Protection Services: Meet the lawyers and staff behind the ABA’s work in children’s law

Nearly 45 years after its founding, the ABA Center on Children and the Law has evolved into a midsize nonprofit with nearly 20 staff members who promote access to justice for children and families. The center now helps manage as many as 30 grant projects each year that focus on diverse areas of children’s law, including legal representation; foster care and education; kin and relative caregivers; child, adolescent and parental health; youth engagement; and state and court initiatives.

Feb 1, 2023 12:40 AM CST

‘Romeo and Juliet’ actors file child-abuse suit for 1968 nude scene filmed while they were teens

Jan 5, 2023 1:38 PM CST

Supreme Court will consider future of Indian Child Welfare Act

The Indian Child Welfare Act faces a broad, multipronged legal attack led by the state of Texas, which along with seven individuals sued the federal government challenging various provisions of ICWA as unconstitutional. The most attention-getting is the attack on the law’s preferences for placing Native American children with family members or other tribe members.

Nov 3, 2022 10:33 AM CDT

Military lawyer abducted war orphan when she arrived in US with guardians, suit claims

Oct 24, 2022 9:41 AM CDT

Top Idaho court strikes down grandparent visitation law that is based on best interest of child

The Idaho Supreme Court has struck down a state law that allows grandparents and great-grandparents to be granted visitation over the objection of fit parents—if it is in the best interest of the child.

Sep 20, 2022 1:04 PM CDT

Ban on gender-affirming procedures for transgender youths is sex discrimination, 8th Circuit says

A federal appeals court has upheld an injunction blocking Arkansas’ ban on “gender transition procedures” for youths younger than age 18.

Aug 29, 2022 2:57 PM CDT

Texas Supreme Court’s advisory committee supports rule allowing judicial approval of abortions for minors

Aug 22, 2022 1:53 PM CDT

Supreme Court should uphold Indian Child Welfare Act, ABA says in amicus brief

The ABA has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the Indian Child Welfare Act, writing in an amicus brief filed Thursday that Congress enacted the statute “under valid constitutional authority and on the basis of an extensive body of evidence and law.”

Aug 19, 2022 9:28 AM CDT

Ex-judges ordered to pay more than $200M to victims of juvenile detention corruption scheme

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered two former Pennsylvania judges who orchestrated the “kids for cash” corruption scandal to pay more than $200 million to hundreds of their victims.

Aug 18, 2022 10:41 AM CDT

SCOTUS rules for US citizen who says return of her child to Italy poses grave risk of harm

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that U.S. courts can refuse to return children to their home countries in situations posing a grave risk of harm without considering all measures that could reduce the risk.

Jun 15, 2022 12:38 PM CDT

Work for Canadian residential school survivors informs lawyer’s debut novel

A lawyer explains how her work informed the writing of her book and why many Indigenous people still feel the impact of the Canadian school system to this day.

May 25, 2022 8:33 AM CDT

Weekly Briefs: McDonald’s, Wendy’s sued over burger ads; ICE is ‘a domestic surveillance agency,’ report says

Ads exaggerate size of McDonald’s, Wendy’s burgers, suit says

Food stylists for McDonald’s and Wendy’s undercook hamburger patties portrayed in advertising to make them appear 15% to 20% larger than…

May 20, 2022 2:12 PM CDT

Federal judge blocks school from disciplining teacher if she outs transgender students to their parents

A federal judge in Kansas City, Kansas, has temporarily blocked a school district from disciplining a teacher who had religious objections to a policy that prevented her from outing transgender students to their parents.

May 17, 2022 3:04 PM CDT

Panel attorneys who represent children, indigent adults in New York courts flee low pay

May 3, 2022 8:43 AM CDT

As states consider regulation targeting transgender youths, some minds have been changed

A lawyer at the National Center for Lesbian Rights says despite several legislative obstacles, many LGBTQ clients are finding support from churches, neighbors and schools.

Apr 25, 2022 8:39 AM CDT