Tuesday, August 07, 2007

State wants to know if you might be a dad - Virginia

State wants to know if you might be a dad

Excerpts:

The state Department of Social Services wants any man who is not married to a woman but could be the father of a child with her to voluntarily fill out a one-page registration.

The law, which went into effect July 1, is designed to protect men's rights in the case of a future adoption.

State officials emphasized that the confidential database is not an attempt to track sexual activity or partners. But it suggests men register "after relations with new partners or continued relations with the same woman."

Lawmakers passed the law creating the voluntary registry as a way to protect a man's rights and allow the state to notify him more quickly if a child he may have fathered is placed up for adoption.

DSS officials said registering means the state doesn't have to search high and low for the biological father, allowing an adoption to speed along. It also gives papa a chance to block the adoption if he wants to raise the child.

A father can register before a child is born, even if he is not aware of a pregnancy. Also the state suggests registering within 10 days of the birth, of receiving notice to register or within 10 days of discovering fraud by the mother.

If fathers don't file the paperwork, they give up their right for the state to inform them about a possible adoption or if they've lost their parental rights.

The registration doesn't establish paternity, which is a separate process. But DSS officials confirmed that the state's child support enforcement office will have access to the registry.

To register, men are asked to fill out a form they can get at their local DSS office or online at http://www.vaputativefather.com/. The hotline number is (877) IF-DADDY.

The form asks for the name of the mother and potential father along with his Social Security number and employment information, and it contains questions that try to pinpoint where and when the man and woman may have conceived the child.

The state requires the men to sign the form and mail it to Richmond, said Carla Harris, a DSS spokeswoman. Registration is free.

If the form contains the address of the woman, she will be notified.

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New Jersey - Highland Park Psychologist Marsha Kleinman

AG: Highland Park psychologist coached girl on sex abuse claims

Excerpts:

The state Attorney General's Office has filed a complaint seeking to revoke the license of a Highland Park psychologist who has frequently served as an expert in criminal child abuse cases based on allegations she coached a 3-year-girl to make false claims of sexual abuse about her father.

In addition to the license revocation, Marsha Kleinman could face fines from the complaint filed Friday before the state Board of Psychological Examiners, a part of the Division of Consumer Affairs.

The accusations focus on Kleinman's treatment of a young girl between July 2003 and December 2004. She is accused of questioning the girl about possible sexual abuse by her father in "a suggestive, coercive and/or manipulative manner," according to the 16-page complaint.
Kleinman, 56, denies the charges.


"When people are advocates for children who are harmed in the home, they become a lightning rod, and there are people such as myself being targeted across the country by fathers' rights groups to shut down people like myself who protect children," Kleinman said today. "I expect all of this to be resolved."

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