Baby Taken Away From Mother Because She Can't Speak English

"The Mississippi Department of Human Services (DHS) recently ruled that a woman was an unfit mother because she can't speak English. The DHS declared that the inability to speak English, "placed her unborn child in danger and will place the baby in danger in the future."
Baltazar Cruz is a 34-year-old women from the Oaxaca region of Mexico. She is from a small village of 1,500 people, almost all of them Chatino Indians like herself. Cruz, who was raised speaking Chatino, speaks only a little bit of Spanish and no English..."
http://www.latina.com/lifestyle/news-politics/baby-taken-away-mother-because-she-cant-speak-english

Latest Case Updates

These are the most recent caselaw updates:

In re Interest of Leslie S. et al.
Filed on August 4, 2009____ N.W.2d ____, 17 Neb. App. 828SUMMARY: The juvenile court did not err in denying transfer of the case to tribal court because the case was in its advanced stages (i.e., termination of parental rights), the father did not file the motion to transfer until 2 […]

In re Interest of Carlos R., et al
Filed on July 21, 2009Not designated for permanent publicationA-09-089
SUMMARY: Grandparents no longer have a legal interest in court proceedings or a right to visitation once parents’ parental rights have been terminated, and could not intervene as foster or prospective adoptive parents as a matter of right. The children, Carlos, Carlynn and […]

In re Interest of Angelica L. and Daniel L.
Filed on June 26, 2009____ N.W.2d _____, 277 Neb. 984SUMMARY: Termination of the parental rights of a deported mother was improper because the State did not prove parental unfitness especially as the mother submitted overwhelming evidence in two home studies of her fitness as a parent. The “best interest” […]

In re Interest of Elias L.
Filed on June 26, 2009___ N.W.2d ____, 277 Neb. 1023
SUMMARY: Under its right to intervene in ICWA proceeding, a Tribe’s designated representative does not have to be authorized to practice law and may fully participate in proceedings. The Ponce Tribe of Nebraska made a motion to intervene in child custody proceedings […]

In re Interest of Chance J.
Filed on June 2, 2009____ N.W.2d ____, 17 Neb. App. 645
SUMMARY: The father did not abandon the child for purposes of 43-292 as he reasonably believed at birth that he was not the biological father of the child, had no contact with the mother or DHHS until the termination petition […]
http://www.throughtheeyes.org/articles/caselaw/

Kudos to Judge Douglas Johnson

Congratulations to Judge Douglas Johnson of the Separate Juvenile Court of Douglas County who was installed as the President of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) in July 2009. The 2000-member NCJFCJ is the nation’s oldest judicial membership organization, and is focused on improving the effectiveness of juvenile and family courts. Kudos!
August/September 2009 Through the Eyes of the Child Initiative E-Newsletter

Mentally Ill Offenders Strain Juvenile System

"As cash-starved states slash mental health programs in communities and schools, they are increasingly relying on the juvenile corrections system to handle a generation of young offenders with psychiatric disorders. About two-thirds of the nation’s juvenile inmates — who numbered 92,854 in 2006, down from 107,000 in 1999 — have at least one mental illness, according to surveys of youth prisons, and are more in need of therapy than punishment. “We’re seeing more and more mentally ill kids who couldn’t find community programs that were intensive enough to treat them,” said Joseph Penn, a child psychiatrist at the Texas Youth Commission. “Jails and juvenile justice facilities are the new asylums.” At least 32 states cut their community mental health programs by an average of 5 percent this year and plan to double those budget reductions by 2010, according to a recent survey of state mental health offices."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/us/10juvenile.html?_r=1&th&emc=th