Recent blog posts - 6 of 69

Assume a hearing in a juvenile abuse, neglect, or dependency (AND) matter has just concluded. The judge announced the broad strokes of their ruling from the bench.  Questions about who is responsible for drafting the order, the need to circulate the order, what happens when a draft order is received by the judge, and the effect on this process if a party appears pro se are discussed in this post.

In this earlier post, my current colleague Danny Spiegel (who was an NC Assistant Appellate Defender at the time the post was published), analyzed the law of civil contempt and […]

Session Law 2025-16 (HB 612) was signed into law on June 26, 2025. It makes numerous changes related to child welfare, many of which are discussed by my colleague Sara […]

On June 26, 2025, H612 was signed by the Governor and became S.L. 2025-16. This session law makes significant amendments to the laws addressing juvenile abuse, neglect, and dependency (A/N/D) and the oversight provided by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) over county departments of social services (DSS). The session law also affects termination of parental rights, adoptions of minors, permanent no contact orders, felony child abuse, and criminal history checks for applicants for city and county jobs that involve working with children. Finally, this session law enacts a guardianship assistance program for certain children who were in DSS custody when guardianship was ordered. The various sections of this significant 32-page session law have different effective dates, with some sections effective on June 26, 2025 and others not effective until as late as April 1, 2026. This blog only summarizes the changes that are effective now.

Dispositional orders in delinquency cases must contain “appropriate findings of fact and conclusions of law.” G.S. 7B-2512(a). What constitutes appropriate findings of fact is a question that North Carolina appellate courts have repeatedly addressed. This blog explains the requirement for findings in delinquency dispositional orders and provides examples of findings that the North Carolina Court of Appeals has found to be sufficient.

As a native North Carolinian, I feel pretty strongly that North Carolina is the best state in the country, and based on tourism statistics, everyone else in the country wants […]

If you’re working to protect vulnerable adults in your community, you know how important it is to have the right people at the table to provide effective and efficient solutions. […]

Navigating the legal requirements applicable to adult protective services (APS) court proceedings can be challenging, given the expedited nature of the cases, the different types of orders the court may […]

When a party is sued, they often want to make the lawsuit go away. One of the most common ways of attempting to get rid of a lawsuit is a […]

This post was written by Brittany Bromell. She can be contacted at bwilliams@sog.unc.edu. North Carolina General Statute 50B-3.1 provides that, under certain circumstances, a person who is subject to a […]