CCBA Welcomes Judge Gonzales

More documents

Recommendations

Info

THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF ADOPTION LAW By Marie Tilden, Attorney at Law BASICS: ● Who can adopt: Married Single Same-sex couples Men Women Who is too young to adopt, and who is too mature ● Who can be adopted ● How long does adoption take ● How much does an adoption cost BEYOND THE VERY BASICS: ● Normal steps in a domestic, independent placement. ● Normal steps in an international placement. ● What about adopting through DSHS, how does one adopt a child already in the subject of a dependency action ● Other: step-parent, adult adoptions, re-adoptions, older child adoptions, what should you know NOW TO THE EXPERT LEVEL: ● Minor birthparents, anything different ● Birthparent under a disability; obtaining valid consent(s) to terminate rights ● Birthparent objects to terminating his/her parental rights, what are the legal standards for a winning case ● Visa classifications for foreign adoptions, obtaining US citizenship, dealing with USCIS, dealing with foreign entities, oh my! NOW, TO APPLY ALL THIS KNOWLEDGE, A POTENTIAL CLIENT CALLS AND… 1. wants to adopt their young niece from Country X because her family is too poor to raise her and wants you to do the adoption. What do you need to know What can you do 2. says that the father of their child does not want to pay child support anymore and is willing to “give up his parental rights”. Potential client is excited because now she won’t have to deal with him anymore and considers the loss of child support a small price to pay. What do you say What can you do 3. says that they have just returned home with their new child from country X and want to “re-adopt” but they notice that they received an IR-4 visa when their friends’ paperwork says they have an IR-3 visa. They wonder if it matters and what it means. What should they do in the US Does their new child have US citizenship like their agency said he/she would 4. says that their grandchild/niece/nephew, etc. is in foster care and they want to adopt the child to keep it “in the family”. How do they proceed Does it matter if the parental rights of the biological parents have been terminated yet 5. says that they have been “matched” with a birth mother due to deliver in 3 months. She says she needs money from them to pay her living expenses and they are very willing to help her out. After all, they’ve been waiting for a long time for a chance to adopt, and if it just takes some money to make it happen, that’s fine with them. Is there anything wrong with them paying her “expenses” 12 CLARK COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION
CLARK COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT BENCH/BAR MEETING MINUTES MARCH 13, 2012 JOHN FAIRGRIEVE CCBA President The meeting began shortly after noon. Persons present were Judge Robert Lewis, Judge John Nichols, Ann Christian, Jolene Sell, Suzan Clark, Kurt Rylander, Todd George, and John Fairgrieve. OLD BUSINESS: 1. Competency evaluations being conducted on criminal defendants by Western State Hospital (WSH): Ann Christian told the committee that the out of custody defendant list is up to date. 2. Orders for 90 day commitments to WSH for competency restoration: Suzan Clark told the committee that she did not believe that the current order being used by the court to commit a defendant to WSH for competency restoration, which authorizes WSH personnel to administer psychotropic medications to a defendant over his or her objections, complies with due process requirements. See generally Sell v. United States, 539 U.S. 166, 180-81, 123 S. Ct. 2174, 156 L. Ed. 2d 197 (2003). John Fairgrieve suggested that he and Suzan meet after the end of the committee meeting to discuss the matter and possible revision of the order. 3. Criminal readiness docket issues: Judge Lewis reported that the readiness docket for the week of April 16 currently had 90 matters on it and that the judges planned on conducting a split docket if judicial resources are available. Judge Lewis also mentioned that in May three consecutive readiness dockets currently have 66, 67, and 80 matters on them respectively. 4. Judge Poyfair’s judicial position: It was reported to the committee that Governor Gregoire planned on interviewing the two finalists for the position on Wednesday, April 11 (The Columbian reported on April 17 that Governor Gregoire has appointed Greg Gonzales to fill out the balance of Judge Poyfair’s current term). 5. Felony caseload in superior court: Ann Christian reported that indigent defense contracts for felony cases are running at about 100 per month this year and that she is seeing an increase in the number of class A felonies and sex offenses. 6. Judge Nichols to leave family court: Judge Nichols told the committee that he would be leaving family court to return to civil / criminal caseload at the end of the year. 7. Drug court status: Judge Nichols reported that Superior Court Drug Court continues to be popular, with 143 participants as of last week. NEW BUSINESS 1. Redaction of material from criminal discovery: John Fairgrieve told the committee that a recent review of federal and Washington State statutes revealed that the prosecuting attorney’s office is prohibited from releasing three specific types of information in the discovery it provides to defense counsel in criminal cases: social security numbers, department of licensing numbers, and financial account numbers. He stated that in the future this material would be redacted from criminal discovery. He further stated that he would provide the committee with citations to the relevant statutes (the citations are 42 USC 405(c)(2)(C)(viii)(I), 18 USC 2721, and RCW 42.56.230(5)). 2. Policy for the use of electronic devices in Judge Lewis’ courtroom: Judge Lewis told the committee that he has drafted a policy for the use of electronic devices in his courtroom which he will publish later this week. 3. New meetings to discuss matters related to the administration of criminal justice in Clark County: Ann Christian told the committee that recently representatives of the superior court bench, the prosecutor’s office, the criminal defense bar and she HEARSAY - MAY 2012 13
Page 1 and 2: ccbawashington.org MAY 2012 OFFICIA
Page 3 and 4: PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE JOHN FAIRGRIE
Page 5 and 6: The CCBA Welcomes Judge Gonzales DO
Page 7 and 8: HEARSAY - MAY 2012 7
Page 9 and 10: Trial Skills CLE: Practical Day SUZ
Page 11: The Clark County Bar Association is
Page 15 and 16: DOUBLE HEARSAY What CCBA Members Ar
Page 17 and 18: Kids Love Lawyers! Encouraging Stud
Page 19 and 20: Rider & Associates Inc. provides su
Page 21 and 22: Bryan stated that if evolution “w
Page 23 and 24: HEARSAY PROFILE DOUGLAS F. FOLEY HO
Page 25 and 26: LAW LIBRARY NEWS MARIA SOSNOWSKI La
Page 27 and 28: 2011/2012 CCBA OFFICERS & TRUSTEES

CCBA Welcomes Judge Gonzales

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?