Last September, New Yorker Kelly Gunn went to court to argue that she should be considered a legal parent and gain parental rights to the son her ex-partner adopted in 2011. Last week, she lost her case, but she is now planning to appeal. It’s a complex story that was made possible after a different case led to a new, broader definition of “parent” in New York last fall.

Gunn was in a relationship with Circe Hamilton when they started planning an adoption. The couple split up before the adoption agency had identified Abush, the seven-year-old boy who later became Hamilton’s son. But Gunn still felt like Abush was her son too. She argued in court that her participation in the adoption planning, as well as her support and care after Abush arrived, should qualify her as a legal parent.

On the other side of the argument, Hamilton said that their joint adoption plan ended when they broke up. She claimed that Gunn’s role in her and her son’s life after the breakup was more like that of a close friend or maybe a godmother.

In Gay Rights Case, Woman to Appeal for Parental Rights to Ex-Partner’s Son https://t.co/k7lVw6Mn80 pic.twitter.com/4hdYdqxuWC

— Sara Buitrago (@x3aamphv) April 20, 2017

The case is possible thanks to a decision authored by recently deceased Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam. In a ruling last August, the New York State Court of Appeals decided that a person who is not related by blood to, or the legal adoptive parent of, a child can still ask for custody rights. The ruling came after a case in which another unmarried gay couple, named as Brooke S.B. and Elizabeth A. C.C. in court documents, had a child together.

Elizabeth was impregnated through artificial insemination in 2008. After giving birth to a boy, the three of them lived together as a family until 2010, when the women’s relationship ended. Three years after that, Elizabeth tried to sever Brooke’s ties with their son and didn’t let them have any contact. When Brooke sued for visitation rights, a lower court turned her down, as the law didn’t accept a non-adoptive caretaker with no biological ties to the child as a parent.

But the appeals court overturned the ruling on August 30. Judge Abdus-Salaam wrote that the legal definition of a parent was outdated and didn’t fit how many of us view “family” today. They considered the law especially unsustainable since New York started allowing same-sex marriage in 2011. The ruling stated:

Where a partner shows by clear and convincing evidence that the parties agreed to conceive a child and to raise the child together, the nonbiological, nonadoptive partner has standing to seek visitation and custody.

But the Gunn and Hamilton case is more complicated. The couple never married, and they did not conceive the child together. By the time they split up, they had only planned to adopt a child, but knew no other details. Gunn decided to seek custody because Hamilton was planning on moving to her home country of Great Britain with Abush.

One of Hamilton’s lawyers raised the issue that New York State’s new, expanded definition of parental rights could also be very scary for parents. It could open up arguments for trusted people close to the family to claim parental rights. But it doesn’t allow someone to gain those parental rights too easily–according to the judge in this case, Frank P. Nervo, Gunn didn’t provide sufficient evidence that she had played the role of a parent, and that was why she lost the case.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Woman Seeking Parental Rights to Ex-Partner’s Son Continues Legal Battle appeared first on Law Street.

A disgruntled mom of three, Emily Locke, posted a lengthy Facebook status Monday about the experience she had while breastfeeding her youngest child at the Cleveland History Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The family was there for her sister’s wedding and, during pictures, her nine-month old decided it was dinner time. The mother reportedly sat down there in the museum to breastfeed, and it wasn’t long before a museum worker tried to stop her.

“I was approached by a woman who told me ‘you aren’t allowed to do that here.'” Locke says in the post. “I responded that I was actually legally allowed to nurse my child. She said it was against the museum policy and I had to stop. I refused and she said she would have to get her manager.”

The woman Locke assumed was the manager spoke to her as well, informing Locke there were areas of the museum she could “do that” and that she would need to move because it is a “family museum” and they were trying to “protect the innocent children.” Locke repeated her earlier statement that women are allowed to breastfeed wherever they need to, and eventually the manager left her alone.

Locke’s post has been shared thousands of times in the last 24 hours, and many enraged social media supporters have lambasted the Cleveland History Center to express their outrage.

“I was so disappointed and saddened by this,” Locke goes on to say. “I was treated as if I was doing something disgusting and inappropriate. That I was in some way hurting the innocence of children.”

The museum has since come out with an apology, claiming it has no policies against women breastfeeding on its property, and it will be re-training staff on its policies:

This evening, we were made aware of an unfortunate incident over the weekend where a nursing mother was urged to refrain from breastfeeding her child in a public museum area by museum staff.

We offer our sincerest apologies to this mom and her family. Cleveland History Center does not have any policies that prohibit breastfeeding in our public areas. We do not condone the behavior of the staff involved, and have begun taking next steps to address this issue.

Our hopes are that this incident will serve as a teachable moment and an opportunity to improve our guest experience as we continue to provide a safe and family fun environment for all.

This is not an isolated incident. Women are shamed for breastfeeding in public daily, even though 49 states plus D.C. have laws allowing women to do so (with the exception of Idaho — what the hell, Idaho?). Many of those same states also exempt breastfeeding women from public indecency laws.

But just because it’s legal doesn’t mean women won’t get harassed. YouTube social experiments, like the one from Joey Salads below, showcase just how prevalent the misunderstanding about breastfeeding is:

It’s extremely disheartening to see the number of women who shame a mother for breastfeeding, because that means those women have been taught that breasts are something to be ashamed of or to be hidden, when the purpose of a mother’s breast is simply to give sustenance to her child. There is nothing shameful in that. Mothers should know their rights and stand up for them, like Emily Locke did, but they should not be harassed in the first place.

To learn more about breastfeeding laws in your state, click here.

Morgan McMurray

Morgan McMurray is an editor and gender equality blogger based in Seattle, Washington. A 2013 graduate of Iowa State University, she has a Bachelor of Arts in English, Journalism, and International Studies. She spends her free time writing, reading, teaching dance classes, and binge-watching Netflix. Contact Morgan at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Our nation has adopted a new habit of charging parents with felonies for teaching their children independence. From Florida to South Carolina to Ohio to Tennessee, parents of elementary age children are being carted off to jail for allowing their children to play in parks by themselves. There is no federal legislation that designates what age is too young to leave children unsupervised. Most states merely adhere to the guideline that leaving a child unattended in imminent danger is a criminal offense. But it’s absolutely ludicrous to charge parents, who sometimes have no other options, with child abuse or maltreatment for merely allowing their children to experience the world on their own.

If this were the trend 10 years ago, both my parents would have landed themselves a nice cozy cot in our local jailhouse. And 50 years ago, their parents would have been sentenced to life. We all played by ourselves in local parks and pools, rode our bikes through the streets freely, and walked around town with our friends. No one thought this was strange or dangerous, it was simply the norm. But now parents must question when it is and is not appropriate to let their children play and roam independently, for fear of felony charges. Let’s look at a few of the recent cases.

In Florida, Nicole Gainey was arrested for allowing her 7-year-old son to walk to the park–cellphone in hand–to play by himself. She was charged with a felony for child neglect and arrested on a $3,750 bond. In South Carolina, Debra Harrell was charged with unlawful conduct toward a child because she let her 9-year-old daughter play at a park while she worked. The felony Harrell was charged with is punishable by up to 10 years in jail, and she lost her job at McDonalds after this incident. In Ohio, Jefferey Williamson was arrested for child endangerment after his 8-year-old son skipped church to take a solo walk to the dollar store half a mile away from his home. In Tennessee, April Lawson spent the night in jail for letting her 5-year-old and 8-year-old play at an elementary park a block and a half away from her home. Lawson now faces felony charges for child abuse and neglect.

Child Self-Care Trends

It’s important to understand the different situations that parents face. Some parents have to make the decision between putting food on the table for their children and letting them play in the park alone. Not everyone seems to understand the difficulties many low-income, single parents face in providing care for their children. Child care arrangements depend on each family’s unique circumstance. US News broke down a 2011 Census report on child care arrangement statistics:

In general, the percentage of school-age children in self-care has ticked down during the last 10 or so years, but when those numbers are broken down by a family’s marital status, employment and parental presence, that decline is less consistent.

There’s a misconception that children face more danger today than they did in the past. However, Mark O’Mara, a family law attorney, wrote that today’s crime rates are much lower than they were during his childhood in the ‘60s. Additionally, people’s reactions are much different today than they were back then. Instead of delivering the child safely home, bystanders are calling police and child services to have the parents arrested. This often has a more harmful effect on children than safely returning them to their families.

Impact of Parental Arrests on Children

Some families are probably better off letting their children play alone. Unless these children are in the heart of a dangerous city where it’s plausible that they will be abducted or harmed, busybodies should mind their own business. If they are not actually in harm’s way, why cause them pain and grief? Many people don’t realize the effect experiencing a parent’s arrest can have on a child. According to Family to Family California, parental arrest and separation from a parent are traumatic events for children.

Furthermore, separation can cause children to feel angry, rejected, or depressed. After separation from their parents, children may perform worse in school, experience developmental delays, and lack adequate social skills. The report goes on to explain the detrimental effects trauma has on children, including their increased likeliness to become substance abusers or end up in prison.

Time for Helicopter Parents to Fly Away

In all of the above cases, the children were not in any serious danger. They were only victims to busybody helicopter parents who lacked better things to do. In the case of Harrell, one by-standing mother made the following comments about Harrell’s situation:

I understand the mom may have been in a difficult situation, not having someone to watch the child, but at the same time, you’ve got to find somebody.

It’s not always that simple. O’Mara pointed out that many parents in these situations cannot afford childcare, therefore we as a society are “criminalizing poverty.” The media isn’t helping the situation either. Cases from low-income neighborhoods that are thought to be less safe are emphasized in the media. This only furthers the public’s distrust of their fellow Americans, making parents hover.

I’m not saying parents should start letting their 5-year-olds roam the streets of New York City alone, but I think those helicopter parents need to relax a bit. Loosen up the reins. Helicopter parenting is not beneficial to anyone–the children often lack independence and have a harder time adjusting to life on their own and parents miss their individuality and freedom. Furthermore, when helicopter parents take this madness as far as imposing these ideals on other families, they only hurt those families. Parents get thrown in jail, children lose their homes and families become burdened with legal bills they probably can’t afford.

My parents’ generation roamed freely and played without 24/7 parental supervision, and they were able to survive and succeed. Helicopter parents, get the message: you’re not helping anyone, except for possibly your own ego.

—

Natasha Paulmeno (@natashapaulmeno)

Featured image courtesy of [Guian Bolisay via Flickr]

Natasha Paulmeno

Natasha Paulmeno is an aspiring PR professional studying at the University of Maryland. She is learning to speak Spanish fluently through travel, music, and school. In her spare time she enjoys Bachata music, playing with her dog, and exploring social media trends. Contact Natasha at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Unsupervised Children: Independent or Against the Law? appeared first on Law Street.

The FBI completed Operation Cross Country VIII last week, and it was definitely a success. Agents and officers rescued 168 children from sex trafficking, and arrested 281 pimps across the country. The operation spanned 106 cities and was part of the FBI’s Innocence Lost National Initiative. The FBI worked in conjunction with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. This year’s mission was the most widespread yet; since 2003 Operation Cross Country has identified and recovered about 3,600 children from sexual exploitation.

In addition to the operation, the FBI and its partners are trying to increase awareness about child sex trafficking within our borders. John Ryan, president and CEO of NCMEC, called for better laws that would require child welfare services to report children missing. He said there is no federal legislation for agencies to report children missing from their care and only two states have such regulations. It’s clear that the children rescued in this year’s operation would not have been found without the valiant efforts of the FBI and NCMEC, because the laws just aren’t in place to protect them.

At the Operation Cross Country press conference, FBI Director James B. Comey stated,

The lesson of Operation Cross Country is that our children are not for sale; that we will respond and crush these pimps who would crush these children. […] We will do this by seeking jail terms of many, many years, to send two messages. One, you will never do this again. Two, to others who might be tempted to crush the souls of children—you do that, and you’re risking your freedom and your life.

The Need for Legislation

NCMEC is pushing for state welfare agencies to create mandatory reports of all children missing from foster care. Without regulations requiring welfare agencies to report missing children, no one is looking for them–no one even knows they’re gone. And with no one aware of their whereabouts, no one can track their activities. So, more and more children are sucked into the sex trafficking industry. Here’s a breakdown by NCMEC:

The Children Who Need Our Help  

In comparison to our nation’s total population, 3,600 children rescued may not seem like a lot, until you put a name or a face to the numbers. For me, that happened when Operation Cross Country took action nearby. This year’s operation rescued two girls from Montgomery County, Maryland–one of them was only 16 years old. But what really hit home were the arrests of four pimps in Prince George’s County, home to my college. To think the children I tutored last year, or the teenagers on the University of Maryland’s campus for summer sports camps could be coerced by pimps is horrific.

It’s a frightening reality. Take Nicole‘s story, for example. She was 17 years old when she met her pimp. He took her shopping, bought her nice things, and treated her to a life of luxury. He told her how she could make good money, quick; after her first day “on the job” she came home with $750. Then she got raped by a john and when she told her pimp he beat her and forced her to take an ice shower for three hours. She needed surgery to repair her broken ribs, wrist, nose, and head injuries. She had no family or friends. All of her assets were tied up in the pimp. She was trapped in the life of sex trafficking.

Then she met Dani Geissinger-Rodarte, an FBI Victim Specialist. With the help of Rodarte, Nicole was able to leave her pimp and build a case against him. Now, that pimp, Juan Alexander Vianez must serve 20 years in prison and pay $1.3 million in restitution for sex trafficking and interstate transportation of a minor in furtherance of prostitution, among other charges.

Nicole got justice, and thanks to Operation Cross Country, more than 3,000 other victims of human sex trafficking have as well. But the number of children who are coerced into the trade at young ages needs to be reduced, and our government should do more to protect them. Why are Florida and Illinois the only states that require social services and foster care providers to report missing children in their care to NCMEC? In just one year more than 4,000 children were reported missing to NCMEC from those two states. Adding the cases from the additional 48 states would up that number by a terrifying amount.

If legislation was passed mandating child care services across the nation report children missing from their care, Operation Cross Country could significantly increase the number of victims rescued. Kathryn Turman, Director of the FBI’s Office for Victim Assistance said more than six million children in the U.S. are involved in over three million reports of abuse each year. Turman said the victimization of these children severely affects healthy development and compromises their futures, which collectively comprises our nation’s future. She said the cost of not doing enough to protect and aid child victims of sex trafficking is colossal, stating:

“Doing all we can to bring these children with their often invisible wounds out of the shadows is our mission and our privilege. A hundred years ago a wise man stated, ‘If the children are safe, then everyone is safe.'”

The work that those involved in Operation Cross Country are doing to keep the children safe is incredibly admirable. They deserve the highest of praise.

—

Natasha Paulmeno (@natashapaulmeno) 

Featured image courtesy of [Milliped via WikiMedia Commons]

Natasha Paulmeno

Natasha Paulmeno is an aspiring PR professional studying at the University of Maryland. She is learning to speak Spanish fluently through travel, music, and school. In her spare time she enjoys Bachata music, playing with her dog, and exploring social media trends. Contact Natasha at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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