recognition. Then her hands clasped to her face in a flash, tears welling. This was the sister she had waited her whole life to meet. Barnett, 34, was out to dinner this month with her family to celebrate her daughter Nataja Blakely's 18th birthday. That was special enough. She had no idea that Tina McDonald — the 46-year-old sister whose identity Barnett discovered only last week — was driving from Kentucky, intent on surprising her little sister.

DES MOINES, Iowa – When Shelley Skuster and her husband adopted their daughter, Olivia, in 2013, the northeast Iowa couple had no paid time off from their jobs. The Skusters had considered potential challenges as they went through months of ...