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

23-year-old Nebraska woman gets probation for contributing to the delinqency of 17 yr boy.

LEXINGTON, Neb. (AP) — "A 23-year-old North Platte woman who helped a 17-year-old boy escape a home for troubled teens and hid with him in Missouri has been given three years' probation. In a deal with prosecutors, Briana Turnbull pleaded no contest last month to contributing to the delinquency of a minor, attempted juvenile escape and violation of a custody order. The sentence handed down Wednesday included 120 days in jail that can be waived if she completes probation successfully. Her father is Lincoln County Judge Kent Turnbull, so the trial was moved to Dawson County.Police say Turnbull helped the teenager escape in November. Turnbull was working there. The two went to Carthage, Mo., and stayed for three months before returning to Nebraska."
http://www.fox2now.com/news/sns-bc-ne--escapecharges-sentence,0,7060959.story

Juvenile Arrested In Slaying Of Sex Assault Suspect

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- A juvenile boy was arrested Monday, accused of shooting and killing a man who was supposed to go to trial on charges of sexually assaulting a child.
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/20055171/detail.html

Trevor Casey accuses two Toledo police officers of beating him

The fourteen year-old boy, Trevor Casey, whose arrest sparked national controversy faces a judge for the first time today. The youth,Trevor Casey, accuses two Toledo police officers of beating him and the video of the alleged incident was posted on the internet, attached below. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jZ0Iz2ws9I

"Casey's family says he didn't resist and the officers used excessive force. The family also says he was diagnosed with post traumatic stress and vision loss in one eye after the incident."
http://www.wtol.com/global/Story.asp?s=10531942

NY court strikes down city youth curfew

"In a 5-2 ruling, the state Court of Appeals said the September 2006 ordinance gives parents too little flexibility and autonomy in supervising their children. The curfew also violates the children's rights to freedom of movement, freedom of expression and association, and equal protection under the law, it said. "
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--rochestercurfew-c0609jun09,0,1760453.story

Termination of Parental Rights, Abandonment, Intent to Abandon

The Nebraska Court of Appeals finds that the juvenile court erred in terminating parental rights of the child’s father because, in the Court’s de novo review, they ruled the father had no intention of abandoning the child. The dissent warns that the slippery slope established here where a married man would be able to abandon a child of the marriage “based upon the physical features of a child that are substantially different from his own physical features.”
In re Interest of Chance J., 17 Neb. App. 645 (2009)
Filed June 2, 2009. No. A-08-962.

Child rape survivor saves 'virgin myth' victims

Hope was 14 years old when her uncle raped her. Like many young girls in Zimbabwe, Hope was the victim of a widely held belief that if a man with HIV or AIDS rapes a virgin he will be cured of his disease. This so-called virgin myth, perpetuated by Zimbabwe's traditional healers, has led to the rape of hundreds of girls, according to UNICEF. Some of those victims are too young to walk, much less protect themselves.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/06/04/cnnheroes.betty.makoni/index.html