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Legal Briefs | Research | Position Papers | Library Collections
The task of formulating effective laws and policies for children and their families is impossible without access to a comprehensive body of scholarship covering all areas of importance to children and youth. Information necessary to the study of children's policy is often scattered among collections organized around subject matters such as anthropology, crime, domestic violence, education, law, literature, medicine, music, nursing, political science, psychiatry, social work, sociology and religion.
Legal Briefs
Lofton v. FDCF [530 Kb PDF]
This friend of the court brief on behalf of the Child Welfare League of America, was coauthored by Professor Woodhouse, with assistance from CCF Felllows and Faculty. It urges the US Supreme Court to grant certiorari in a case challenging the constitutionality of Florida's categorial ban on adoption by homosexuals. Certiorai was denied in January 2005.
Roper v. Simmons [427 Kb PDF]
This amicus brief was filed on July 19, 2004 in the United States Supreme Court in the Simmons case, to be argued in October of 2004. It was coauthored by Professors Slobogin and Woodhouse, of the Center on Children and Families, together with experts from several other child advocacy centers. It was joined by a large number of child advocacy organizations that believe the execution of persons who committed their crimes while under the age of 18 violates the U.S. Constitution as well as human rights principles of international law.
State of Florida v. Tate [141 Kb PDF]
This amicus brief was co-authored by Professors Woodhouse, Slobogin, Wright and Russell-Brown of the UF Center on Children and the Law, with assistance from Fellows Bob Jacobs and Anne Raduns, and by Steve Drizan of Northeastern Law School. The case involved a 12-year-old child who killed his 6-year-old cousin during unsupervised play. The State of Florida tried him as an adult, using aggravated child abuse as the predicate felony, and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. The brief argues that criminal child abuse laws were not intended to be used against children who harm other children.
Brian B. v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania [57 Kb PDF]
This amicus brief was produced by Professor Woodhouse and her colleagues at the Center for Children's Policy Practice and Research at University of Pennsylvania (a university-based, interdisciplinary center for children that she co-founded and co-directed from 1999-2001). The research and arguments may be useful to others engaged in advocacy for children and youth involved in confronting educational issues.
Troxel v. Granville [64 Kb PDF]
This amicus brief was produced by Professor Woodhouse and her colleagues at the Center for Children's Policy Practice and Research at University of Pennsylvania (a university-based, interdisciplinary center for children that she co-founded and co-directed from 1999-2001). The research and arguments may be useful to others engaged in advocacy for children involved in confronting laws on custody and visitation.
"Representation of Children in a Unified Family Court System in Florida," by Claudia Wright
view [110 Kb PDF]"Re-Thinking Juvenile Justice: Using the IEP Concept to Create a New Juvenile Justice Paradigm," by Claudia Wright
view [491 Kb PDF]
Report on the Workshop having to do with "The Role of Law Schools in the of the Unified Family Court".
view [64 Kb PDF]
Keynote Address by Barbara Bennett Woodhouse at The International Conference On Children's Rights, Ministry of Education in Tokyo, Japan (November 1999).
view [25 Kb PDF]
Article by Nancy E. Dowd, Chesterfield Smith Professor of Law, University of Florida Levin College of Law.
view [117 Kb PDF]
Juveniles Article presented by Alison Gerencser at the 10th annual Dispute Resolution Center's "Conference for Mediators and Arbitrators: Dialogue & Diversity" (August 22, 2001).
view [63 Kb PDF]
The Center is creating a state of the art collection of databases, documents, films, books, studies and other materials that provide a foundation for understanding children and their needs. The Children's Collection, under direction of librarian Mae Clark, will be housed in the new Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center at the Levin College of Law, with access to state of the art technology. We also are repository of the extensive collection of the Florida Commission on the Legal Needs of Children, chaired by Judge Sandy Karlan.
