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rossalbers.com/about/careers/ of Special Appeals cited the test in Conover, which was “narrowly tailored to avoid infringing upon the parental autonomy of a legal parent,” as follows:

1) That the biological or adoptive parent consented to and fostered the petitioner’s formation and establishment of a parent-like relationship with the child;

2) That the petitioner and the child lived together in the same household;

3) That the petitioner assumed obligations of parenthood by taking significant responsibility for the child’s care, education, and development, including contributing towards the child’s support, without expectation of financial compensation; and chartsquad.com

4) That the petitioner has been in a parental role for a length of time sufficient to have established with the child a bonded, dependent relationship, parental in nature.

If a third party established a relationship of de facto parenthood, that person is deemed to have status equal to a biological or adoptive parent in custody determinations. Basciano, slip op. at 33; David A. v. Karen S.,242 Md. App. 1, 27-28, cert. denied, 466 Md. 219 (2019). The court then analyzes the best interest of the child to determine custody.

Grandmother noted that reconsideration of custody orders generally should focus on “changes in circumstances which have occurred subsequent to the last court hearing” Hardisty v. Salerno, 255 Md. 436, 439 (1969). However, the Court noted that evidence of past history may be relevant to a party’s present fitness for custody. Further, in this case, since the original custody order was entered prior to Mother’s incarceration, her release, along with her efforts to create a stable environment in which she could parent the Child, did constitute a material change in circumstances. In addition, while Mother pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder, the court could award custody of the Child to Mother if it was satisfied by clear and convincing evidence that there was good cause to do so. In this case, they found that Mother had provided such clear and convincing evidence under FL §9-101.2. As for the finding of “good cause,” the Court held that when “good cause” is used as an undefined term in a statute, it is a “flexible term,” and its meaning must be deduced from the facts of each case in a manner that is consistent with the [statute’s] fundamental purpose.” Meek v. Linton, 245 Md. App.689, 721 (2020).

As to the third-party v. de facto parenthood, the Court held that the trial court erred in finding that Grandmother was not a de facto parent and finding that she failed to prove extraordinary circumstances. The Court then examined how Grandmother had satisfied the four-prong test set out in Conover. Therefore, she has equal footing with Mother for custody determinations, and therefore the trial court must engage in a new best-interest analysis with Grandmother having the status of a legal parent, not that of a third party. The case was remanded for further proceedings consistent with the opinion.

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Professionalism Committee: “ Life is Hard” and Other Platitudes

A few months ago, a client of mine pled guilty in a drug case. In the criminal justice world, becoming numb to the daily tales of human tragedy and hardship is easy. Still, occasionally, we encounter an individual whose biography is so marred by suffering that it manages to make an impression. This was such a case.

My client’s story was not unique in any of its individual elements, but rather by the comprehensiveness of its grief: prenatal exposure to narcotics; complete parental abandonment; a lack of healthy male role models; childhood cognitive and behavioral diagnoses and psychiatric commitments; alternative schooling; an early introduction to drug use; arrests and juvenile confinement throughout his teens; dropping out of school; and a first sentence to the Division of Corrections at age 19. One particularly colorful example of suffering: his family lied to him about his parentage for twelve years before he learned that a woman he had thought to be an extended cousin was actually his biological mother, a revelation that shook his already bitter view of the world. A social worker summed up these adverse events in an eight-page report. The social worker identified and applied the psychological research that explained how profoundly these experiences curtailed healthy development. Never having felt any sense of safety or security, life had given him a hostile worldview focused exclusively on survival.

As the judge announced the sentence and provided a rationale for it, they told my client, “Life is hard for everyone.” I winced. The judge had seemingly dismissed in one stroke the mitigating circumstances of my client’s personal story. I could only imagine how this young man felt as this individual of clear privilege, education, and social esteem appeared to equate their life experience with the painful details of my client’s personal narrative that had just been laid bare before the courtroom. Speaking for myself, while my life has had its challenging moments, I can say unambiguously that any struggles I have ever faced fail to compare in quantity or quality to the anguish this young man has endured in half as many years.

I choose to give this jurist the benefit of the doubt: they presumably do recognize that while the experience of hardship might be a universal human truth, some of us get through life a lot easier than others. To the judge’s credit, I cannot say that the sentence my client received was unreasonable. However, an opportunity was missed that day to signal to him and anyone else present that our court is capable of dispensing justice with compassion that acknowledges and respects the unique circumstances of the parties appearing before it. That opportunity was lost with those five words: “Life is hard for everyone.”

The Bar Association has striven in recent years to reaffirm our commitment to promoting diversity, inclusion, and equity — a promise now enshrined within our code of professionalism. But we still have work to do if we are to live out that pledge. For those of us who work with members of marginalized groups, we must resist our desensitization to human suffering. We cannot assume that others in the legal community are equally familiar with the effects of systematic deprivation and poverty. There is a related risk that when we recognize a pattern of injustice that has become familiar, we gloss over it, and in so doing fail to appreciate the humanity of the unique individual in front of us.

As we strive to find common ground with the people with whom we interact, we ought never to presume we know their experience of the world.

– Michael Jacko, Esq.

WHEN: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2023

TIME: 4PM - 7PM

WHERE: WOODLAWN BRANCH OF THE BALTIMORE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 1811 WOODLAWN DRIVE WOODLAWN, MD 21207