Family Law Prof Blog

Tort Claim Against Hospital for Denial of Visitation for Dying Same-Sex Partner

The Miami Herald reports that a federal judge in the Southern District of Florida will decide whether the  tort case against a Miami hospital for failure to allow visitation to a same-sex parent could proceed to trial.  The surviving woman, Janice Langbehn, is from Washington state and was on a cruise with her partner of seventeen years, and their three adopted children, when the now-deceased woman had a heart attack.  The hospital refused visitation for over eight hours; Langbehn was allowed to see her partner receive last rites.  A copy of the complaint in pdf is here; more information is available on the Lambda website here.

The tort suit brings Florida's "little DOMA" legislation into sharp relief - - - Florida has both a statute and a constitutional amendment defining marriage as limited to one man and one woman. 

RR

Conferences -- Adoption and Child Welfare

According to the Children's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the following conferences about adoption and child welfare are scheduled to occur in the next few months:

March 2009

• BACW 2009 Annual Conference
  Bridging the Gap for Our Children, Our Legacy
  Black Administrators in Child Welfare, Inc.
  March 8–10, Long Beach, CA
  www.blackadministrators.org
• Fifth Annual Conference on Childhood Grief and Traumatic Loss
  Restoring Joy to Children and Families
  ICAN Associates, Inc.
  March 26, Los Angeles, CA
  http://ican-ncfr.org/documents/Grief2009SavetheDate.pdf
• 36th Annual New England Adoption Conference
  Adoption Community of New England, Inc.
  March 28, Bellingham, MA
  http://adoptioncommunityofne.org/pages/annual-ne-adoption-conference.php
• 17th Annual Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect
  Focusing on the Future: Strengthening Families and Communities
  Children's Bureau, Office on Child Abuse and Neglect
  March 30–April 4, Atlanta, GA
  www.pal-tech.com/cbconference/index.cfm

April 2009

• 27th Annual Protecting Our Children National American Indian Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect
  National Indian Child Welfare Association
  April 19–22, Reno, NV
  www.nicwa.org/conference/
• American Adoption Conference 30th Annual Conference
  April 22–26, Cleveland, OH
  www.americanadoptioncongress.org/national_conferences.php

May 2009

• NFPA 39th Annual Education Conference
  Focus on the Future . . . Love a Child
  National Foster Parent Association
  May 4–8, Reno, NV
  https://secure3.convio.net/wmh1/site/SPageServer?pagename=Conference2009
• Eighth Annual National Citizen Review Panel Conference
  May 20–22, Jackson Hole, WY
  www.wycrp.org/Resources/2009NCRPConference.pdf

(MIF 02-06-2009)

Surviving Same -Sex Partner in Canadian marriage ruled "spouse"

In a brief opinion, a Surrogate Judge in New York recognized a Canadian same-sex marriage for probate purposes, declaring the surviving partner the "surviving spouse and sole distributee" and thus not requiring process to other members of the decedent's family. A copy of the Kristin Booth Glen's opinion, published in the New York Law Journal, page 27, today, is available here  and the front-page article is available here,
and continued here.

RR

Ohio adopts rules for Guardians Ad Litem

Completing a process begun in 2001, the Supreme Court of Ohio has adopted new rules governing the requirements for guardians ad litem in juvenile and domestic child custody cases.   The new rule 48 provides that courts must enter an order appointing either a GAL or a GAL and attorney advocate for the child. The rule includes a broad range of responsibilities for Guardians ad Litem, which are mandated unless impracticable or inadvisable.  These responsibilities include interviewing the parents and child and visiting the child in his or her residence.  All GALs are required to  file a written, final report at least seven days before a final hearing. 
Read the new rule 48 here (as a word document).

The new rule follows an extensive study of the Ohio GAL system which examined GAL services provided to abused and neglected children throughout the state.  The data for the study was collected through surveying guardians ad litem, juvenile/family court judges and through information contained in a sample of local court records.  Many of the recommendations from that report have found their way into the new rule.  Read the Ohio CASA/GAL Study Committee's Final Report: In the Interest of Abused and Neglected Children. (last visited Feb. 2, 2009 bgf)

Florida Bar Association votes to file amicus in favor of adoption by gay couples

The National Law Journal reports that Florida Bar's board of governors voted unanimously to file an amicus brief before the 3rd District Court of Appeal supporting a Miami-Dade circuit judge's ruling that declared unconstitutional the state's ban on gay adoptions.  Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman ruled in November that the state's ban on gay adoption was unconstitutional. bgf