The Family Project: Transforming the Culture of Families

Family Restoration would like to introduce The Family Project, a new initiative from Focus on the Family that will strengthen families and transform culture.  Read and view the message below to learn more about this forthcoming project...

 

 

 

Discover the profound impact of biblical families

Dear Friend,

If you're like me, you'd do just about anything to protect and care for the most important people in your life.

That's why I want you to be one of the first to hear about the most ambitious initiative Focus on the Family has ever undertaken—one that will remind our world of the profound impact of biblical families that are redeemed by the love of Jesus Christ.

If you haven't yet heard about The Family Project, find out more about it by watching this video.
I believe The Family Project is the game changer that families need more than anything else.

It would be easy to despair over the challenges facing homes today. But Jesus told us that, despite the trouble in our world, we can have HOPE. Why? Because we know the Architect who created family . . . the One who understands that thriving families can transform both communities and cultures.

We expect to have The Family Project complete and ready to roll out by September 2014—including a feature-length film and a curriculum package.
We're already on task to bring hope back to the family. 

Please pray that the impact of The Family Project will hit its mark, to REVEAL to the world God's perfect design for family, RENEW families spiritually as they grow closer to Him and, most important, REDEEM our culture for His glory.

Sincerely,


Jim Daly
President

Regent Alumnus Works Nationally on Adoption and Family Restoration

The JURIST posted a piece interviewing Megan Lindsey (Regent Law 2007) which highlighted her work on an amicus brief for the Supreme Court of the United States case regarding adoption and the Indian Child Welfare Act.  The piece posted on July 17, 2013 was entitled  “Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl — What's Next?”  Read  an introduction to Megan’s insight below, and catch the full interview at the JURIST:

JURIST Guest Columnist Megan Lindsey, counsel for the National Council for Adoption, discusses the legal and practical impact of the US Supreme Court's decision in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl...

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I think the US Supreme Court got it right. We'll just start there. When I wrote on this case before, I expressed my discomfort with the many questions regarding which side of this case we came down on due to the fact that the tricky details of a real child's life come into play. Still, the National Council for Adoption became involved in this case in order to help the lives of many children to come. Since the question everyone is asking now is something along the lines of "Do you think the Court got it right?", I'll go ahead proclaim my agreement with Justice Alito's opinion from the start.

What's next for Veronica?

Veronica should never have been removed from Adoptive Couple — it wasn't in her best interest to face the trauma of being removed from the only family she'd known, it wasn't appropriate under state law's definition of a father, and now, according to the Supreme Court, it wasn't necessary under the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). I'm glad I'm not the South Carolina judge who this case has been remanded to. I can only imagine that it will feel nearly impossible to get a decision like this just right when so much has already gone wrong. The best interests standard seems much more difficult to apply now. The trauma of removing a child from the only family she's ever known to the custody of a biological father who had been a complete stranger up to that point cannot be undone. However, we're about eighteen months past that point and Dusten Brown is no longer a stranger. Brown has now served as Veronica's primary caretaker and unquestionably, some parental attachment has been formed. Eighteen months in the life of a child is an extremely significant amount of time — particularly a child in the young developmental years. Although Brown could have provided a far gentler transition for Veronica by allowing continued contact with the adoptive parents, Matt and Melanie Capobianco, I have heard no evidence that indicate that Brown has provided any sort of problematic environment during the last eighteen months. Still, Veronica is young and should be able to thrive in either environment at this point. A thorough, but expedient examination of Veronica's unique needs at this point in her life needs to occur in order to make that decision. And while I am in no position to make that decision and without having made that careful review, I think it is worth considering that we may need to think outside our too often adversarial notions for a moment and consider some variations in her future care options.

Veronica may best thrive with the influence of any and all the characters at play in this story. One reasonable option might be to allow some degree of continued communication and connection between Veronica and all parties. The grown-ups need to act like adults here. Although there are perhaps some hard feelings, reasonable adults share the care and custody of children to varying degrees all the time because it is best for the children. In cases of divorce, open adoptions and terms while children are in kinship or foster care settings more than one adult influence touch their lives. Legal mechanisms are neatly in place for compromises that prioritize kids. In my opinion, we need to be very careful about saying anybody has the right to parent until we've looked first at Veronica's needs and right to be parented in a way that meets those needs. This is not a property dispute, this is a life — dynamic, unique, and living through the developmental years that will frame her whole future. A judge who has that in mind will have a great framework to move forward from.

What's Next for Children and the Indian Child Welfare Act….

Read the rest of Megan’s interview at the JURIST.

I have discussed the importance of adoption to the best interests of the child in a piece entitled Tracing the Foundations of the Best Interests of the Child Standard in American Jurisprudence, 10 J. L. Fam. Stud. 337(2008) which can be downloaded at SSRN. As National Adoption Month November is a great time to remember that adoption provides a family for a child in need of one, and is a pivotal part of family restoration.

California's Children Need Protection and Family Restoration

California passed into legislation a unique bill that affects all children in schools across the state because it forces public schools to allow gender-questioning youth to choose whether they would like to use the boys or girls restrooms and locker rooms based on their felt "gender identity." Now signed by the governor, AB 1266 also lets students who believe they are the opposite sex participate in sex-segregated activities, including sports teams. The new law would apply to students in elementary, middle and high school.

This legislation leaves all other children without recourse.  While states have a duty to protect children from harm, it seems that California's legislators are disregarding the safety and privacy of the majority of children in exchange for accommodating an extremely small segment of children.  Among the legislation's concerns is also the disregard for the privacy of students who are not transgender or gender-questioning.  General law-making considers notions that are based on principle, rather than on exception.  Making law based on exceptional circumstances to the general rule never proves to be wise lawmaking, and in this case, it may be harmful to most children.  You can read more on this issue here.

Furthermore, last week a particular example of the effects of this new legislation became apparent.  Teen girls are very negatively affected. Journalist Lori Arnold writes this summary on the event:

            The hot topic in recent weeks at Colorado’s Florence High School hasn’t been about calculus, history, English, college admissions or who the Huskies would face on their Friday night football games. Instead, the big news has centered on a transgendered student who, born male but perceiving himself as female, has been using the girls’ bathroom. The situation prompted a parental complaint to administrators, who responded that the boy’s rights as a transgendered student trump the privacy concerns of his peers. “This is a nightmare scenario for the teenage girls—some of them freshmen—and their parents at this school,” said Matthew McReynolds, a staff attorney with Sacramento-based Pacific Justice Institute (PJI). After being contacted by a Florence High School parent, McReynolds sent a letter to Principal Brian Schipper and Superintendent Rhonda Vendetti outlining the privacy rights of students. “This is exactly the kind of horror story we have been warning would accompany the push for radical transgender rights in schools, and it is the type of situation that LGBT activists have been insisting would not happen.” McReynolds said officials at the school, located near Pueblo, warned the complaining students they could be removed from sports teams or be charged with hate crimes if they persisted in voicing their opposition to the policy.

Read her entire article here.  Legislative efforts are underway to reverse the bill.

Gender equality does not have to up children in danger, or kick them off their sports teams for hate speech by voicing safety and fairness concerns.  Find out more about Christianity and Gender Equality by reading "Christianity, Feminism, and the Paradox of Female Happiness" and "A Christian Perspective on Gender Equality."  Marriage and children are inexorably linked to rebuilding strength within families.  Legislation can be helpful to those goals, or unhelpful to those objectives, as this piece of lawmaking evidences.

Regent Law Students Working toward Family Restoration Around the World

Summer opportunities for Regent law students are directive and confirming of their calling to law and their future practice as attorneys.  This post will highlight three women and the work they did in the Summer of 2013, as well as give some glimpses of their future as lawyers.

Elizabeth Oklevitch is a 3L who served a summer internship in 2012 in South Africa working on aspects of the rule of law and also served as a student law clerk in United States District Court, Western District of New York.  She has sensed a calling to work in the area of child advocacy and family restoration.  This past summer she served in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Rochester, NY, largely working on child exploitation and constitutional law issues.  Read more about her perspective and experiences here.

 Abby Skeans is a 3L who came to Regent Law to gain critical training for her calling to rule of law development work in Sub-Saharan Africa through the Center for Global Justice, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law. Through her internships with a partner organization, Sixty Feet, and stipends provided by the Center, Abby has spent both of her summers serving the juvenile justice systems of Uganda and Malawi.  She has sought systemic reform by supporting a program that gave nearly 150 children access to justice in the past year, developing a database program that is transferable to other African nations, and implementing a legal literacy clinic for juvenile offenders.  Read more about Abby's work here, and on her blog. 

 Heather Pate, also a 3L, has worked as a student intern with the Center for Global Justice, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law and spent last summer in D.C. working with the National Coalition on Adoption in the legislative policy realm protecting children. This past summer, she worked with policy makers and law enforcement officials in Uganda to end child sacrifice in that nation.  Read more about her experiences here.

Each of these women have responded to God's call upon their lives and have been led to incredible opportunities around the world to make a difference for children.  Their desire to see family restoration happen has been turned into action, and they are making a difference now as students.  Each has been prepared to definitely make a difference as lawyers for the rest of their lives.