Why you should attend
The ALL NEW 2012 Adoption Law Institute will address current issues and new developments in adoption law in the United States and around the world, and explore modifications and alternatives to traditional adoptions, which raise ethical and practice considerations.
The faculty and the course handbook materials will provide practice tips and practical solutions to a broad range of issues that legal and social work professionals commonly confront in adoption cases.
What you will learn
- Same sex marriage and implications for adoption
- Parent attorney advocacy and reinstatement of parental rights
- The impact of social media on adoption practice
- Intercountry adoptions and immigration issues
- Surrogacy and artificial reproductive technology (ART) issues
- Ethical issues in adoption law practice
Who should attend
This program is designed especially for family law attorneys, social workers, adoption advocates, adoption agency professionals, mental health professionals, and other related professionals seeking to expand their knowledge of this growing field.
9:00 INTRODUCTION & WELCOMING REMARKS
Douglas H. Reiniger
9:15 THE IMPACT OF THE INTERNET ON ADOPTION PRACTICE
Legal Guidance for Connecting Adoptive Parents and Birth Parents and Coordinating Interstate Adoptions
- How the Internet offers numerous options for prospective adoptive parents and birth parents to connect with each other
- Evaluating the credibility and legality of websites for posting adoption advertising and the validity of responses
- Compliance with advertising laws of the prospective adoptive parents’ and other jurisdictions
- Legal coordination of interstate adoption and significant differences in state’s laws; choice of law issues; Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children
- Ethical considerations: confidentiality, competent counsel for parties in other jurisdictions
Robin A. Fleischner, Jonathan Korzen, Deborah Steincolor
10:15 Networking Break
10:30 MARRIAGE BETWEEN SAME-SEX COUPLES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR ADOPTION
- Marriage Equality Law and its effects on adoption
- Second parent adoptions: what to expect
- Amended birth certificates for same-sex couples
- Federal and state statutory and case law update on recognition of marriage between same-sex couples and adoption
Gregory A. Franklin, Rebecca L. Mendel, Susan Sommer
11:30 SURROGACY AND ASSISTED REPRODUCTION ISSUES
- Understanding the players: Intended Parents; gamete donors and Gestational carriers
- Embryo disposition agreements; the importance of clarity
- The move towards a national donor registry
- Talking to children conceived through donation: how adoption is informing Assisted Reproduction Technology practices
- Incoming and Outgoing Surrogacy issues: parentage; statehood; U.S. State Department regulations; issues in returning to the intended parent’s home country
- Interstate recognition of families formed through assisted reproductive technology
Nidhi Desai, Denise E. Seidelman, Margaret E. Swain, RN, JD
12:30 Lunch
1:45 PARENT ATTORNEY ADVOCACY AND REINSTATEMENT OF PARENTAL RIGHTS
- The Foster Care System: structure; Adoption and Safe Families Act; permanency outcomes; outcomes for children who age out of foster care
- The “Legal Orphan” problem; definition; statistics; overview of problem; class action lawsuit; recommended statutory changes
- Importance of parental and familial connections: research & anecdotal evidence
- Restoration of parental rights: individual efforts and outcomes; reinstatement statutes (state overview, comparisons, limitations)
- Moving Forward: statute revisions; changes in child welfare policy and practice (post-termination contact, reconnecting families)
Professor LaShanda Taylor, Elizabeth A. Thornton
2:45 INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTIONS AND IMMIGRATION ISSUES
- Hague Adoption Convention & Non-Convention adoptions
- Incoming and outgoing intercountry adoptions
- Issues pertaining to children in the United States out of immigration status
- Special immigrant juvenile proceedings
Michael S. Goldstein, LCSW, Stephen Lewin
3:45 Networking Break
4:00 ETHICS AND ADOPTION PRACTICE
- An interactive, audience-participation program using hypothetical fact patterns which raise ethical issues in the legal representation of all parties in adoptions
- Issues raised will include many of the topics raised earlier in the Institute: adoption by same-sex couples, intercountry adoption and immigration issues, surrogacy and assisted reproduction issues
- Ethical issues related to the representation of birth parents, same-sex adoptive parents, and parties to surrogate-parent adoptions and surrogate mothers from foreign countries
Anne Reynolds Copps, Brendan C. O’Shea
Chairperson(s)
Speaker(s)
Susan Sommer ~ Director of Constitutional Litigation and Senior Counsel, Lambda Legal
Program Attorney(s)
New York City Seminar Location
PLI New York Center, 810 Seventh Avenue at 53rd Street (21st floor), New York, New York 10019. Message Center, program days only: (212) 824-5733.
New York City Hotel Accommodations
The New York Hilton & Towers, 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019. 1 block from PLI Center. Reservations 1-800-HILTONS or, 1-877-NYC-HILT. Please mention that you are booking a room under the Practising Law Institute Corporate rate and the Client File # is N495741. Reservations on line at www.hilton.com and enter the same Client File # in the Corporate ID # field to access Practising Law Institute rates.
The Warwick New York Hotel, 65 West 54th Street New York, NY 10019. 1 block from PLI Center. Reservations 800-223-4099 or, hotel direct 212-247-2700. Please mention that you are booking a room under the Practising Law Institute Corporate rate. Reservations on line at www.warwickhotelny.com Click reservations in menu bar on left. Select desired dates. In 'Special Rates' drop down window select Corporate Rate. In 'Rate Code' enter PLIN. Click search and select desired room type and rate plan. Or, you may email reservation requests to: res.ny@warwickhotels.com.
PLI programs qualify for credit in all states that require mandatory continuing legal education for attorneys. Please be sure to check with your state and the credit calculator to the right for details.
Please check the CLE Calculator above each product description for CLE information specific to your state.
Special Note: In New York, newly admitted attorneys may receive CLE credit only for attendance at "transitional" programs during their first two years of admission to the Bar. Non-traditional course formats such as on-demand web programs or recorded items, are not acceptable for CLE credit. Experienced attorneys may choose to attend and receive CLE credit for either a transitional course or for one geared to experienced attorneys. All product types, including on-demand web programs and recorded items, are approved for experienced attorneys.
Please Note: The State Bar of Arizona does not approve or accredit CLE activities for the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education requirement. PLI programs may qualify for credit based on the requirements outlined in the MCLE Regulations and Ariz. R. Sup. Ct. Rule 45.
If you have already received credit for attending some or the entire program, please be aware that state administrators do not permit you to accrue additional credit for repeat viewing even if an additional credit certificate is subsequently issued.
Credit will be granted only to the individual on record as the purchaser unless alternative arrangements (prearranged groupcast) are made in advance.