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The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) is a federal law which regulates placement proceedings involving Indian children. If your child is a member of a tribe or eligible for membership in a tribe, your family has the right to protection under the ICWA. These rights apply to any child protective case, adoption, guardianships, termination of […]

Traditionally, courts ruled that a father had an automatic right to have his child keep his last name if he continued to actively perform his parental role. But this is no longer true. Now a child’s name may be changed by court petition when it is in the best interest of the child to do […]

What A Will Can Do… A testator is a person who leaves a will in force at his or her death. A will is a legal instrument which states how the testator’s property is to be distributed at death. A valid will avoids many of the problems that may arise from dying without a will […]

Child neglect may be defined as negligent treatment or maltreatment of a child, including the failure to provide adequate food, medical treatment, clothing or shelter. The exception is a parent or guardian legitimately practicing his or her religious beliefs who does not provide specified medical treatment for a child for that reason. However, such an […]

The Child Citizenship Act, approved by Congress, grants automatic citizenship to most adopted children born abroad, provided they are under 18 and at least one parent or legal guardian is an American citizen. About 20,000 such adoptions occur every year – about 15 percent of the adoptions in the United States – and the average […]

Where a child’s parents were never married, most states provide that the child’s biological mother has sole physical custody unless the biological father takes steps to have himself considered for custody. Those steps include obtaining a court’s finding of paternity and filing a petition for custody. In some states, this is a bifurcated (two-step) process; […]