This course provides an in-depth examination of adoption law and policy. Private and public adoption systems will be examined with special emphasis on termination of parental rights and the rights of fathers. Emerging issues such as transracial placements, wrongful adoption and open adoption records will be discussed along with the relationship of new reproductive issues to adoption.

 

This course examines the relationship between the state, parents, and children, and how the state creates, regulates, and terminates familial relationships. It analyzes the balance between parents' rights to make childrearing decisions and the state's responsibility to protect children. The course also explores the state's treatment of minors in various contexts, including contracts, health care, and education.

 

This course will consider the response of the legal system to domestic violence. The focus will be an examination of the intersection of domestic violence with family and criminal law as well as the civil protective order remedy. Topics will also include domestic violence as a human rights violation, remedies for battered immigrants and tort liability for domestic violence.

 

This comprehensive survey course deals with the laws of marriage, divorce, and their incidents--formation and dissolution; alimony, support and custody; jurisdiction; procedure and enforcement. The course also addresses child welfare laws and adoption.

 

The course will cover Defamation/Libel, Invasion of Privacy, Economic Harms (Business Torts), Nuisance, and Trespass to Chattel/Conversion.