A state law barring adults from exercising foster or adoptive parental rights if they have been convicted of committing violent felonies or certain other crimes is unconstitutional, a Bronx judge has ruled.
The statute, contained in Social Services Law §378-a, unfairly burdens those who have committed offenses and who are seeking visitation or custodial rights over their children, Family Court Judge Allen Alpert (See Profile) has ruled. The law fails to allow the would-be parent to exercise his or her due process rights before being shut out of custodial opportunities with children, the judge decided in Matter of the Adoption of Abel, 8856/11.
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