TRADE‐OFFS IN FORMULATING A CONSISTENT NATIONAL POLICY ON ADOPTION*

Just as the courts must consider the trade‐off between the best interest of the child and parental rights in involuntary termination of parental rights, policy on international adoption must consider the trade‐offs between the best interest of the child and the long‐term interests of the nation. We argue that countries that suspend international adoptions do not maximize social welfare. A consistent national policy to maximize the well‐being of the children and society at large would be to devote resources today to the oversight of international adoption in accord with child protections under the Hague Convention, while at the same time developing a domestic system of care that provides for the physical and developmental needs of orphaned children in the context of permanent families.     

英美毁约性违约制度探析

毁约性违约作为判定非违约方可否享有解除或终止合同权利的核心标准,是英美合同法中的重要制度。在对其内涵、构成及形态等几种特殊情况进行探讨的基础上,认为我国应借鉴英美国家对违约解除制度作出系统规定的经验,确立类似于毁约性违约构成合同解除权的概念。     

BURDEN OF PROOF BEGONE

This article examines the tendency of emergency child removal decisions—by social workers, police officers, and judges—to become self-reinforcing and self-perpetuating in subsequent child protective proceedings. This snowball effect, as one court has referred to it, is widely acknowledged by lawyers who practice in juvenile court, yet is largely unknown beyond those circles. The article explores the causes and consequnces of this phenomenon in the age of the 1997 federal Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA), which converts every day that a child spends in foster care into one more tick of the clock in a countdown toward termination of parental rights. The article provides some background on the law and practice of emergency child removal in the United States today, analyzes the factors that make initial removals outcome determinative in many child protection cases, considers the implications of this phenomenon in light of ASFA, and identifies possible solutions.     

The Panglossian politics of the geoclique

ABSTRACT

Solar radiation management (SRM) – a form of geoengineering – creates a risk of ‘termination shock’. If SRM was to be stopped abruptly then temperatures could rise very rapidly with catastrophic impacts. Two prominent geoengineering researchers have recently argued that the risk of termination shock could be minimised through the adoption of ‘relatively simple’ policies. This paper shows their arguments to be premised on heroically optimistic assumptions about the prospects for global cooperation and sustained trust in an SRM deployment scenario. The paper argues that worst-case scenarios are the right place to start in thinking about the governance of SRM.     

少数者权利的国际保护

保障少数者的权利,是国际和平与稳定的因素之一。对少数者给予特别保护是与平等和不歧视原则相一致的。目前,国际上还没有一个被普遍接受的关于少数者的定义。一国境内是否存在少数者依照主观和客观标准来确定。难民、移民工人和其他非为居留国国民的个人只要他们具备作为少数者的特征,也可以被视为少数者而获得居留国的保护。土著人也受《公民权利和政治权利国际公约》第27条的保护,并且其权利内容更广泛。中国的法律中不存在少数者的概念,但中国的《宪法》和《民族区域自治法》确立了关于少数民族的保护制度。     

Threats to Perceptions of Fairness in the Termination of Parental Rights

Termination of parental rights (TPR) proceedings are among the most important family court activities. This study contributes to knowledge of the TPR process by illustrating practices employed in TPR proceedings and considering ways that certain practices can hinder perceptions of fairness. TPR court records from one state were analyzed using inductive coding procedures. The analysis identified nine categories of threats to perceptions of fairness in the TPR process. Findings have implications for procedural justice and the legitimacy of child welfare practice.     

A Survey: Children’s Rights Post Termination of Parental Rights and Pre-Adoption

This survey of the statutory provisions and case law of all 50 states and the District of Columbia includes the rights of children to parental support, inheritance, and familial association remaining upon termination of parental rights. A majority of states terminate all the child’s rights at the time parental rights are severed. However, a number of states by explicit statutes or statutory construction have determined that a child’s rights to parental support survives termination of parental rights. This survey examines the prevailing law in each state and suggests statutory reforms to protect the legal status and rights of children.     

两岸对“和平协议”的立场与前瞻

台海和平环境的建立,是两岸当局与人民自1949年内战之后一直的期待。两岸对和平远景的期待可以理解,但从理想走向实际却需要一段漫长而且曲折的过程。本文共分五个部分,包括前言、两岸创议“和平协议”的历史背景介绍、两岸终止敌对状态协议设计与推行、两岸对“和平协议”解读的相互冲突,以及两岸“和平协议”签署的展望,来解析两岸对此一问题的立场与要求,并整理出双方对此事件的不同解读,以及彼此尚无法“跨出门槛”的症结所在。     

The rise and fall of a policy: policy succession and the attempted termination of ecological corridors policy in the Netherlands

In policy analysis, studies on policy termination are rare. This article offers such a study. It presents the story of how, despite attempts by the government to terminate it, Dutch nature policy on ecological corridors continued to be implemented by regional governments and in the field. A case analysis is presented that integrates theories and insights not only from the termination literature but also from the literature on implementation. The different factors identified in the literature that enable or constrain implementation and termination have served as a basis for developing possible explanations of the case study. They cannot, however, serve as generic theories with predictive power. Policy termination as well as policy implementation are highly contextual processes and the question which factors will enable or constrain policy termination and implementation can only be answered on a case by case basis.

Post-conflict elections and the process of demilitarizing politics: the role of electoral administration

Post-conflict elections are called upon to advance the distinct processes of both war termination and democratization. This article examines the patterns in seven cases where elections served as the final step to implement a peace agreement following a period of civil war. Such elections are shaped in part by the legacy of fear and insecurity that persists in the immediate aftermath of a protracted internal conflict. Comparative analysis suggests that interim regimes in general, and electoral administration in particular, based on joint problem solving and consultation may ‘demilitarize politics’ and help transform the institutions of war into institutions capable of sustaining peace and democratization. In Mozambique, El Salvador and, to an extent, Cambodia, processes to demilitarize politics prior to elections created a context that allowed the elections to advance both peace and democratization. In the other cases, politics remained highly militarized at the time of the vote, leading either to renewed conflict (Angola) or the electoral ratification of the militarized institutions of the civil war (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Liberia, Tajikistan). Interim electoral commissions provide an important opportunity to demilitarize politics by building consultative mechanisms and norms that increase confidence in the peace process and the legitimacy of the post-conflict elections.