New Jersey Family Law

SUMMIT NEW JERSEY UNION COUNTY DIVORCE LAWYER

Adopted children often face medical or social problems difficult to handle without their biological history. A New Jersey bill aimed to provide them with that information - while balancing the biological parents' right to privacy - is before the full Senate for a vote. It would empower an adult adoptee, his or her adult child, or the adoptive parents of a minor to obtain the adoptee's original, unaltered birth certificate from the state registrar upon submission of a notarized request. Birth parents who wanted to maintain their anonymity would be able to block the request, and instead provide a detailed family information form, containing their regularly updated medical, cultural and social histories. The Senate bill passed the Senate's Health Committee unanimously; the Assembly version still is in its Human Services Committee.   Legislative Bill S-611/A-7523, New Jersey Lawyer, February 29, 2008

SPRINGFIELD DIVORCE MEDIATOR

In an action brought by adoptive parents against an adoption agency asserting wrongful adoption/fraud, negligence and breach of fiduciary duty, and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims arising from plaintiffs' adoption of a child in 1961, orders granting leave to proceed on the issue of punitive damages and dismissing certain claims are affirmed in part. Although plaintiffs may seek compensatory damages, punitive damages are not available for the first claim and statutes of limitations bar the second and third claims.    Ross v. Louise Wise Servs., Inc., New York Court of Appeals, May 7, 2007

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/ny/cases/app/58opn07.pdf

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

Gay Adoption Rejected

The United States Supreme Court has refused to hear a challenge to the  Florida statute that bans same-sex parents from adopting. The Court let stand a 2004 decision [http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/ops/200116723.pdf] by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld the Florida gay-adoption ban. Lofton v. Secretary of the Florida Department of Children and Families, January 11, 2005.