and causing long-term effects across many domains, including the
child’s physical, emotional, and mental development.84
This scenario is common. A seemingly ever more usual
scenario involves a drug-addicted single mother whose whereabouts
are unknown. Add an unknown father to the mix, eliminating the
possibility of paternal relative placement, and the likelihood of the
child’s placement with strangers in foster care is even higher. The
above hypothetical case demonstrates the need to rethink how the
law views psychological parents’ rights, in order to reflect the
current increase in non-traditional families and provide better
protection to the child in the judicial system.
Granting psychological parents the same rights as legal
guardians from the onset of a dependency case would be the best
means to protect the relationship of the psychological parent and
child, but would require significant changes to current child welfare
laws in many states. A smaller and more manageable first step would
be for courts to treat psychological parents like de facto parents at the
beginning of the dependency case—with fewer rights than legal
guardians, but at least the opportunity to appear with counsel and
present evidence at each hearing. If a psychological parent would
otherwise qualify as a de facto parent when the state seeks to
84 See Erin R. Barnett & Jessica Hamblen, Trauma, PTSD, and Attachment in
Infants and Young Children, U.S. DEP’T VETERAN’S AFF.: NAT’L CTR. FOR PTSD
(Dec. 17, 2009),
http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/pages/trauma_ptsd_attachment.asp
(discussing the importance of the child-caregiver attachment); see also CHILD
WELF. INFO. GATEWAY, UNDERSTANDING THE EFFECTS OF MALTREATMENT ON
BRAIN DEVELOPMENT 9 (2009) [hereinafter UNDERSTANDING THE EFFECTS OF
MALTREATMENT ON BRAIN DEVELOPMENT],
https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/issue_briefs/brain_development/brain_develop
ment.pdf (discussing early brain development and the effects of abuse and neglect
on that development); UNIV. OF PA. COLLABORATIVE ON CMTY. INTEGRATION,
REMOVAL FROM THE HOME: RESULTING TRAUMA 1-2 [hereinafter REMOVAL FROM
THE HOME],
http://tucollaborative.org/pdfs/Toolkits_Monographs_Guidebooks/parenting/Facts
heet_4_Resulting_Trauma.pdf (explaining that removing a child from his or her
family can be just as traumatic as exposure to abuse and neglect and can have
negative effects that last a lifetime, including psychological and neurobiological
effects associated with disrupted attachment).
