NEW JERSEY DIVORCE MEDIATION : SIBLING VISITATION

For 4 hours every other week, a 3-year-old girl in New Jersey's foster-care system visits her biological siblings who live in a different home. As long as the child remains in foster care, the visits will continue. But when she is adopted, the visits will stop. This practice of severing siblings' relationships - common in child-welfare agencies nationwide - is being challenged in New Jersey's Supreme Court. At issue is whether the state should allow the visits to continue after adoption and, if so, how to implement the changes in a way that respects the rights of adoptive parents to raise their children freely. The court decision is likely to affect hundreds of children statewide who are separated from their siblings in foster care. It could also affect whether people want to adopt in New Jersey.    Philadelphia Inquirer, April 6, 2006