Tucson attorney Ann Haralambie (photo by Chris Hinkle)

Tucson attorney Ann Haralambie (photo by Chris Hinkle)

A brief item on this Change of Venue Friday, one that congratulates an Arizona lawyer and that highlights a legal matter that is little noted.

Tucson attorney Ann Haralambie practices in child welfare and custody. That, paired with her experience as a former chair of the ABA Family Law Section’s Juvenile Law and Needs of Children Committee, made her an ideal person to quote in regard to the issue of “re-homing” adopted children: the re-placement of children from their adopted home into another situation.

As the ABA Journal story notes, those new placements may be with complete strangers and have been known to subject the children to abuse. Writes Leslie A. Gordon, “Often those re-homed children report gruesome tales of physical, sexual or emotional abuse by their new guardians.”

You can read the complete article here.

The piece explores the contrasting views of how such a problem should be resolved—and even how widespread the problem is. Should re-homing (outside the auspices of a court or agency) be criminalized? Or could that cause more problems than it solves? And should responses come from state legislatures, or from the U.S. Congress?

Well done on a concise, timely and thought-loaded article. Have a wonderful weekend.