Family

It’s now legal for couples in all U.S. states to adopt children — regardless of the couple’s gender — after a federal judge struck down Mississippi’s ban on same-sex adoption late Thursday.

Overturning a law that had stood since 2000, U.S. District Court Judge Daniel P. Jordan III said the ban violated the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause. Mississippi’s ban was the last of its kind in the U.S.

“I’m a happy camper. Our clients are beyond happy campers. They are more than thrilled,” the plaintiffs’ lead attorney, Roberta Kaplan, tells Mississippi Today.

The lawsuit challenging the law was filed back in 2015 by four same-sex couples; it’s also backed by two advocacy groups, the Campaign for Southern Equality and the Family Equality Council.

The couples in the case were in a variety of circumstances, from desiring to adopt a child to raising children together. Here’s how the Jackson Clarion-Ledger described them last year:

“Kari Lunsford and Tinora Sweeten-Lunsford, who are seeking to adopt a child; Brittany Rowell and Jessica Harbuck, also seeking to adopt; Donna Phillips and Janet Smith, parents to a young daughter; and Kathryn Garner and Susan Hrostowski, who have a 15-year-old son.”

The ruling came the same week that Mississippi’s Senate approved the controversial House Bill 1523, a measure that would allow businesses to refuse services to gay couples based on their religious beliefs.

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The State of Alaska must recognize and enforce the Tlingit-Haida Central Council’s child support orders, according to a state Supreme Court decision issued Friday.

Central Council President Chalyee Éesh Richard Peterson says that while the court decision is an important milestone, there are still more issues the tribe is working on when it comes to how it serves tribal children, namely how it administers Indian Child Welfare Act cases with other tribes.

Earlier this month the Central Council signed an agreement with the state that lets the tribe oversee custody and funding for tribal foster children.

Peterson says there are families in Juneau that encounter issues when it comes to their children and foster care — they may live in town but are still under the jurisdiction of their home tribe. Because local tribes also receive federal dollars to oversee child welfare, Peterson said the Central Council must be careful to not overstep its bounds.

“That’s a hurdle we’re still trying to get across,” Peterson said. “A lot of our folks want us to step in and solve the problem but we’re really going to have to work with some of the tribes to work out jurisdictional issues and come to agreements. We’re always going to uphold the sovereignty of other tribes and we’re not going to push our weight around.”

Peterson says the court decision sets a precedent for other tribes that may want to more actively oversee their own child support programs.

Read the entire decision below:

Correction: A previous version of this story referred to an agreement signed earlier this month by the tribe and state that concerns tribal children in foster care, but mischaracterized it as being related to tribal child support. We regret the error.

It’s been about 40 years since the majority of moms stayed home, and married dads in the 21st century spend twice as much time caring for their children as they did back then.

Yet when parents divorce or separate, custody arrangements are more likely to reflect life as it was in 1975, with the mother as the primary caretaker and the father working to help support a child he seldom sees.

As fathers become more vocal about what they see as inequities in custody cases — and as more research shows how important it is for fathers to be present in their children’s lives — states are considering changing their custody laws.

Five states — Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts and Missouri — are looking at proposals that would require judges to presume that it’s best for children to split their time as evenly as possible between their two parents. Utah enacted a similar law last year.

State laws have historically directed judges to determine custody based on what is in a child’s best interest, looking at factors such as which arrangement would disturb his or her life the least and be safest. The proposals would instead require judges to presume it’s best that both parents be awarded a substantial amount of parenting time — often at least a third of the time — and, if they don’t award substantial time to both parents, to explain why it wouldn’t be in the child’s best interest to do so.

Fathers’ rights groups, such as the National Parents Organization, are pushing the proposals, arguing that they will give fathers a better chance at a fair ruling and pointing to new research that shows how joint custody may be better than sole custody for children’s health.

But only a fraction of custody cases actually are up to a judge to decide — in Washington state, for example, nine in 10 cases that go to court are settled — and the cases that judges do hear are more likely to be ones in which parents can’t communicate or cooperate to make decisions. In those high-conflict situations, some researchers have warned that joint custody may be harmful to a child’s well-being.

Laws that encourage shared parenting may sound “seductive” to state lawmakers, but they often force families into bad situations, said Maritza Karmely, a professor at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. Bar associations, judges and lawyers have come out against some of the proposals.

“A presumption is a pretty radical step,” Karmely said. “That assumes that shared parenting works for most families, and I think that is an enormous assumption.”

But Ned Holstein, founder of the National Parents Organization, said none of the proposals forces judges to do anything. They would still be able to use discretion and decide what’s in the best interest of the child.

Changing Families

There haven’t been sweeping changes to state laws on custody arrangements since 1970, when the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act set the “best interest” standard.

But the dynamics of American families have changed significantly since then. The share of children under 18 living with both parents fell, from 85.2 percent in 1970 to 69.2 percent in 2015. And more fathers are living away from their children, up from 11 percent in 1960 to 27 percent in 2010, a recent Pew study found; the shift is likely due to more children being born to unmarried parents. (Pew also funds Stateline.) At the same time, the amount of time married fathers spend caring for their children has more than doubled, from 2.5 hours a week in 1965 to 7.3 hours in 2010, according to Pew findings.

And that may be a good thing. Research shows that children who spend more time with their fathers are more likely to succeed academically and less likely to be delinquent or have substance abuse issues.

They will also grow up to be healthier mentally and physically, said William Fabricius, an associate professor of developmental psychology at Arizona State University who has been studying fathers and divorce since 2000.

In a yet to be published 10-year study funded by the National Institutes of Health, he found that children who felt they mattered to their fathers were less likely to later have mental health problems such as depression or anxiety.

“There are attributes and benefits that both parents bring to the child,” said Missouri state Rep. Kathryn Swan, a Republican who has sponsored shared parenting bills the last two years.

The Missouri Bar last year opposed provisions in Swan’s bill that put limits on judges’ discretion when deciding child support arrangements in cases where equal parenting time is granted; and that required judicial education on shared parenting. This year’s bill no longer includes those provisions, but the group has not yet taken a position on it.

Some fathers, such as Troy Matson of Jacksonville, Florida, push for shared custody, only to get worn down by the time, the cost and the acrimony of their court battles. Matson’s daughter was just a few weeks old when he and his wife started divorce proceedings. He asked to have her half the time. After contentious court hearings, the couple settled; he now sees his 4-year-old daughter 30 percent of the time.

Matson, who now chairs Florida’s chapter of the National Parents Organization, helped push a Florida bill that would require judges to presume that approximately equal time sharing is best. The bill, which passed the Legislature last week, would also require judges, when they rule differently, to show that equal time sharing is not the best solution. If Republican Gov. Rick Scott signs the bill, Florida would have one of the strongest shared parenting laws in the nation.

“I grew up without my father,” Matson said. “When I was a kid, I told myself if I’m ever blessed with children, I would do everything I could to be as involved in their lives as possible.”

Case-By-Case

Along with Utah, the National Parents Organization lists seven states as having laws most supportive of shared parenting — Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota and South Dakota.

While many family law and child psychology specialists agree that shared parenting is best in situations in which both parents are interested, involved and capable, they have concerns about other situations.

Domestic violence awareness groups have opposed some of the proposals, arguing that a victim shouldn’t have to prove that it’s not in a child’s best interest to live half the time with an abusive ex-partner. And specialists in the field have come to different conclusions about whether separating infants from their mother would be best for the infant’s well-being.

Most agree that each case is unique. “It is hard to find fault with examining each case and each child individually, when deciding what works best for their family and them,” said Peter Salem, executive director of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, a national trade association for family law professionals.

Fathers’ rights groups are often the ones pushing for the laws, but it’s not about the parents, said Robert Langlois, a former family court judge in Massachusetts who is now a lawyer there. “It’s about the kids, and what is in their best interest, not in their parent’s best interest,” he said.

When approaching a case, a judge looks at what the situation has been, if that should change, and why, Langlois said. Other factors judges look at include how old the children are, where they go to school, and where the parents live.

A bill proposed in Massachusetts would change the law to encourage shared parenting without requiring judges to presume equal time is best. Still, the change would require judges to provide reasoning when deciding a parent should not have significant time with a child.

“If you’re going to separate a child from one of his or her parents for most of their childhood, it’s only fair to say why,” said Holstein of the National Parents Organization, who lives in the state.

Outcomes

Proponents of shared parenting argue that current laws treat fathers unfairly. But gender bias in custody cases may be more perception than reality.

While mothers are custodial parents 82.5 percent of the time, it may just be because fathers aren’t asking for that job. A study in Massachusetts found that fathers who actively sought primary or joint custody obtained it more than 70 percent of the time.

In at least one state, specialists say recent changes to custody laws have made a difference. The Arizona Legislature passed a policy statement in 2011 in support of shared parenting and, in 2012, changed custody law to mirror the statement. This changed the culture of the court system, at least in Maricopa County, according to both Fabricius of the state university and Annette Burns, a lawyer there who specializes in family law.

The perceptions of parents have changed, too, Burns said. Now, both parents know they are likely to get a significant amount of time with their child.

Read original article – March 15, 2016
More Time for Dads? States Weigh Changes to Custody Laws

The Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault helped organize the training, which was taught by Gene Tagaban, a Tacoma, Washington resident originally from Juneau.

Tagaban said the class is meant to help stop the cycles of violence that are prevalent in many Alaska communities.

“It’s about teaching men to be mentors, and getting men involved to stop the violence, domestic abuse, the suicides, the hurts, the pain,” he said. “For so many years, women have been at the forefront of this movement, of wellness, of health. And as men, we need to be standing right beside the women together, to stop the violence, to stop this epidemic that’s going through Alaska.”

Compass is part of the Alaska Men Choose Respect effort. Participants talked about how to start conversations and lead healthy lives, both in their own homes and in the community.

Tagaban said the group discussed several topics, including respect for self and others, communication and conflict resolution.

“Ultimately, what does it mean to become a man, but even higher than that: what does it mean to become a human being,” he said. “… it’s about learning how to express ourselves in that way and share our stories, tell our stories, learning about where our stories came from. And learning about even, not only our empowerment but the pains, the hurts, the trauma and healing from that. It is about healing. But it’s about men working together to bring that healing together.”

Throughout the gathering, participants shared their own stories and learned how to facilitate those sorts of discussions. After the training, Tagaban hopes they’ll take what they’ve learned back out into the community, whether that’s doing presentations in schools or living a good life and leading by example.

“And I hope that they’ll go out and live a good life, a life of awareness, a life of empowerment, so that in their circles that they can influence those in a good way,” he said. “And maybe some of them will use it to start making presentations, talking about these things, and starting the conversations… that they’ll maybe go to schools and start talking about things, or just in the neighborhoods, in the stores that people would just see them living that powerful life that good life, and then passing it on in their own families, and teaching in their own families, or the schools.”

Very young children who endure neglect, abuse and dysfunctional home lives go on to struggle as kindergartners, leaving them at risk for more difficult years as adolescents and adults, a new study finds.

Adverse childhood experiences before age 5 were linked with poor academic and behavioral performance in kindergarten, said researchers who examined a sample of about 1,000 urban children. Their study was reported in the journal Pediatrics this month.

“Relative to children with no ACEs, children who experienced ACEs had increased odds of having below-average academic skills including poor literacy skills, as well as attention problems, social problems, and aggression, placing them at significant risk for poor school achievement, which is associated with poor health,” the authors said.

The adverse experiences included varieties of maltreatment — psychological, physical or sexual abuse or neglect — as well as household dysfunction — such as maternal depression, substance abuse, incarceration or violence toward the mother.

Forty-five percent of the children in the study had no adverse experiences, 27 percent had one, 16 percent had two and 12 percent had three or more.

The researchers from children’s hospitals in New Jersey and Philadelphia analyzed data from a national group of participants in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, drawing on the study’s follow-up interviews with mothers five years after their child’s birth and data on teacher-reported school performance near the end of the child’s kindergarten year.

Teachers rated about a quarter of the children below-average for literacy and math skills. Children with more adverse experiences generally showed worse academic, literary and behavior outcomes, the study said.

Dr. Manuel Jimenez, the study’s lead author and assistant professor of pediatrics, family medicine and community health at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, said that when he sees children having academic or behavioral difficulties, there are often deeper problems that originate at home. The analysis adds to a growing body of research that shows behaviors that start in early childhood can lead to dropping out of school, committing crimes and poor health in adulthood.

“This affects children’s ability to do well in school, the work world and the likelihood in ending up with trouble with the law or fitting into society. All those things come together and it’s a vicious cycle that repeats itself. And if we don’t intervene, then they evolve in less healthy ways and that repeats for the next generation,” said Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

Read original article – February 29, 2016
Study Links Kindergartners’ Stumbles With Rocky Home Lives

Gov. Bill Walker named Ivy Spohnholz on Tuesday as his choice to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Rep. Max Gruenberg in February.

Spohnholz is the development director for Salvation Army Alaska and is the vice chairwoman of the Alaska Children’s Trust, which aims to eliminate childhood abuse and neglect throughout the state.

Spohnholz said she wanted the job to address the state’s budget shortfall. Her goal is to avoid economic problems the state experienced in the 1980s. She said when she was a teenager, her parents divorced, and her family faced financial strains.

“I don’t want ever to go through that again and I wanted to be a part of the conversation, in hopes that we can start thinking about the Alaska that we want to have,” she said, “not just the Alaska that, you know, is convenient for us to pay for.”

Spohnholz was one of the three people nominated by Anchorage Democrats for the position.

The House Democrats are scheduled to vote on her appointment either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. A spokesman for the caucus said she’s unlikely to face any opposition.

She said her first job is to learn about the budget proposals put forward by Walker and legislators.

She’ll also put her experience to work.

“Right now, I work for the Salvation Army, and we see those that are most vulnerable,” she said. “I’m going to be able to bring that experience and the knowledge of what are our most vulnerable elders and youth are facing every day, when we’re making decisions about, you know, how to chart a course forward.”

Walker said he was impressed with the choices that Spohnholz has made, including her founding the organization Foster Kids First, and her family’s decision to adopt a child who has fetal alcohol syndrome.

Walker said he also chose here because of “the life experiences of going through … what Alaska experienced during the ’80s and the downturn in oil.”

He added: “In many respects, that was somewhat similar, although without the loss of life, to what I had been through after the ’64 earthquake.”

Walker said it was a difficult choice. He praised the other nominees – scientist Taylor Brelsford and legislative staff member Kendra Kloster. While he said he could have taken more time, he wanted to make sure District 16 was represented.

Republican Don Hadley also has announced plans to run for the seat this fall. The filing deadline for the primaries is June 1.