You are a paralegal working at a family law firm representing Higgins.In 2018, Steve K., 2 months
Question:
You are a paralegal working at a family law firm representing Higgins.In 2018, Steve K., 2 months old, was placed in the foster home of Dan and Mary Higgins after it was determined that his birth mom Cheryl Clark was unable to care for him. In the past four years, all attempts at reuniting Steve with Cheryl have failed. The State of Illinois is now attempting to terminate Cheryl's parental rights in order for Dan and Mary Higgins to adopt him.During the termination process, the state has to prove that termination is in Steve's best interest. Your supervising attorney wants you to conduct research to find an Illinois case that discusses the factors the court looks at when determining that termination of parental rights is in the best interest of the child.
- Explain in detail your pre-research process for a terms and connectors search.
For example:
What terms did you brainstorm? -
In this case, terms such as "termination of parental rights," "best interest of the child," and "factors," are essential.
How did you analyze your brainstormed terms? Did you think about synonyms, root expanders, and phrases?
Did you put terms next to each other that seem related?
Did you think about the connectors you are using? Did you ask yourself how close of a relationship you want between the terms and then pick a connector that represents that relationship?
- Formulate a terms and connectors search and enter it without applying any filters. List the search you used and the number of cases your search yielded.
- Explain how you manipulated your search and/or your search results to get to a relevant case. For example, what filters did you apply? Did you have to tweak a connector?
- Once you find a relevant case, list the factors the court looks at when determining that termination of parental rights is in the best interest of the child.
- Give the citation of a relevant case in proper ALWD format. [Note: relevant means a reported case.]
Smith and Roberson Business Law
ISBN: 978-0538473637
15th Edition
Authors: Richard A. Mann, Barry S. Roberts