Tribal Court. Under the Indian Child Welfare Act, a court with child-custody jurisdiction that is (1) a Court of Indian Offenses, (2) a court established and operated under the code or custom of a tribe, or (3) any other tribal administrative body that is vested with authority over child-custody proceedings. • The Tribal Court is […]
amnesty, n. A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of persons, usu. for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of persons who are subject to trial but have not yet been convicted (the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act provided amnesty for undocumented aliens
Uniform Juvenile Court Act. A 1968 model statute designed to (1) provide for the care, protection, and moral, mental, and physical development of the children who come under its provisions, (2) provide juvenile delinquents with treatment, training, and rehabilitation rather than criminal punishment, (3) attempt to keep families together unless separation of parents and children
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best-interests-of-the-child doctrine. Family law. The principle that courts should make custody decisions based on whatever best advances the child’s welfare, regardless of a claimant’s particular status or relationship with the child. • One important factor entering into these decisions is the general belief that the child’s best interests normally favor custody by parents, as opposed
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foster care. 1. A federally funded child-welfare program providing substitute care for abused and neglected children who have been removed by court order from their parents’ or guardians’ care or for children voluntarily placed by their parents in the temporary care of the state because of a family crisis. 42 USCA §§ 670–679a. • The
The power granted to a governmental body to spend public funds; esp., the congressional power to spend money for the payment of debt and provision of the common defense and general welfare of the United States. U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 1. [Cases: United States 82. C.J.S. United States § 155.]
mature-minor doctrine. Family law. A rule holding that an adolescent, though not having reached the age of majority, may make decisions about his or her health and welfare if the adolescent demonstrates an ability to articulate reasoned preferences on those matters. • The mature-minor doctrine was recognized as constitutionally protected in certain medical decisions (esp.
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A type of social insurance that pays money to workers who are unemployed for reasons unrelated to job performance. • Individual states administer unemployment insurance, which is funded by payroll taxes. — Also termed unemployment compensation. [Cases: Social Security and Public Welfare 251–751. C.J.S. Social Security and Public Welfare §§ 146–191, 209–297.]
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Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Obsolete. A federally funded, state-administered welfare program that provided financial assistance to needy families with dependent children. • Aid to Families with Dependent Children has been replaced by Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. — Abbr. AFDC. See TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE TO NEEDY FAMILIES.
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battered-child syndrome. Family law. A constellation of medical and psychological conditions of a child who has suffered continuing injuries that could not be accidental and are therefore presumed to have been inflicted by someone close to the child, usu. a caregiver. • Diagnosis typically results from a radiological finding of distinct bone trauma and persistent
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