| Adoption Assistance & Child Welfare Act |
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| The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 (Act) was passed by Congress in 1980. Lawmakers were concerned that many children were being removed from their homes unnecessarily and that, once they entered foster care, inadequate efforts were made to either reunify them with their biological families or place them with adoptive families. The Act was passed to correct or alleviate problems in the foster care system and to promote permanency rather than multiple foster placements. An additional goal of the Act was to encourage social workers to work toward reunification of the family and to avoid long-term foster care for the children if possible. If the child could not be returned to the family, another plan was to be sought such as adoption, long-term foster care, or some other resolution. More... |
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| Fraudulent Inducement to Marry and Negligent Misrepresentation |
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| A spouse may file an action against the defendant spouse alleging that based upon fraud or deceit she entered the marriage in reliance upon the defendant's false representations, which were made in order to induce the plaintiff to marry the defendant. More... |
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| Sexual Harassment in Schools |
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| A school cannot be held liable for ignoring the usual schoolyard behavior such as teasing and cruel behavior. However, the school may be liable for failing to take reasonable action against serious and long-term student sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is defined as harassment on an individual on the basis of their gender.
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| Right of Putative Father to have his Child Bear his Surname |
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| In some instances, a putative father who gains custody or visitation of his child may want the child's surname changed from that of the mother's to his own. Neither parent has a paramount right over the other to assign to the child a particular surname, even in those jurisdictions that statutorily mandate the child's surname initially is to be that of the mother. More... |
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| Constitutional Rights of Children |
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| The concept of ''children's rights'' is relatively new. For most of history, children were considered chattel and had no rights separate and apart from their parents.
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