Surrogacy Issues

As a guardian ad litem (GAL) and domestic relations mediator in New Mexico, I take special interest in unusual court cases involving children and parental rights issues.  In the March issue of the ABA Journal, Mark Hansen writes about a Minnesota surrogacy case, in which a male homosexual couple made "do it yourself" (DYI) arrangements through a surrogacy website.  The surrogate was implanted with her own egg, which had been fertilized by the sperm of one of the men.  Although she relinquished her parental rights en route, she changed her mind shortly after birth, giving rise to several years of litigation.

News on the Home Front -- Mortgages and Foreclosures

Before I get to the meat of this post, I want to talk a bit about the nature of this particular blog, "On Maters of Family, Child Protection and Home."  

Beside my work in areas of general civil and labor/employment alternative dispute resolution, see On Being a Neutral, and  On New Mexico Labor and Employment Law, I am also increasingly engaged in New Mexico domestic relations, child protection and foreclosure matters nowadays.  "Domestic relations, child protection and foreclosure matters" may seem to you like an odd cast of characters to put together on your primarily labor-related resume, or to put together in one blog.  As to the resume, these are "hot" areas in mediation and my practice has necessarily evolved to go where the business is.  As to the blog, however, to me these areas are all connected by a common theme: what we do the rest of our day, away from work, e.g., home and family life.  Also, I frankly just had to cut myself off at the third blog!  

So, by way of that introduction, the following is my first post on matters of "home and heart," and what better inaugural topic than the present foreclosure crisis?