For Zona Watson, the decision to pursue a law degree at Emory University was deeply personal, rooted in years of frontline experience in child welfare. Watson reflects on her journey, her aspirations, and the impactful experiences that have shaped her legal ambitions.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its much-anticipated decision in Haaland v. Brackeen, a case brought in separate actions by the state of Texas, a biological mother, and non-Native American adoptive and potential adoptive parents challenging the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).
Four Emory Law Juvenile Defender Clinic students worked on the amicus brief Waldman filed in November 2020 in a case that led to a June 1, 2022, Georgia Supreme Court decision that gives juveniles the right to an insanity defense.
The Barton Juvenile Defender Clinic and partners prevailed in a 2019 court case that sought to provide special education services to disabled youths in the DeKalb County Jail, one of the largest in the country.
The negotiated settlement comes almost a year and a half after the school system was sued by a 17-year-old who was diagnosed mental illness, the teen’s mother, and a 19-year-old with learning disabilities. Both teenagers were being denied the special education they were entitled to under federal law, the lawsuit stated.
The school to prison pipeline, that was recently halted during the COVID-19 pandemic, is especially pronounced for Black and Latinx students and students with disabilities and in schools serving impoverished communities, explained Sarah Vinson, M.D., and Randee Waldman, J.D., in a commentary published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health.
The Georgia Division of Family and Children Services dissolved its child abuse registry after four years. Officials say the database made it more difficult to accurately track and punish abusers. However, cases are still tracked via the SHINES Portal, the statewide, automated child welfare information system. Barton Child Law and Policy Center Executive Director Melissa Carter tells the AJC why the dissolution was prudent.
Emory University receives $1 million NoVo foundation grant to advance systems-based solutions to end commercial sexual exploitation. Emory Law’s Barton Child Law and Policy Center part of multi-sector partnership to advance systems-based solutions to support marginalized communities
While Georgia law is clear that not properly caring for a child can be a criminal offense, the state (along with most others) doesn't have a law that specifies at what age a child can be left unsupervised. "Age-based rules can be arbitrary and give a false sense of confidence regarding a child's safety," Melissa Carter, executive director of the Barton Child Law and Policy Center, told 11 Alive. "An older child might need supervision due to special needs or disabilities, whereas a younger child may have taken babysitting courses that have prepared him or her for greater responsibility."
Rachel Stone 18L recently received her Juris Master degree from Emory University School of Law. In a Q & A, she shared what led her to the school, how she plans to use her degree, and how she managed the rigor of law school and a full-time career.
Oklahoma lawmakers may soon sanction private adoption agencies turning away same-sex couples, Religion News reports. Melissa Carter, executive director of the Barton Child Law and Policy Center at Emory Law, opposes Georgia legislation similar to Oklahoma's, calling it unneeded and "unnecessarily hostile from a values standpoint." But she adds: "I don't think it's true that we've seen either a notable increase or a notable decrease (in adoptions) as a result of these bills."
Some Georgia senators say allowing adoption agencies to turn away married gay couples will result in more adoptions of foster children, according to a recent bill. Georgia shouldn't pass laws that encourage adoption agencies to turn potential parents away, said Melissa Carter, executive director of Emory Law's Barton Child Law and Policy Center. Gay children could be harmed if SB 375 passes and faith-based adoption agencies send them back to foster care, she said. "Children will stay in foster care longer, and the longer they stay in foster care, they're less likely to be adopted," Carter said.
Proposed changes to Georgia's adoption laws are overdue, says Barton Child Law and Policy Center Executive Director Melissa Carter. Changes include shortening the time a birth mother can change her mind after signing adoption documents from 10 to four days, and allowing adoptive parents to reimburse the birth mother for basic living expenses during the pregnancy. Present laws haven't been updated since 1990. "Prospective adoptive parents will look to adopt children in other states where the laws are more friendly," Carter said. "This bill is a necessary and overdue modernization of our adoption laws."
The Barton Child Law and Policy Center expanded its clinical offerings in 2011 with the addition of the Appeal for Youth Clinic.
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal says he opposes a Senate effort to add "religious liberty" protections to a bill dealing with adoptions, a change that could allow private adoption agencies receiving public money to refuse to place children with LGBT families. Melissa Carter, director of Emory's Barton Child Law and Policy Center, is also concerned the bill could be defeated because of the proposed change. "It's certainly a possibility that the entire bill could be lost as a casualty of these efforts," she said. Lost in the fight is how much the present laws need an update, she says. "As a legal practice, adoption is a highly technical area. Over time it needs to be updated and modernized."
When Baker & Hostetler Partner Emily Crosby learned how children of incarcerated parents struggle, she contacted Emory Law's Barton Child Law and Policy Center to do something about it. The Support Kids of Incarcerated Parents (SKIP) program recently marked its success with a gala featuring "Orange Is the New Black" author Piper Kerman. Director Melissa Carter tells the Daily Report 11 percent of Georgia's foster children have an incarcerated parent. About 70 percent of children with a parent in jail or prison end up incarcerated themselves.
Emory Law's legal clinics and externship programs engage students in all aspects of the legal process.
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has appointed Melissa Carter to the Georgia Commission on Family Violence.
Say you were convicted of shoplifting a couple of times when you were 13. Fifty years later, you would hope that wouldn't still be on your record. But in some states, like Georgia, it probably is. And anyone can access it. In Georgia, you can't get your criminal record expunged. You can only make a request to have it sealed. "Georgia could do better in protecting our kids," says Randee Waldman, director of the Barton juvenile Defender Clinic.
Most of Georgia's child welfare system would be dismantled and turned over to private companies under a new bill introduced this week by Senate lawmakers.
A plan to put private organizations in charge of Georgia¿s approximately 7,000 foster children is moving too fast for some child advocates who want more study before overhauling the system.
Georgia inmates who faced the death penalty before age 18 will be resentenced.
A working group of state senators Monday heard a second round of testimony on whether the state should further privatize its foster care system.
Melissa Carter, director of the Barton Child Law and Policy Center, discusses a proposal to overhaul Georgia¿s juvenile justice system that has passed the House and is expected to be before the Senate this week.
The Governor¿s Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform is recommending Georgia establish a two tiered system for felonies committed by juveniles younger than 17. Kirsten Widner with the Barton Child Law and Policy Center at Emory University says the new system would lock up violent offenders, and send non-violent offenders to community treatment.
A special state council today will recommend repairs for a juvenile justice system that spends $91,000 a year for each bed in its state detention centers. Council members point to the enormous expense of incarcerating young offenders in a state ¿youth development campus,¿ or YDC, while producing poor results, as evidence that the system isn¿t working.
Tight budgets make it hard to attract and train employees qualified to deal with young offenders who often have violent tendencies. The budget did rise to just over $300 million for the 2013 fiscal year, but that's stretched thin covering a staff of more than 4,000 employees statewide, a network of short- and longer-term juvenile detention centers, as well as community-based programs and supervision for low-risk offenders.