Minimum Age Difference as a Requisite for Adoption

Recent incidents of abortive uses of adoption statutes have pointed up the possible need for a healthy change in our adoption laws: the inclusion of a required age difference between adopter and adoptee. The author urges that such a statutory requirement is necessary to more fully effectuate the idea that adoption imitates nature, a postulate of adoption law originating in Roman jurisprudence and, so the author contends, underlying adoption law in this country. The article raises interesting questions concerning the very nature of adoption, the function which it serves in our society, and the possible policy differences between minor and adult adoptions

Counter Narratives: A Phenomenological Study of Inner-City Catholic School Teachers

Educational experiences of children can have positive or negative impacts on their future. This study used a method, counter-narratives, identified by Critical Race theorists to document the shared experiences of inner-city Catholic school educators during one of the most important time periods of education in our country, post Brown v Board of Education (1954). Using a qualitative and phenomenological approach, the researcher interviewed educators from an inner-city Catholic school to investigate their experiences during the post-restructuring phase, which essentially segregated a select group of schools from the larger archdiocese school system. These targeted schools were renamed, provided an alternate governing body, and more importantly, primarily served students of color. Subsequently, the phenomenon under study was systemic race. The semi-structured interviews were structured around these three questions: 1) What did teachers perceive as the reason for restructuring within the archdiocese? 2) What was the impact of restructuring on the experiences of teachers? 3) During the post-restructuring phase, how did the archdiocese leaders address the educational needs within the inner-city schools? Themes emerged and created a narrative that represented the educators who experienced the phenomenon. The findings of this study were aligned with urban and religious school research. Based on the results of the thematic analysis, the researcher concluded that there were benefits in employing and retaining teachers of color for all students and segregation marginalized educational outcomes for students of color. Subsequently, researchers should aim to include marginalized groups for increased validity. This study also added to the body of research on Critical Race theory and urban schools