The hit television show Glee has been lauded for its tolerance and diversity, as well as its soundtrack, since it first came on the air in 2009. The show has tackled a host of story lines that have been both controversial and groundbreaking for a prime-time television about high school students, including homosexuality, teen pregnancy, developmental disability, obsessive compulsive disorder,…
When most people think of adoption, they think of babies or children. However, in many states (including Washington), a person may be adopted at any age.
Any person may be adopted, regardless of his or her age or residence.
RCW 26.33.140
Washington law requires that a person who is over the age of 14 consent to being adopted. Thus, the…
Last Friday the New York Times ran a story detailing the messy divorce of supermodel Stephanie Seymour and media mogul/art collector Peter Brant. Seymour and Brant, who’ve been married since 1995 and have three children, have apparently become near-fixtures at a Stamford, Connecticut courthouse as they’ve battled over drug tests, jewels, and Warhol paintings since Seymour filed for divorce…
A news story out of Chicago tells the tale of a Laura Derbigney, a Hispanic Catholic woman who claims to have recently been ordered by a court to obey Orthodox Jewish dietary restrictions and keep the Sabbath. The reason? Laura’s husband has a son with an ex-wife – an ex-wife who follows the strict dietary and other rules of…
In this series, we have been examining Washington cases which help us to understand what exactly the “best interests of the child” standard means, and how it works when applied to a specific family. Our last article examined the fifth factor under RCW 26.09.187(3)(a) – “the child’s relationship with siblings and other adults, as well as…
In this series, we’re reviewing Washington cases which help us to understand what exactly the “best interests of the child” standard means, and how it works when applied to a specific family. Our last article examined the fourth factor under RCW 26.09.187(3)(a) – “the emotional needs and developmental level of the child.“ Today, we’re looking at…
In this series, we’re reviewing Washington cases which help us to understand what exactly the “best interests of the child” standard means, and how it works when applied to a specific family. Last week we discussed the third factor, the “past and future performance of parenting functions“, which relates to each parent’s ability to take care of…
In this series, we’re taking a look at some Washington cases that shed some light on to what the “best interests of the child” standard means, and how it works when applied to a specific family. Last week we discussed the second factor, “the agreements of the parties.” In that article we saw just how much discretion a…
In this series, we’re taking a look at some Washington cases that shed some light on to what the “best interests of the child” standard means, and how it works when applied to a specific family. Last week we discussed the first, and most important factor, “the relative strength, nature, and stability of the child’s relationship with each parent.” …
In this series, we’re taking a look at some Washington cases that shed some light on to what the “best interests of the child” standard means, and how it works when applied to a specific family. Today, in this second article in the series, we’re taking a look at the first of the seven factors that Washington courts must consider…
