Mother lied about knowing sperm donor, agency says in demanding donor pay

Mother lied about knowing sperm donor, agency says in demanding donor pay | Fox News:

Days after a sperm donor in Kansas was ordered to pay child support for the baby he helped a lesbian couple conceive, the state agency seeking payments says one of the women may have deceived the department.

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Deployment Shouldn't Deprive Service Members Of Child Custody, Court Rules

Deployment Shouldn't Deprive Service Members Of Child Custody, Court Rules - Temecula, CA Patch:

A panel of appellate court justices in Santa Ana have ruled that lower court judges erred when they took primary custody of his son away from a Camp Pendleton-based Marine while he was on a tour of duty in Afghanistan, according to records obtained Thursday.

Relationship With Both Parents Gains in Importance

Child Custody Factors: Relationship With Both Parents Gains in Importance:

Timothy M. Tippins, an adjunct professor at Albany Law School, writes that the behavioral science field can be of immense assistance to the custody court in providing relevant information, but it cannot resolve the policy judgments that are committed squarely to judicial authority.

Dozens of tires slashed on state-owned vehicles

Dozens of tires slashed on state-owned vehicles | MailTribune.com:

Vandals slashed the tires on 33 Oregon Department of Health & Human Services vehicles this week, Medford police reported.

123 child victims of Internet sex abuse identified -- one just 19 days old, US officials say

123 child victims of Internet sex abuse identified -- one just 19 days old, US officials say - U.S. News:

In just over a month, more than 120 sexually exploited children -- one just 19 days old -- were identified in an international operation that found them depicted in child pornography on the Internet, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Congress Passes Legislation to Prevent Child Fatalities

Congress Passes Legislation to Prevent Child Fatalities | The Children's Monitor:

Yesterday, the Senate passed by unanimous consent the Protect Our Kids Act(HR 6655) which establishes a Presidential Commission to study child deaths. The legislation directs the President and Congressional leaders to appoint a commission composed of 12 stakeholders with various expertise in related fields including, social work, health, law, and education. The commission is charged with studying pertinent topics including the incidence of child fatalities, data collection, best practices, and resource limitations. At its conclusion, the commission is to develop recommendations to reduce child fatalities from maltreatment, including a comprehensive national strategy to that end. The recommendations are due within three years and the legislation reserves $2 million of the TANF contingency fund to meet associated expenses.

Grievance of Candy Knightly Founded

MAJORITY

Grievance Founded with Recommendations.

Committee Majority Findings:

In a petition involving the Division for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), the Redress ofGrievances Committee, after hearing from the Petitioner and her mother and seeing the documents supporting that testimony, finds numerous inexplicable acts that indicate wrongdoing by individuals in the Division.  It finds that the Division, which refused to attend our hearings to respond even to questions of a general nature concerning their policies in similar situations, appear to have been intent on denying several relatives of an admitted former drug addict (who had been in the act of cleaning up) of adopting her child despite our laws providing for placement with relatives Sec RSA 169-C:6 V, 169-C:6-a I(f), 169-C:19, and 169-C:24 In fact, the Committee saw evidence that DCYF actually facilitated the adoption of the child prior to the rights of the mother being terminated in court.  Further, DCYF failed to contact the actual father, instead providing the courts with the name of another individual, while twice through the courts denying paternity testing to the individual claiming to be the actual father. The Committee also agrees with the Petitioner that the courts systematically violated Part 1, Article 15 when it denied the admission of all exculpatory evidence showing the mother did not harm her child. While it seems possible that the acts of the agency were well intended in the interests of the child, they also seem to have been notably opposed to the rights of parents and relatives as provided for in our statutes. Because of the sheer number of supported allegations raising significant red flags in this case, the Committee believes this matter should be thoroughly investigated with a view to revisiting the decision to returning the child to the custody of relatives or its actual mother. For this reason, the Committee recommends, as we have in a prior report, that in the next legislative term a standing legislative oversight committee be set up to review situations like these in depth with agencies involved in potential wrongdoing against our citizens. Any such committee must, like that of the U.S. Congress, have full subpoena power. The Committee also recommends a complete review of any policies making individuals working for our agencies immune from prosecution with a view to limiting that immunity when, in the course of their duties, they infringe on the rights of our citizens. Vote 9-3.

Rep. Harry B. Hardwick for the Majority of the Committee