Child Safety Assessment --Threats and Protective Capacities

As a guardian ad litem (GAL) and domestic relations mediator in New Mexico, I am attuned to issues related to the safety and adequate care of children.   The emerging conceptual model today is to assess threats of child abuse and weigh those threats against the “protective capacities” in the family, to determine whether or not a child is or can be made “safe” in a given home environment.  If the child is or cannot be made safe, the State must assume custody.  This blog reviews the new safety threat/protective capacity model or analysis.

Vehicular Manslaughter Distinguished from Child Abuse

As a guardian ad litem (GAL) and domestic relations mediator in New Mexico, I take special interest in unusual court cases involving children, even when not precisely within my bailiwick.  In State v. Gonzales, 2011-NMCA-081, the New Mexico Court of Appeals has ruled that criminal negligence that endangers the public at large--such as driving will intoxicated--and results in injury or death of a child cannot generally support a conviction for negligent child abuse by endangerment (NMSA 30-6-1(D))(1)).

The Inside Scoop on CYFD

As a New Mexico domestic relations mediator and child protection worker (CASA and GAL), I attend training and blog in these areas with fair regularity.  I have previously written in broad outline form about the New Mexico child protection laws, timelines and policies, and now report on training conducted in August 2011 by CYFD)and the Albuquerque Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program, in which CYFD gave a overview on CYFD policies and procedures from intake to placement.  

Is Media Making Our Kids Too Sexy Too Soon?

As a domestic relations mediator and child protection worker (CASA and GAL)--and a parent--I have occasion to wonder if the media is making our kids too precocious too soon.  In So Sexy So Soon (2008), authors Diane E. Levin, PhD and Jean Kilbourne, EdD weigh in and conclude that is the case.  While I do not agree with all of their premises or prejudices, there is still considerable merit to their book

Hard Times Get Tougher?

I am an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Professional in New Mexico, and I wrote earlier in the year on another blog about "the new normal" of low, slow growth.  Recently, the Chief Economist for the Bank of New York Mellon, Richard B. Hoey, suggested that the situation could now be quite worse.  

Bankruptcy, Short Sale and Deed in Lieu in Foreclosure

A significant part of my neutral practice involves New Mexico foreclosure mediation, and I have written several posts recently regarding foreclosure.  See Foreclosure Mediation - Limitations and Concerns and How a Mediator Can Help in Foreclosure - More Thoughts.  Today, I'd like to look at a couple of particularly thorny issues that often arise in foreclosure mediation.  

First, it may be that the homeowner will need to consider whether he or she is even able to afford the home.  If the homeowner is not offered a loan modification that will

Court Debates Whether Secret Potty Pics = Sexual Exploitation

As a guardian ad litem (GAL) and domestic relations mediator in New Mexico, I take special interest in unusual court cases involving children.  In State v. Myers, 2011-NMSC-028, the New Mexico Supreme Court rejected the Court of Appeals' chastisement, and concluded that the Sexual Exploitation of Children Act, NMSA §§ 30-6A-1 et seq. applies to taking covert pictures of the genitals of female minors' while they used the restroom.

In what was an unusual twist, the Court of Appeals, on remand, had concluded that the State Supreme Court had impermissibly expanded the scope of the Act.  Specifically, it