Teenage Sex and Mandatory Minimums

There must be something in the water in Georgia. Yesterday, the Georgia Supreme Court wrestled with how mandatory minimum sentencing laws treat teenagers who are caught engaging in consensual sex.

In the case before the court, Marcus Dwayne Dixon, a black 18-year-old high school football player, was accused and acquitted of raping a white 15-year-old female classmate.

But Dixon was convicted of misdemeanor statutory rape and aggravated child molestation, one of the so-called "seven deadly sins" for which Georgia law requires at least a 10-year prison term.

A star athlete with a 3.96 grade-point average, Dixon had accepted a full scholarship to Vanderbilt University. He now sits in a Georgia prison cell.

Teenagers and sex - another controversial topic. And one of importance for the adoption and child welfare community. What if the girl became pregnant and placed the baby for adoption. Should this father have parental rights? Should he be listed on the state's sex offender registry? Is his conviction a legitimate "aggravating circumstance" leading to a limitation of his parental rights now and in the future?

Read all about this case at Law.com

For further background click here.

2003 Tax Benefits for Adoption

The tax benefits for adoption are numerous and a bit complicated.

This year adoptive parents may be able to take a tax credit of up to $10,160 for qualifying expenses paid to adopt an eligible child. Also, up to $10,160 paid or reimbursed by an employer for qualifying adoption expenses under an adoption assistance program may be excludable from gross income. Adoptive parents may claim both a credit and an exclusion for expenses of adopting an eligible child.

Finally, beginning in 2003, the maximum credit and exclusion of $10,160, subject to certain income and tax liability limits, will be allowed for the adoption of a child with special needs even if the adoptive parents do not have ANY qualifying expenses. This "refundable credit" has long been sought by adoption advocates.

Read all about these important adoption tax benefits and pass this information along!

MEPA Bombshell Hits Hamilton County Ohio

In an unprecedented move, the federal Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Letter of Finding to Hamilton County Ohio with a determination that the county violated the civil rights of children eligible for adoption and of foster families and other prospective adoptive families. After an extensive investigation OCR discovered that the county violated MEPA by making adoption determinations on the basis of race, rather than on the basis of the individual needs of the children.

The cited violations included instances where non-African-American foster families were improperly prevented from adopting African-American children in their care with whom they had formed a close bond, because of racial considerations.

According to OCR, in the past five years, they have initiated more than 130 investigations of racial discrimination in adoption and foster care. In most of these cases, they reached a satisfactory conclusion with federal grantees, either finding no violation or working with grantees to make needed changes in their programs. The Hamilton County case is the first instance in which OCR issued a MEPA/Section 1808 Letter of Finding that the civil rights of individual children or prospective adoptive or foster parents were violated. Reportedly, this action was necessary due to the prolonged history of discrimination of this kind by the county program and the failure to reach agreement on effective corrections.

In response to the OCR investigation, HHS imposed an unheard of $1.8 million fine!

Race in adoption - a big issue. Read the OCR Report.

Check out the statement by Richard Campanelli HHS Office for Civil Rights Director.

For more on this topic see this article on Adoption Affirmative Action in Iowa.

Your comments please!

Judge's Adopted Preschool Daughter Left Alone

I don't believe in sparing any sacred cows (or mad cows for that matter) and now it's time for the legal system - a judge no less - to take some hits. Apparently in late November a Fulton County, Georgia juvenile court judge left her 4-year-old adopted daughter home alone at 11 PM to retrieve a piece of luggage from the airport. The girl was found alone on the street late at night after she fled the house. The judge has agreed that she will not sit in judgment of other parents until authorities have completed their investigation into her conduct.

Read all about it at Law.com

More on this story from the Atlanta Journal Constitution

Reform advocate Richard Wexler voices his opinion.


Breaking News Judge Resigns

Should the judge resign? Can she get a fair investigation? How will this affect her judgment on future neglect cases?