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A Letter From the Chief Justice

Chief Justice Michael Heavican

Chief Justice Michael Heavican

Dear Nebraska Children's Summit Attendees:

September 2012

On behalf of the Nebraska Supreme Court and the Through the Eyes of the Child Initiative, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to you for taking time away from your busy schedules to attend the Nebraska Children's Summit. The number of people attending the Summit was impressive and indicative of the widespread concern about the well-being of children in our system. Nebraska courts feel privileged to be one of the leaders in these efforts.

As a reminder, the new priorities selected at the Children's Summit are:

  1. Improve service delivery to the family - frontloaded, targeted to the issues and effective;
  2. Improve our response to older youth in care;
  3. Expedite quality evaluations and targeted treatment for substance-abusing parents.

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Priorities

  1. Improve service delivery to the family - frontloaded, targeted to the issues and effective
  2. Improve our response to older youth in care
  3. Expedite quality evaluations and targeted treatment for substance-abusing parents

Spotlight Issue

  • Should a Parent Whose Rights Have Been Terminated be Given a Second Chance?
    By Judith A. Wells, the Law of Judith A. Wells, PC, LLO.

      In August of 2012, I had the opportunity to attend the 2012 National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC) conference held in Chicago, IL. There was a wealth of knowledge and experience at this conference and I was able to participate many great sessions.

      One session that had an impact on me was presented by Meredith L. Schalick, Clinical Associate Professor at Rutgers School of Law. Her presentation dealt with the restoration of a parent’s rights following termination. To learn that several states have already enacted laws that allow for the restoration of parental rights was very encouraging to me. It sounded wonderful and I was motivated to return to my jurisdiction to see what could be done to get input from professionals in the area and to try to get a similar law passed here.





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Spotlight Team

  • The Hastings Team - Establishing the Maryland Living Center
    March 2013


    In 2012, the Hastings team of the Through the Eyes of the Child Initiative partnered with other community organizations to secure funding for the development and operation of a living center for older runaway and homeless youth. At the 2012 Children’s Summit, statewide team members honored the project by voting it Project with the Most Impact. Below is a Q & A with Project Coordinator Lauren Slaughter about the Maryland Living Center (MLC).

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Latest Caselaw Updates

  • In re Interest of Rylee S.
    Filed on April 25, 2013 Not designated for permanent publication, S-12-531 SUMMARY: The juvenile court ordering of the mother to complete a pre-treatment assessment and authorizing the release of her mental health records to DHHS were not reasonable because there is no showing of any need for parental rehabilitation where the adjudication of no fault was based [...]
  • In re Interest of Neveah M.
    Not designated for permanent publication; A-12-0373 Filed April 24, 2013 SUMMARY: Evidence was sufficient to support a termination of a mother’s parental rights when the mother sexually assaulted a young girl and suffered from mental disabilities.  The juvenile court did not err by excluding expert testimony of psychosexual development of teenage girls and of the mother’s personal [...]
  • In re Interest of Ashe G.
    Not designated for permanent publication; A-12-748 Filed April 23, 2013 SUMMARY: Evidence that the mother was diagnosed with mild mental retardation, her condition was unlikely to improve, and the child had special needs was sufficient to support a termination of the mother’s parental rights, despite evidence that the mother loved the child.   Ashe (DOB 1/2003) was [...]
  • In re Interest of Kaira H.
    Not designated for permanent publication; A-12-375 Filed April 9, 2013 SUMMARY: Termination of parental rights was proper when the father took over a year to establish paternity, did not participate in offered services, and was incarcerated for most of the child’s life.   In April, 2009, Kaira (DOB 1/2009) was removed from her mother’s home following her [...]
  • In re Interest of Adlai S.
    Not designated for permanent publication; No. A-12-762 Filed April 9, 2013 SUMMARY: Evidence was sufficient to support a father’s termination of parental rights when the father was incarcerated for all of the child’s life and had made no progress toward reunification.  Kelly, father of Adlai (DOB 7/2007), was incarcerated for robbery and use of a weapon to commit [...]
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