Families Across Borders | law, policy, news and views
Texas Abduction Case Highlights Risks of ex parte Orders
A column by Veronica Flores-Paniagua in the San Antonio Express-News, Warning Signs Missed at Every Step in Custody Case, follows up on the abduction controversy in Texas that began with a state court’s ex parte order to remove a child from his mother’s custody. The order was based on “incomplete and misleading Mexican court documents,” with the judge evidently accepting [...]
Pakistan Recognizes Third Gender
Here’s a Politics Daily item posted by Ria Misra : Pakistan Recognizes Third Gender — Politics Daily. She describes a recent ruling by Pakistan’s Supreme Court requiring that the government allow individuals to register as “hijra” for purposes of their national identity cards and warning that other types of discrimination against hijras might not be [...]
Conclusion to Goldman Abduction Dispute
News media have been reporting an end to the long controversy over 9-year-old Sean Goldman, who was taken from New Jersey to Brazil by his mother for a visit in 2004 before she filed for divorce. Sean was kept in Brazil by his mother, and retained there by her family and second husband after the mother’s death last [...]
Comparison of Orphanage and Community Care in Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, and Tanzania
With sharply rising numbers of orphaned and abandoned children in many less-wealthy countries of the world, policy makers have emphasized the importance of caring for children in family-based rather than institutional settings. A large study carried out by researchers from Duke University at six sites in five countries found that “health, emotional and cognitive functioning, [...]
U.S.-French Divorce Litigation
Gilles Cuniberti reports in conflictoflaws.net on a recent judgment from the French Cour de cassation concerning divorce litigation pending simultaneously in France and New York. The ruling upheld a decision recognizing U.S. judgments on maintenance and parental responsibility, holding that it was irrelevant for this purpose which court had taken jurisdiction first.
Conviction for “Honour” Killing
Here are reports of the trial and conviction this week in London of Mehmet Goren for the murder of his 15-year old daughter, Tulay Goren who had left home to live with a boyfriend. Karen McVeigh’s piece in The Guardian and Nico Hines’s article in The Times give more detail about the case.
Who is a Jew, for school admission purposes?
One intractable problem in multiculturalism has been the boundary problem: when religious or cultural groups have public recognition and some measure of authority or control over group members or public resources, how are the boundaries of group membership defined? This is a long-standing problem in countries like Israel that regulate many family law questions based on religious law, and it occasionally crops [...]
Child Migrants as College Students
Children who arrived in the United States as undocumented immigrants would have a special path to permanent residence status under the “Dream Act” sponsored in the Senate by Richard Durbin (S.729) and in the House by Representative Howard Berman (H.R. 1751). The bills would “permit States to determine State residency for higher education purposes and . . [...]
New Approach to Aid for Orphans in Malawi
In the New York Times, Aid Gives Alternative to African Orphanages by Celia W. Dugger reports on an experimental program in Malawi giving direct cash assistance to extended families caring for children as an alternative to orphanages.
Hearings on International Child Abduction
The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in the U.S. Congress will hold hearings on Wednesday, December 2 on International Child Abduction and Parental Access with a list of witnesses that includes left-behind parents in several high-profile U.S. abduction cases. The hearings are scheduled for 10:30 am in the Longworth House Office Building. In addition to a [...]
