Domestic violence continues to create challenges for advocacy for children in in both family law and juvenile law cases. In Maryland, the court hears 2,000-3,000 requests for protective and peace orders every month.  https://www.courts.state.md.us/eservices/dvmonthlypublicreports. Those statistics show that domestic violence ...

Maryland Rule 9-204.1 became effective Jan. 1, 2020. Under the rule, parties to a family law action in circuit court are required to work together to create a joint Parenting Plan which they believe is in the child’s best interests. ...

Recently, Baltimore city made national headlines for the lack of heat in its public schools during some of the coldest days this winter. About one third of the schools did not have working heating systems. This raised alarms about the ...

Those on both panels discussed the need for a two-pronged approach to eliminate sex trafficking – pimps and johns need to face harsher punishments for selling and buying minors, while children who have been trafficked need to be treated as victims of a crime rather than criminals. “They are not child prostitutes, there is no such thing as a child prostitute,” said Malika Saada Saar, executive director of the Human Rights Project for Girls.

After completing 30 hours of classroom training and two to three hours of court observation, the 12 were sworn in by Baltimore City Circuit Judge Robert Kershaw and are now officially able to help abused or neglected children in foster care.

Victims of human trafficking are often thrust into this criminal activity by deception or blackmail, with the perpetrators targeting vulnerable populations — generally females between the ages of 14-21, often with backgrounds that include early childhood trauma, a history of being sexually assaulted, witnessing community violence or parental neglect.