Barton Center News: News Releases and In the News
Carter: DFACS housing requirements keep kids in foster care longer
Carter: GA ranks #12 for most children in foster care
Carter: Most states, unlike Georgia, ban life without parole for teens
Carter: Ossoff's DFACS investigation is sincere
Carter: GA foster care needs more creative solutions
Carter: GA welfare system has 'multiple failure points'
Carter on SNAP delays: Care for the most vulnerable
Carter comments on Georgia's harsh juvenile offender laws
Haaland: Indian Child Welfare Act withstands challenge
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).
Barton Clinic contributes to landmark juvenile insanity defense case
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.
Barton Clinic prevails in three-year effort to provide special education for jailed youth
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 Barton Juvenile Defender Clinic helps ensure youth in jail receive special education services
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 Barton Juvenile Defender Clinic addresses issues surrounding the school-to-prison pipeline
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.
Carter: Why Georgia dissolved a duplicative abuse tracking system
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 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
Carter: Few states specify at what age it's OK to leave a child alone
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."
Faith, child advocacy, and a little acrylic paint: That's what this JM graduate is made of
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.
States' effort to ban same-sex couple adoption 'unnecessarily hostile'
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."
Georgia may let adoption agencies refuse gay couples
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.
Georgia adoption laws overdue for an update, Carter says
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 Appeal for Youth Clinic at Emory works to end juvenile life without parole in Georgia
The Barton Child Law and Policy Center expanded its clinical offerings in 2011 with the addition of the Appeal for Youth Clinic.
'Religious liberty' provision imperils adoption bill, Carter says
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."
'Orange Is the New Black' author applauds SKIP initiative
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 students put theory to practice through summer experiences
Emory Law's legal clinics and externship programs engage students in all aspects of the legal process.
Carter appointed to Georgia Commission on Family Violence
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has appointed Melissa Carter to the Georgia Commission on Family Violence.
Waldman: Georgia can do better on public juvenile record policy
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.
Carter on foster care privatization, not necessarily right for our children
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.
Carter says speed of foster care fix troubling
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.
Ruling means minors who faced death penalty will be resentenced
Georgia inmates who faced the death penalty before age 18 will be resentenced.
Carter on WABE: be cautious when considering changes to foster care
A working group of state senators Monday heard a second round of testimony on whether the state should further privatize its foster care system.
Georgia tries to steer more juveniles toward help
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.
Carter in the AJC: jailing nonviolent juvenile offenders costly, inefficient
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.
Widner advocates treatment, not confinement, for low-risk juvenile offenders
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.
Detain only violent offenders to best use short budget funds, Widner says
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.