Greg Sutphin

The Need for a Statewide Foster Youth College Success Initiative

Foster Children Struggle to Find Academic Opportunity

In a recent study, researchers found more than 4,000 college age youth who were either still in foster c are or had recently left the state’s foster care system. The study also found that less than one in four of those young adults were taking any college classes. They recommended that the state of New York create and support a statewide initiative to prepare foster children for and assist them with higher educational opportunities.

The Challenges for Foster Children

When compared with their peers, foster children tend to have more unemployment and lower earnings when employed. Studies show they have a greater risk of being incarcerated, being on public assistance and experiencing mental health problems. Experts say access to educational opportunities can significantly help minimize those risks.

The biggest challenges for foster children related to higher education center on access to and knowledge about sources of financial aid. The study found that, even when foster children had financial aid to cover the costs of tuition, they often could not afford to buy textbooks.

Many qualify for various types of financial aid, but seldom get assistance in deciphering the often complex forms and procedures necessary to obtain aid. Furthermore, the cost of a college education, even at less expensive institutions, can be way beyond what financial aid can provide. Experts say foster children must typically rely on information from their caseworker or the agency that has placed them, and that caseworkers and agencies often know little about financial aid and educational opportunities.

The Recommendation

The authors of the study have asked the New York legislature to establish a comprehensive financial aid package for foster children, one that would ensure full funding at colleges in New York. Researchers also recommended that the process be streamline, and that a program be put in place to provide information, education and assistance to foster children who need financial aid.

Contact Adoption Attorneys Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC

At the law office of Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC, our lawyers bring more than 25 years of experience to every matter we handle. Attorney Donald C. Cofsky has personally handled more than 1,500 adoption proceedings since joining the bar in 1974. We understand the challenges you face, and can help you identify all your options so that you can make good decisions that are in your best long-term interests.

Contact our office online or call us at (856) 429-5005 in Haddonfield, NJ, at (856) 429-5005 in Woodbury, NJ, or in Philadelphia, PA, at (856) 429-5005.

Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Juvenile Justice System

Washington States Uses Service and Deferral Programs to Address Disparities in Juvenile Justice System

Citing statistics that show that, even as national and local crime rates go down, minority youth continue to be disproportionately subject to detention, arrest and prosecution, the Washington Supreme Court, along with the Washington Bar Association, has commissioned a study of the efforts being made in the state to address this disparity. One of the principal recommendations to the Supreme Court was the increased use of service and deferral programs.

Service and Deferral Programs

Experts say that many minority youth who end up in the juvenile system do not present any significant risk to public safety, but simply have some basic needs that are not being met, from parental presence or supervision to education or hygiene. With these youth, a deferral or treatment program would better serve their needs and prepare them to function in society than would exposure to the juvenile justice system. A recent report to the Washington Supreme Court identified a number of specific programs currently effectively addressing these needs:

The King County 180 program diverts many youthful offenders into community-based programs, usually designed to provide counseling on alternatives to illegal activity. Minors who complete the program usually have all charges against them dismissed.
The Fast Accountability Skills Training program in Benton-Franklin County, where minority youth are given opportunities to learn and practice situation management, goal setting and achievement, and skill development
The Tulalip Tribal Court Elders Panel requires that first time non-violent offenders meet with the panel on a regular basis for one year. The panel has the discretion to require community service, anger management training, substance abuse counseling, mental health examinations and curfews.

Contact Adoption Attorneys Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC

Contact our office online or call us at (856) 429-5005 in Haddonfield, NJ, at (856) 429-5005 in Woodbury, NJ, or in Philadelphia, PA, at (856) 429-5005.

Become a Foster Parent

Being a Foster Parent

According to most recent data, there are currently more than 500,000 children in the United States who are somewhere in the foster care system. The unfortunate reality is that there simply are not enough families for all of them. While some find success and happiness in foster homes, the majority spend their youth in and out of different homes and authorities say that up to 60% will never leave the foster care system before they become adults, and approximately one in four who “age out” of the foster care system will experience some level of homelessness as an adult.

What Are the Requirements for Being a Foster Parent?

The qualifications can vary from agency to agency and from state to state, but most agencies require:

That you be at least 21 years of age. Many agencies will allow foster parenting by older individuals, including people in their 50s and 60s.
You must be healthy enough to care for a child, and there may be additional health requirements if the child is younger and needs more attention.
You must have adequate space in your home, including a bedroom for the child. There is no requirement that the child have his or her own bedroom, but agencies typically discourage having a child share a room with more than one other child, unless the room is sizeable.
You must be able to financially provide for the child, as well as your existing family
Your spouse (if you are married) must also want to be a foster parent
Agencies typically have an application process and require a home study

Agencies generally do not require that a foster parent be married or be of the same ethnic, religious or racial background as the child. A foster parent can own his or her home or may rent, and there’s no requirement that you currently have children or have been a parent in the past.

Contact Adoption Attorneys Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC

Contact our office online or call us at (856) 429-5005 in Haddonfield, NJ, at (856) 429-5005 in Woodbury, NJ, or in Philadelphia, PA, at (856) 429-5005.

The Food Justice Program

The Children’s Aid Society’s Food Justice Program

The Children’s Aid Society (CAS), a New York City institution for more than 160 years, operates a “Food Justice ” program, working with children and youth in poverty in the city to educate them about the disparity in access to affordable and healthy food by children in New York City, and to provide them with opportunities to address and remediate that disparity.

In a comprehensive and interactive program, volunteers from CAS work with children in poverty across the city, systematically taking them through a wide range of classes that address basic issues about food and food justice. Among the classroom topics are:

An identification of food justice—what does it mean and how do we achieve it?
The components of a healthy diet
The differences between factory farmed and humanely farmed animals
An examination of diabetes, including its relationship to diet
The impact of marketing and labeling on food choices

With every lesson, participants learn to make their own food, from beef stew, salsa and veggie pita pizza to chicken avocado sandwiches and muffins. Students also learn how they can become advocates for food justice throughout the city, and participate in projects to help increase awareness of food issues. Students in the class recently produced a rap video entitled “Veggies in the Kitchen.”

The Children’s Aid Society targets children in poverty, providing comprehensive support structures to children and their families in high-need neighborhoods throughout New York City. Founded in 1853, CAS initially focused its efforts on the needs of homeless children in the city, creating the Orphan Train Movement that many consider the genesis of the modern foster care system.

Contact Adoption Attorneys Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC

Contact our office online or call us at (856) 429-5005 in Haddonfield, NJ, at (856) 429-5005 in Woodbury, NJ, or in Philadelphia, PA, at (856) 429-5005.

Arizona Establishes Cabinet-Level Child Safety and Family Services Division

Arizona Creates Cabinet-Level Division to Monitor and Enforce Child Safety and Family Services

In 2014, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer followed the precedent set by 10 other state chief executives, disbanding the state’s child protective services, seeking to replace it with an independent agency that would report directly to the governor’s office. Governor Brewer used an executive order to abolish the existing child protective services, and temporarily created a cabinet-level division, known as the Division of Child Safety and Family Services.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle acknowledged that Arizona’s system for protecting children was woefully inadequate. Reports had surfaced that the former agency had a backlog of more than 6,500 child abuse and neglect reports that had not been investigated. Calling the Arizona child welfare system “broken” and “impeded by years of structural and operational failures,” Brewer named the current director of the Department of Juvenile Corrections, Charles Flanagan, to serve as head of the cabinet-level agency.

Brewer made it clear, however, that she did not want this to be the end of the restructuring. She asked lawmakers to consider legislation that would create a standalone agency focusing on providing aid and assistance to families in distress, as well as children who are victims of abuse or neglect.
Governor Brewer issued her executive order in January, 2014, and met with legislators in March to discuss efforts to put a new Department of Child Safety in place. She has also asked the Arizona legislature to appropriate $128 million to fund the agency for a four-year period.

Contact Adoption Attorneys Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC

Contact our office online or call us at (856) 429-5005 in Haddonfield, NJ, at (856) 429-5005 in Woodbury, NJ, or in Philadelphia, PA, at (856) 429-5005.

Foster Care Advisory Group Recommendations

Ohio Advisory Group Makes Recommendations to Attorney General

In late 2012, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine put together a panel known as the Foster Care Advisory Group, a collection of child welfare expert tasked with taking a close look at the state’s child welfare system, and with making specific recommendations to increase the safety and well-being of children in foster care in Ohio. In April, 2013, that committee came back to DeWine with the following recommendations:

Reduce the number of times that a child goes in and out of foster care
Provide more funding for child welfare
Allow foster parents to actively participate in all court proceedings related to foster care. The panel acknowledged that this would require some special training for foster parents, so that they could maximize their effectiveness in the process. The panel also proposed that foster youth have a more active voice in the legal process.
Enforce the rules established for guardians ad litem—The panel found that there were many instances where guardians ad litem had failed to follow Rule 48, which sets minimum expectations for guardians ad litem. As a consequence, many children in Ohio did not receive adequate legal representation.
Provide mentors for foster youth—Experts acknowledged that one of the most difficult periods in the life of a foster child is the transition from youth to adulthood. The panel recommended putting a mentoring program in place to provide guidance at this critical juncture.
Allow children in foster care to live a normal life—The panel found that many children in foster care were not granted the same opportunities and privileges as biological or adopted children, making it difficult for them to socialize and develop skills for success as adults.
Narrow the use and application of Planned Permanent Living Arrangements—Ohio places too many foster children in Planned Permanent Living Arrangements, where they are not eligible for adoption, and will seldom be reunified with their families, virtually assuring that they will become adults without ever having a safe and permanent family situation.

Contact Adoption Attorneys Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC

Contact our office online or call us at (856) 429-5005 in Haddonfield, NJ, at (856) 429-5005 in Woodbury, NJ, or in Philadelphia, PA, at (856) 429-5005.

Bureau of Indian Affairs – Revised Guidelines

On February 25, 2015, the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the United States Department of the Interior issued revised guidelines involving the placement of Indian children into foster care or the termination of parental rights so that the child could be placed for adoption.

Those guidelines are to supercede those that had been in effect since 1979. The purpose of the Indian Child Welfare Act as adopted by Congress in 1978 was to prevent the removal of children from Indian reservations when there had been suspected or reported abuse and neglect. Children who were removed were often placed with families who did not live on the reservation, or with families who were non-Indian. After the adoption of the ICWA, the Bureau of Indian Affairs with in-put from many tribes, groups, and other organizations developed guidelines that state courts could apply when dealing with such cases. One exception to many of the guidelines involved a voluntary placement for adoption.

After the Supreme Court of the United States decision in the case of Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, 133 S. Ct. 1521 (2013), which limited the reach of ICWA and which appeared to limit a tribe’s ability to assert rights over a child who had never been registered with a tribe, lived on a reservation, and/or whose parents had never done so, a push was made by a number of the Indian tribes to have the guidelines revised.

The guidelines that have been published, and which are only guidelines and are neither statutory law nor federal regulations, are problematic at best. While they attempt to clarify certain issues, the guidelines suggest certain procedures, notices, and standards that seem to be far beyond that which is authorized under the Indian Child Welfare Act. These guidelines were issued without a draft having been submitted for public comment, and since they are guidelines only, it is likely that many courts will reject them. Of greatest concern is that the guidelines now say that the best interest of the child as well as prior bonding and attachment circumstances are irrelevant since the most important thing is the best interest of the tribe. For those of us involved in family formation and in protecting children, we have very real concerns about this approach since it appears to violate the constitutional rights of privacy and due process of parents and children, and to classify children as mere “possessions” as opposed to human beings with rights of their own.

The American Academy of Adoption Attorneys has responded to these guidelines in a press release which can be read by clicking on the following link:

http://www.adoptionattorneys.org/doc/ICWA%20-%20Press%20Release

Contact Adoption Attorneys Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC

Contact our office online or call us at (856) 429-5005 in Haddonfield, NJ, at (856) 429-5005 in Woodbury, NJ, or in Philadelphia, PA, at (856) 429-5005.

Gestational Carrier – Sherri Shepherd Case

The news media has been carrying stories almost weekly if not more often, about T.V. personality, Sherri Shepherd, and her court case involving a gestational carrier.

As has been reported in the media, Sherri Shepherd and her husband entered into a written agreement with a woman to serve as a gestational carrier for them in order to create a family. They obtained an egg from an anonymous donor which was fertilized with the sperm of Shepherd’s husband. The embryo was transferred to the gestational carrier. Six months into the pregnancy the couple apparently separated. From that time on Ms. Shepherd decided that she did not wish to parent the child who would not be biologically related to her despite the fact that they had entered into the gestational carrier agreement. The child was born and is currently being raised by the father who is now in California. Since Ms. Shepherd would not proceed with obtaining a pre-birth order in Pennsylvania where the child was born, the gestational carrier’s name is on the birth certificate as being the child’s legal mother, despite the fact that she is not genetically related to the child.

Litigation is currently taking place in Pennsylvania as to the validity or enforceability of the contract since there is no law on the books that guides this. In the meantime the question of child support and insurance coverage is at issue as to whether Ms. Shepherd is obligated to provide it.

This case points out the necessity of having laws in place that specifically guide all parties with regard to gestational carrier arrangements. This is extremely important since all parties should know what the respective rights of each will be, but most importantly so that any child created from a gestational carrier arrangement will have certainty and will be protected. Many states are now enacting such legislation which certainly will benefit all parties.

The gestational carrier was recently quoted in the media as saying, “I don’t want this to happen again to any other woman because what happened gives surrogacy a bad name, and it’s not a bad thing. We give families the gift of life. I can’t wait for it all to be over.”

Contact Adoption Attorneys Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC

Contact our office online or call us at (856) 429-5005 in Haddonfield, NJ, at ((856) 845-2555 in Woodbury, NJ, or in Philadelphia, PA, at (215) 563-2150.

New Jersey Appeal Court issues opinion on the Indian Child Welfare Act

In February 2015 a three judge panel of the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey issued an opinion involving application of the Indian Child Welfare Act and the requirement to notify an Indian tribe of a pending involuntary termination of parental rights.

The New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency sought to terminate the parental rights of a birth mother who had a long history of drug use and other mental conditions. Although the birth mother had advised the court of family members who may have been members of a recognized Indian tribe, specifically a Cherokee tribe, she could not give specifics as to which tribe or possibly the full names of the family members. She herself had never been registered with a tribe nor had she lived on an Indian reservation.

The trial court found that the statutory standards had been satisfied and terminated her parental rights. On appeal the Appellate Division, while agreeing that the standards for termination had been met under state law, nevertheless found that there had been enough information given that triggered the notice requirement to the tribe under the Indian Child Welfare Act. The court held that the state was required to attempt to follow up on the information received in order to notify the tribe of its right to intervene in the proceeding. The court sent the case back to the trial court with instructions to perform the required search and notification if possible, along with additional instructions if the tribe were to intervene.

This case serves as notice to all petitioners and individuals involved in adoption where there may be eligibility for tribal membership to follow the requirements under ICWA. It is important to note, however, that this was in the context of an involuntary termination of rights as opposed to a voluntary termination of rights which, if all of the requirements are fulfilled, does not require notification to a tribe under ICWA.

Contact Adoption Attorneys Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC

Contact our office online or call us at (856) 429-5005 in Haddonfield, NJ, at (856) 429-5005 in Woodbury, NJ, or in Philadelphia, PA, at (856) 429-5005.

What to Consider When Adopting a Toddler

The Challenges of Adopting a Toddler

While many adoptive parents want only newborns, statistics show that nearly half of all domestic adoptions (47%) and a majority of international adoptions (59%) involve children between the ages of one and four. Authorities say that, with the large numbers of children between the ages of six and 12 months who are adopted from China every year, the likelihood that adoptive parents will bring home a child who has already adapted to another environment are substantial. And they caution prospective birthparents—even children between six and 12 months of age have the awareness to understand a change in circumstances. For the parents, it almost always gets built up to be a joyous occasion, but for the child, according to one adoption specialist, it can feel like “being kidnapped.” And the older the child, the more difficult the transition.

If you are considering adopting a young child, instead of an infant, here are some factors to consider:

The child will most likely engage in extreme behaviors—You need to understand that you have taken the child from everything that he or she knows, that has provided any sense of connection or security. The child feels the loss, but lacks the verbal and cognitive skills to communicate that to you. Accordingly, he or she relies on the only tools available—expressions of behavior. Your adopted child may cry for hours on end, break things or act aggressively toward other children, pets or you. You will have to have a great deal of patience.
Do you have the physical stamina to keep up with a small child? A typical response by a toddler to a change in environment is to seek constant attention. Your adopted child may want to be held all the time or may want you to play with them on a regular basis. They may be overwhelmed by curiosity, getting into everything.
What are your expectations regarding basics, such as toilet-training and sleep patterns? What was the nature of the care the child received before adoption? Were they neglected? If so, they may be developmentally lagging.
Who can you turn to for help? There will come times when you are at your wit’s end. Do you have a strong family or other type of support network? You’ll need it.
What will the impact be on existing family members? If you already have children, you need to consider how they will respond to having another child in the house. If appropriate, consider involving them in the adoption process.

Contact Adoption Attorneys Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC

At the law office of Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC, our lawyers bring more than 25 years of experience to every matter we handle. Attorney Donald C. Cofsky has personally handled more than 1,500 adoption proceedings since joining the bar in 1974. Attorney Bruce D. Zeidman has protected the interests of clients in state and federal courts in New Jersey and Pennsylvania since 1984. We understand the challenges you face, and can help you identify all your options so that you can make good decisions that are in your best long-term interests.

Contact our office online or call us at (856) 429-5005 in Haddonfield, NJ, at (856) 429-5005 in Woodbury, NJ, or in Philadelphia, PA, at (856) 429-5005.

Contact Adoption Attorneys Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC

Contact Us

Offices

Main Office

Phone: (856) 429-5005

Woodbury, NJ Office

Phone: (856) 845-2555

Philadelphia, PA Office

Phone: (215) 563-2150