Aggravating Circumstances: Skipping Reunification Services in Child Neglect Cases Violates Parents’ Due Process Rights

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Mikalah Maxwell, J.D. 2025, Columbia Law School.

 

Citation: Mikalah Maxwell, Aggravating Circumstances: Skipping Reunification Services in Child Neglect Cases Violates Parents’ Due Process Rights, 56 COLUM. HUM. RTS. L. REV. 1434 (2026).

 

 

The family regulation system violates the due process rights of parents by routinely skipping reunification services without providing alternative procedural protections. This drastically increases the risk of erroneously terminating parents’ fundamental rights. Further, states’ criteria for skipping reunification services are overbroad, illogical, and rooted in stigma, all of which present additional due process violations.