2024 Adoption Law Forum: 3.75 General, 1 Dual

Courses Included

• Adoption Law Forum 2024: Case Law Updates
  
  

  This session is designed to provide an overview of recent Tennessee case law, focusing primarily on lessons and trends to be found in termination of parental rights appeals.

  Course Information

  Format:Online VideoDual Credits:0.00General Credits:1.75

  Speakers/Producers

  

  • Douglas Dimond, Tennessee Department of Children's Services, Nashville
    DOUGLAS EARL DIMOND, J.D., is General Counsel for the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.  He began his professional life in 1980 as a small businessman operating a gourmet foods...
  • Amy McLaughlin, , Knoxville
    Amy McLaughlin, J.D., serves as a Senior Associate Counsel for the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.  Amy earned her bachelor’s degree in social work from the University of...
• Adoption Law Forum 2024: Legislative Update
  
  

  This session is designed to provide an overview of recent Tennessee case law, focusing primarily on terminations and the new birth certificate code.

  Course Information

  Format:Online VideoDual Credits:0.00General Credits:1.00

  Speakers/Producers

  

  • Meredith Brasfield, Weaver & Craig, P.C., Cordova
    MEREDITH PRICE BRASFIELD is an associate in the law firm of Weaver & Craig, P.C., where her practice has been devoted primarily to adoption in Tennessee and Mississippi.  Within the practice,...
• Adoption Law Forum 2024: Disruptions & Secondary Placements
  
  

  What do you do when clients come to you and do not want to retain custody of their adoptive child? This section will walk you through some of those considerations in two different case scenarios, which adoption practitioners generally call either a disrupted adoption and a secondary placement. A disruption is any situation where a pending adoption cannot be finalized, but the term has come to mean any adoptive placement where the child cannot remain in the adoptive home. A secondary placement generally occurs after the adoption is finalized; the adoptive parents as the legal parents make an adoption plan, i.e. secondary placement, for the child. This session will discuss the legal process for each, as well as the financial and emotional considerations.

  Course Information

  Format:Online VideoDual Credits:1.00General Credits:0.00

  Speakers/Producers

  

  • Lisa Collins, Lisa L. Collins, Esq., Nashville
    I’m a solo practitioner with offices in Nashville and Franklin with almost to 30 years’ experience in family building through adoption law and assisted reproductive technology law....
  • Jennifer Williams, Adopt4Kids,
    As a licensed attorney in Tennessee since 2000, I have always focused my practice as an advocate for families, specifically children.   I have represented families in many counties in middle...
• Adoption Law Forum 2024: The Interplay Between Adoptions and Juvenile Court
  
  

  It is well established that an Adoption/TPR filing will remove jurisdiction from Juvenile Court to make custodial determinations. The mechanics of what happens next are not as clear, especially with DCS, intervening Petitioners, and existing visitation orders. This panel explores the many paths a case can take when adoptions are filed on cases with existing, active custody litigation. Speakers will present from the perspective of Juvenile Court practitioners, DCS and adoption practitioners.

  Course Information

  Format:Online VideoDual Credits:0.00General Credits:1.00

  Speakers/Producers

  

  • Stephen Marsh, Tennessee Department of Children's Services, Nashville
    Stephen Marsh is the Senior Associate Counsel for the Mid-Cumberland Region of the State of Tennessee, Department of Children’s Services. He received his bachelor’s degree in Philosophy...
  • Julia Spannaus, Law Office of Julia Spannaus, Maryville
    Julia Spanaus has been a solo practitioner in Maryville since 2012. She focuses her work on family law, adoptions, and immigration for undocumented youth in Tennessee. She is the 2024-25 Chair of the...