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May 4, 2010 "Russian Orphanage Offers Love, but Not Families" New York TImes. The case of the adopted boy sent back to Russia by his US family has focused attention on international adoption. March 3, 2010 Cook County "Dad Argues Taking Daughter to Church Shouldn't be Considered Contempt" with the Judge in his custody case. ABAJournal and 20/20 special covered the story. "Building a Baby, With Few Ground Rules" New York Times. Unwinding the ties of matrimony is rarely simple or inexpensive, but
for many couples, the sour economy is complicating the process further. Divorce lawyers say many couples are delaying the decision to
dissolve marriages and are staying in unpleasant situations for fear of
being on their own at a time of economic uncertainty. Others are being
forced to live together after the divorce is final for financial
convenience. That can strain the emotions and result in awkward
negotiations about subjects like dating. Read at The Wall Street Journal. April
23, 2009 A pair of Nassau County Supreme Court
rulings rejecting bids by parents to reduce child support obligations are
indicative of judicial reluctance to disturb support agreements even in light
of the faltering economy. Practitioners say they have noticed that courts are
taking a hard look at a party's entire financial situation when making
determinations, meaning that a straightforward loss of income may not result in
a lower obligation. Read article at Law.com The Chinese government
imposed new regulations in 2007 to limit the number of international
applications, putting more restrictions on prospective parents from outside China.
The rules basically say you need not apply if you are single, overweight,
deformed, taking antidepressants or poor. China has said the rules are in the
best interest of the child. After leading the world in international
adoptions, adoptions in China
are slowing down, though it is not clear whether there is a link to the new
rules. According to the U.S. State Department, Americans adopted 7,906 Chinese
children in 2005, a number that dropped to 3,909 children in 2008. Read
Complete Story at CNN.com. April 5, 2009 Parents in
eastern industrial areas of China receive little help in finding their
children, most of the boys are purchased
domestically by families desperate for a male heir,The
demand is especially strong in rural areas of south China, where a tradition of
favoring boys over girls and the country’s strict family planning policies have
turned the sale of stolen children into a thriving business. The
New York Times March 30, 2009 Authorities Note More
Appeals for Less Child Support March 2009 Federal Tax Benefit Guide
for Foster/Adoptive Parents, and Kinship Caregivers-The National Foster Parent
Association has released a guide to the tax benefits available to foster and
adoptive parents and kinship care providers for tax year 2007. The guide can be
downloaded at: www.nfpaonline.org/uploads/2008_Federal_Tax_Benefits.pdf
August 24, 2010
Tiger Woods divorce final. Read story at Yahoo! Sports
Friday May 21, 2010
Governor Quinn signed House Bill 5428 this morning allowing adult adoptees (21 and over) born in Illinois to obtain a copy of their original birth certificate. To listen to an audiotape of the signing, go to the
http://www.state.il.us/cms/download/mp3_iisradio/gov-5-21.mp3
December 13, 2009October 2, 2009
New Chicago neighborhood
development offers affordable housing and social services to grandparents raising their grandchildren. Chicago Tribune.
September 25, 2009
The sexual orientation of adoptive parents does not have an impact on the emotional development of their children, according to a new study. REUTERS.com
September 23, 2009
The Illinois Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on whether the value of a spouse's sick days and vacation days can be split in a divorce. See article at Quad-City Times.UPCOMING WORKSHOP ON SEPTEMBER 27, 2009
Parenting with Love & Logic, sponsored by Chicago Area Families for Adoption and Adoptive Families Today. For details and to register online, click here.
August 23, 2009
In a new article in the Boston Globe, an adult international adoptee explains that adoptive parents 'embrace' of the 'home culture' can have its costs. August 11, 2009
Public Act 96-333 makes three changes to paternity and visitation enforcement. The first makes changes to the Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity (VAP) form. The second to advisement of the right to request a DNA test in actions under the Parentage Act. The third expands the definition of visitation to include "parenting time" and "joint custody" for enforcement of unlawful interference with visitation. The changes are effective August 11, 2009.
July 26, 2009
Why can a lesbian couple be foster parents to older kids but have to fight to adopt a newborn? Read entire article at NYTimes.com.
July 13, 2009
June 22, 2009
Facebook and Divorce: Airing the Dirty Laundry. Time.com.May 10, 2009
Read about the debate on international adoption, focusing on Madonna's recent adoption quest in Malawi at New York Times online debate at RoomforDebate.
May 2009
Dave Thomas Foundation announces the 2009 best
adoption-friendly workplaces. See list
at Dave
Thomas Foundation.
April 23, 2009
Raising Katie: What adopting a white girl
taught a black family about race in the Obama era. Newsweek.com
Kane County
Assistant State's Attorney has noticed more motions being filed to
reduce child support, usually because the parent required to pay support has
lost a job or had hours slashed. From the Aurora
Beacon News.
February 20, 2009 Courts
can oversee a custody dispute between lesbian parents who adopted in
Illinois even though Michigan does not formally recognize gay
relationships, the state Court of Appeals said in a decision released
Friday. The couple adopted three children from China in
Illinois, and the children began living with them in 2003. But the
couple’s relationship ended in 2007 after they had moved to
southwestern Michigan. The children were born in 1998, 1999 and 2002. Read complete story at Chicago Tribune.
January 13, 2009
The American Civil Liberties Union has halted its efforts - at least for the time being - to delay implementation of a law that bans unmarried cohabiting couples from fostering or adopting children after state's attorneys pointed out that the new law hasn't been applied to anyone. Read complete story at Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
January 2, 2009
China's worst product-safety scandal in years has hit home for thousands of adoptive parents, who are seeking answers about potential effects of melamine in tainted formula and other foods. Many are requesting medical tests for children even if they were adopted long before the contamination became known. Read complete story at MSNBC.com.
December 27, 2008
A same-sex couple in California has won a federal court ruling that their adopted son's Louisiana birth certificate must bear the names of both adoptive fathers. Read story at MSNBC.com.
December 15, 2008
Not Your Dad's Divorce. How changes in child-support laws, and a push by fathers for equal time, are transforming the way this generation of ex-spouses raise their children. Read article at Newsweek.com
November 25, 2008
A judge on Tuesday ruled that a strict Florida law that blocks gay people from adopting children is unconstitutional, declaring there was no legal or scientific reason for sexual orientation alone to prohibit anyone from adopting. Read story at USAToday.
November 17, 2008
The State Department today published its intercountry adoption statistics for fiscal year 2008 (October 1, 2007 through September 30, 2008. For More Information see http://adoption.state.gov/news/total_chart.html
November 5, 2008
Voters approved a measure banning unmarried Arkansas couples who are living together from serving as adoptive or foster parents, imposing a ban that the Legislature balked at adopting.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/ar.htm?csp=34
October 9, 2008
The South Korean government is pushing aggressively to increase adoptions by South Koreans and decrease what officials consider the shameful act of sending babies overseas for adoption. Since the 1950s, tens of thousands of South Korean children have been adopted by foreigners, mostly Americans, because of South Koreans’ traditional emphasis on family bloodlines and reluctance to adopt.
But last year, for the first time, more babies here were adopted by South Koreans than foreigners, as the government announced recently with great fanfare: 1,388 local adoptions compared with 1,264 foreign ones. What is more, South Korea — which still is one of the top countries from which Americans adopt — has set a goal of eliminating foreign adoptions altogether by 2012. See complete story at The New York Times.
October 8, 2008
Wanted: A Bundle of Joy
Why fewer Americans are adopting children overseas, including an interactive chart online at Newsweek.
September 26, 2008
From the Chicago Sun-Times, Cubs Hall of Famer Ernie Banks, 77, and wife Liz, 52, adopted a baby girl last Saturday. The Bankses have named her Alyna Olivia Banks.
September 17, 2008
In re Marriage of Heroy Court upholds a maintenance award of $35,000 per month in permanent maintenance to wife in 26 year marriage. Although wife has law and library degrees, publishes newsletter, and formerly worked as law librarian, she has not worked as law librarian for twenty years, and could never earn enough to maintain the standard of living enjoyed during the marriage.
August 27, 2008
"Three Pony Rule" Invoked to Cut Former NFL Player's Monthly $18K Child Support
Former New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan on Tuesday won his appeal from an $18,000-a-month child support obligation imposed in his 2006 divorce, which a New Jersey appellate court found both exorbitant and unfairly apportioned against him. Read entire article at Law.com.
August 6, 2008
A baby girl born on July 25 to a surrogate Indian mother waits in legal limbo. Eggs from an Indian donor were fertilized with a Japanese man’s sperm and implanted in the surrogate Indian mother. After the fertilization, the Japanese biological father and his wife divorced and his ex spouse does not want the baby.
In the absence of a surrogacy law in India, the child, born as an Indian citizen, will have to adopted by her Japanese (biological) father. The snag--Indian law does not allow for adoption of a girl by a single father . . Read the complete story at Yahoo News.
May 27, 2008
The Evan B. Donaldson Institute released a report and the effect of “colorblind” placements and concluded the MEPA has not had the intended effect and social workers should consider race, as one factor, in determining placements. To view the entire report, see http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/publications/MEPApaper20080527.pdf
For local commentary, check out The Chicago Tribune.
May 15, 2008
In a monumental ruling, California Supreme Court struck down the California ban on same-sex marriage. In commentary on how that decision may impact Illinois, see The State Journal-Register.
May 1, 2008
Another case hits employers with penalties for failure to withhold income from an employee to pay child support. In re Marriage of Gulla.
Trial court correctly concluded that it has jurisdiction to hold Mississippi employer liable for its failure to withhold income from its employee after it was served, by certified mail, with an order for withholding from Illinois court. Mississippi Code, in compliance with United States Code requirement, treats Illinois withholding order as if it were entered in Mississippi. In addition, because employer took no action after receiving clearly stated order that instructed it to contact wife's attorney if it had any questions, employer failed to rebut presumption of willfulness; and penalty of $369,000 is proper.
April 11, 2008
The changing landscape of international adoptions has international adoption agencies closing. See The New York Times.
April 1, 2008
In the Wall Street Journal, “Men Receiving Alimony Want a Little Respect”
http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB120700651883978623.html
March 25, 2008
“When Rachel Miller got a child-support check for more than $14,000 last fall, she never would have guessed the long-awaited money appeared because the father of her two sons likes to hunt white-tail deer.
The state refused to renew his hunting license as part of a new program that gives deadbeat dads an ultimatum: Pay up now or give up your right to hunt and fish.” Story written by
March 11, 2008
The Illinois House Adoption Reform Committee considers a bill that would allow adoptees, over the age of 21, to request non-certified copies of their original birth certificates. The Bill is sponsored by Democratic state Representative Sara Feigenholtz of Chicago. View proposed legislation (HB4623). View article in Chicago Tribune.
Grandparent Visitation, February 2008
In re: Grandparent Visitation of China Pfalzgraf, a Minor (Fifth District) When all parties agreed that paternal grandparents should have visitation but disagreed about which parents’ time should be impacted, it was not error for trial court to order that grandparent visitation not interfere with custodial mother’s parenting time.
Maintenance Modification
In re: Marriage of Reynard, (Fourth District). Trial court properly weighed the evidence and did not abuse its discretion in refusing to increase former wife’s maintenance payments. Former wife argued that there was a material change in circumstances in the parties’ youngest child graduating from college and former husband remarrying. Trial court concluded that there was insufficient evidence of a material change in parties’ circumstances after considering the relative financial situation of both former spouses.
January 6, 2008
What happens with adoptive children who become too destructive to remain home? Chicago Attorney Michelle Hughes explores this question in the Chicago Tribune.
January 3, 2008
In re: Marriage of Ellinger (Third District) distinguished the requirement of life insurance to maintain child support and life insurance to secure maintenance payments. The appellate court reversed the trial court decision that required the husband to maintain life insurance naming his (ex) wife as sole beneficiary for the duration of his obligation to pay maintenance.
January 1, 2008
Custodial claims: PA 95-315 increases the statutory amounts that may be awarded for caring for a disabled person under the Probate Act. But it also allows the court to reduce these amounts to the extent that the living arrangements were intended to and did provide a physical or financial benefit to the claimant.
Section 503(g) trusts: PA 95-374 expands this section of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act to specifically authorize them for expenses incurred for the "physical and mental health" of a minor.
November 30, 2007
A Palos Heights mother's long legal battle to collect about $12,000 in tardy child support payments ended Thursday in startling fashion -- with the Illinois Supreme Court awarding her more than $1.17 million.
The complete article can be viewed at Chicago Tribune.
November 12, 2007
Report urges states to open adoptee records
Should adult adoptees have access to their birth records, and thus be able to learn the identity of their birthparents? A new report urges states to open records.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21741004/from/ET/
November 11, 2007
Latin America tries to fight image as baby factory for the U.S. The complete article can be viewed at Chicago Tribune.
View current advice from the U.S. Embassy regarding Guatemala.
Illinois Cracks Down on Dead Beat Parents
Illinois' enforcement tools ' including the threat of criminal prosecution ' helped collect a record $1.22 billion in child support last year, the third straight year of record-setting receipts, according to the state Department of Healthcare and Family Services. From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Child-support collection
Public Act 95-685 (Martinez, D-Chicago; Soto, D-Chicago) makes two changes. (1) Authorize municipalities to impound motor vehicles owned by responsible relatives who are delinquent in child-support payments according to the Illinois HFS. (2) Prevents the SOS from issuing, allowing, or renewing a driver's license to any responsible relative who HFS certifies as delinquent of 90 days or more in child-support payments based on a court order or an administrative order by HFS or an administrative agency of any other state. Passed both chambers. Effective Oct. 23, 2007.
DCFS Guardianship
House Bill 291 (Myers, R-Colchester; Sullivan, D-Rushville) allows a delinquent minor under the age of 15 (instead of 13) to be placed in the guardianship of DCFS or when an independent basis of abuse, neglect, or dependency exists. An independent basis exists if the allegations or adjudication of abuse, neglect, or dependency do not arise from the same facts, incident, or circumstances that caused a charge or adjudication of delinquency. The General Assembly overrode the Governor's amendatory veto October 11, 2007. Effective June 1, 2008.
NOTE: These materials are provided by the Law Offices of Rachael Toft for informational purposes only and are not legal advice. Transmission of the information is not intended to create, and receipt does not constitute an attorney-client agreement or relationship between you and the firm. Do not act upon this information without seeking counsel.