Imagining a Study of Human Adoption Laws by an Interstellar Intelligence

What if an alien intelligence were to land on Earth and view our human legal systems as we might view the ad hoc methods of ants or bees? Would its conclusion be that we, like them, are drones that follow some instinctive path, driven by primitive emotions and fears? Or would it see in the dense thicket of laws that clutter our civil society more sophistication than that which rules the very real lives of social insects? Of course, it would be unable to articulate these concepts. It would not view ant colonies as normal. But we might.

So what if we were to experience this study of human legal systems as aliens?

To begin with Washington adoption laws, we must first be in a position to view this information in what is called a non-ethnocentric perspective. Like an alien, we will not let our human emotions cloud the process. With that in mind, what can we make of Washington adoption law?

Washington Adoption Laws Explained to Non-Humans

As someone who is from another world, we will assume you are completely unfamiliar with human culture. We will also assume however, that you are learning English at an alarming rate due to your ability to absorb knowledge at light speed (as you humans say).

The main adoption process in Washington involves a “parentage” case which leads to terminating the rights of existing biological parents if needed, and then a petition for adoption by the prospective adoptive parent. A court will grant the adoption assuming the existing parent(s) rights have been properly terminated, and that the pre-adoption process has been appropriately followed (including a home study or other requirements set forth by law). There is much to explain, but we will continue by describing some aspects of the adoption process that seem uniquely human and perhaps strange to you.

Unique Aspects of Human Adoption Law?

Human families have a long history of taking in relatives and neighbors, where this process was called fostering. They would also take in others under what was known as indentured servitude, where the individual would be required to work for the family until they either “paid off” their debt or reached a certain age. As a result, there was not a clear line between family and non-family. As humans became more affluent and the law more codified, the processes became more formalized and for most did not feel like a way to simply help those in need. The trickle-down effect results in the adoption laws we have now. However, this does not tell you very much about the substance of the law, only the superficial opinions of those drafted it.

Now, the court will look closely at things such as the mental health of the adoptive parents, their finances, prior history of any form of violent crime, history of addiction or abuse, and other personal issues. They will look at whether the adopting couple is married or not, and whether the child is being adopted into a marital relationship or just by a single parent. They will look at the history of the child and any potential issues that have resulted in the parents seeking adoption in the first place. In short, they want to ensure that the home and financial situation is adequate, the psychological state of the prospective parents is intact, that the child will actually be going into a good home, and that there is truly something wrong with the existing parents to warrant termination of parental rights.

How Would an Interstellar Intelligence View These Processes?

The human desire to have children is perhaps the closest thing to a hive-mentality that exists within a human being. The motivation of a select few individuals to adopt a child will seem outside the norms we create for ourselves in society. The alien will attempt to understand the emotions that drive this process, but will spend much time looking at the empty shell of law trying to figure out what it means. Yet, the alien will have no idea how we have limited the process and restricted the adoption to only those families who can afford the lengthy and costly processes. It will wonder why some chose to steal children while others quite openly put up “for adoption” signs. When we attempt to explain how humans act, we cannot help but find ourselves in the view of the alien, attempting to explain how all of this makes sense to someone who is a product of an entirely different evolutionary process.

Why Learning Washington Adoption Laws Helps Humans Understand Each Other

One of the most problematic issues with any set of laws is the human emotion behind the laws. Our biggest problems tend to reside within those areas where human emotion mixes and clashes with something outside of the individual. For example, when we teach our students to understand the law, we often notice that they apply the law in an objective manner where neither side of the dispute amounts to anything more than a series of numbers on a spreadsheet. This causes the law to exist largely in the abstract; a set of rules that a robot could easily understand. Yet, its application is anything but an easy exercise in mathematics.

So far the law in our current discussion is fairly simple: in order for a child to be adopted by another family, the existing biological parents must terminate their rights. But, usually there is a lot that is not being said about the parents. They usually have some form of issue that requires the intervention of the state before termination. This brings us back to what the alien sees. To them, the vast majority of parents would likely be good parents once they get the help they need. But to set the aliens straight, we must explain that each humanoid is a product of his or her environment. They came from families of crime or poverty, or simply had their own issues as children that prevented them from being good parents. Or they may have had their parental rights terminated because some prison clan adopted them as their new parent. This sudden twist and turn of fate is hardly unique. Listing the problems the child now experiences because of the situation would be a futile exercise because they too are similar.

Aliens are known for being a little more logical than us on Earth, however, even they would have a hard time understanding these “bizarre but normal” issues that led to the termination of parental rights and subsequent adoption.

So how might viewers of iCollege, with minds that are likely far superior to ours, use this knowledge? For more information on adoption laws, you can visit Child Welfare Information Gateway.

Understanding the Notice to Appear in Court

Earth is a relatively young planet, and was not a member of this galactic federation until a very recent time. Comprehending this culture’s legal system has proven difficult for us, given the onslaught of “Our Earth” documents our linguists have been subjected to attempting to understand the various nuances of different localized regions, all governed by universal laws. Our dedicated translators have compiled a journal of what we have learned.

What is A Notice To Appear In Court? This written order to appear before court is simply an invitation to satisfy a legal challenge, demanding one’s physical presence. These challenges may be civil or criminal in nature, may consist of multiple parties who have offered disputes to the other, and may be prosecuted by either a private citizen, or representative of the government, such as an attorney. This “notice”, or “summons”, can be generated for a variety of events. If the request for appearance is not met, a monetary compromise may be used, or the effort may prevail into a financially debilitating assignment for service of the notice, or a summons for arrest may be put into action.

The Purpose of A Court Notice From a purely legal standpoint, the purpose appears to extend across a scale of mere civility and diligence, but we have investigated more to ascertain how this process works alongside cultural expectations and social priorities. The end goal of a comprehensive notice to appear in court is simply to ensure the responsible party physically attends the proceeding. This serves an important function, to ensure the litigation does not go unanswered, to lessen the chance of a default, or to address a failure to respond when given a proper opportunity. Some actions prior to this are likely informal and mundane, yet judicial handling is critical for future enforcement of standards.

Notice To Appear Vs. Court Communications In Galactic Societies Verifying whether such a notice allows multiple parties to participate collaboratively has been difficult to determine. In our sample of Earth broadcasts and transmissions, there is little to no conversation with regards to any intricate descriptions of supplemental guidelines, such as how the notification is conveyed, what happens in the event of non-compliance, or definitions of procedural protocol. In more highly advanced human civilizations, interactions between the assigned judge, plaintiffs, and attorneys involved are facilitated with advanced artificial intelligence modules and instantaneous broadcasting over multiple channels. Thus far, the legal system of Earth does not appear to encompass this level of coordination. What is more perplexing, is a significant range of acceptance and practice. In weekly meetings, overseers of Earth law in different cultural regions agreed upon standing mechanisms of cooperation involving the facilities within which these court processes occur. Some participants appeared to appreciate the length of time throughout the process compared to time restraints on the federation’s ships and stations. Others felt that the system should adjust over time, and develop new methods to inform targets of judicial summons.

Usual Circumstances For Issuing A Notice To Appear This common selection of circumstances to demand a target’s involvement in a court proceeding makes sense and follows a general pattern of legal activity. Some dilemmas were clearly traced to issues like shoplifting, or failing to make a necessary payment or receive adequate product information. However, commercial disputes were easily the most prevalent in terms of court appearance frequency.

Reactions To Being Served A Notice Few humans showed any of the emotional responses or apparent compulsive behaviors we would anticipate in almost any other species we have encountered, alien or otherwise. Most appeared to assess the validity or type of the notification, and then took measures to attempt to minimize the impact or ramifications. Lacking any statistical sampling, there have been virtually no reactions recorded of extreme deviation where stress, anxiety, or frustration play a role.

Habitual Ritual Court Court Reactions In many cultures, successful court proceedings tend to become ritualized. The typical attributes and characteristics of judicial matters are evaluated for predictability and compliance. In the absence of such familiarity, it is likely the initial encounter allows one to decode the procedure, and permits more intense formalization in terms of readying primary resources for minimal outer distractions.

The Legal Implications Of Ignoring A Notice To Appear Documents of this type are not to be taken lightly, and, if ignored, can result in costly penalties. While there are issues with business entities, commercial organizations, and personal contracts that allow one to receive a replacement for a product or service, judicial matters handle consequences much less favorably.

Assuming Responsibility The majority of court procedures, both for offense and defense against a challenge, procures generally similar methods and standards for operation. Human culture dictates large sums of money are allocated to such efforts. It is the laws of the land, learned from one’s society and their values that seem to direct the most common reactions and emotions associated with being served a court notice.

The Legal Limit for Alcohol in New York

We’re back here on iCollege, and the alien intelligence that’s studying us has chosen to look at something that we humans have, which is laws. People may be surprised to know that we don’t just make these laws up in our minds, our leaders put them in place. A law is a rule that’s been put in place by our leaders so that we as a society can make sure we’re living in a peaceful, orderly environment. Even if you haven’t broken any laws, you still obviously see that they are necessary, because without them there’d be all kinds of chaos and people running around doing whatever they wanted. And this brings us to one of the laws we have here on Earth, and one that’s in place in New York State, where the consumption of alcohol is restricted to a legal alcohol limit in New York. We here on iCollege are curious how regulations such as these affect the societies of this planet, so we’ll be digging a little deeper. Let’s get to it.

Our search keyword is “legal alcohol limit in NY.” We came across an article that describes how one Missouri resident was ticketed for a DUI, and she was at a BAC (blood alcohol content) level of 0.23% at the time. The legal limit for drinking and driving is 0.02% for people who are under the legal drinking age of 21, and it’s 0.08% for people who are over the age of 21. It’s amazing that even a very slight amount of alcohol can make it illegal for us to be driving on public roads. This certainly shows that we humans take the consequences of driving and drinking quite seriously, as we recognize that it can be dangerous, and that we need to regulate ourselves accordingly.

Taking these values into consideration, perhaps we’d even go so far as to say that an alcohol limit such as this is a beautiful thing, but we’re not going to jump the gun just yet. We have a lot more to find out about this law and its effects on society. Now that we’ve looked a little bit into the statistics of drinking and driving in connection with the legal alcohol limit in NY, we again have our values, and we’d like to imagine the scene that might occur if an alien intelligence were to try and study humans and this connection to alcohol.

We’ve already established that even a small amount of alcohol can get us killed if we try to drive after consuming it. And when I say “we” I mean humans in general, not just our species. For example, let’s say an alien intelligence came into contact with humans, and for an uninformed reason, they decided the best way to study our relationship to alcohol, particularly in the context of drinking and driving, was to spend a lot of time observing a bar, and scrutinizing who went inside, and who left the bar and got into a car. Even though we humans think of this as a pretty reckless thing to do, the aliens wouldn’t see anything wrong with their behavior, as they’re not so concerned with the ways that we regulate ourselves.

They might then hypothesize that after spending that much time inside a bar, after the aliens finished drinking, they’d now be likely to get behind the wheel, and endanger everyone on the road with them. Sounds ridiculous right? Well, that’s exactly what a human would think if they were in the aliens’ proverbial shoes. And that’s an answer to the question posed above – the aliens are alien because they don’t get it. In order to understand our society, they’d have to look a little deeper at our values. And then they’d realize that we humans are just trying to keep ourselves safe.

Under the dim light of a black star, somewhere in the Milky Way in a bar that only exists on the edges of our knowledge, two greenish humanoids shake hands, exchanging apparitions and sparks. What they agree during that handshake will have a staggering impact on human history, one which will only be understood if and when we manage to translate enough of their talking program scripts to form a coherent image of what they saw. And you thought the terms and conditions discussed in your contracting agreements were complex? Aside from the obligatory non-disclosure and non-circumvention clauses with which most contracting agreements are started, the most complicated point involved in most cloud contracts is if and when you need to pay for premium contact support. Most agreements between contracting humans and extraterrestrial lifeforms are far more complex than what is detailed on most Earth contracts which, on the one hand, understandably requires alien lawyers, but still, some of the major points which have been catalogued thus far involve which communes can be accessed through a legal range finder, if old growth interstellar forests can be mined legally and if the minerals found therein are subject to any kind of ownership distinction.

The story of the handshake begins with a special clause in a form of the standard Earth contracting agreements. In looked-up English, this is known as a “turnkey contract agreement”, a form of project delivery system which, like most contracting agreements, includes the meeting of terms such as price or rate terms, time periods and the like. Variations of the Earth version of the turnkey contract agreement involve international treaties, ambassadorship, public works’ arrangements and concession agreements involving governments, so it’s not surprising that when two aliens start discussing the wholesale of Earth technology, they revert back to the “Old Earth” system and show each other the long outdated, high pain index treaty arrangement between the United Nations and the United Federation of Planets.

Having understood the complexities of the bargain, however, the aliens use the same agreements to create intergalactic free trade zones where, for 20 years, the exchange of every kind of technology is unimpeded. This, much to the relief of our galactic partners saves both cultures from tapping and tracing the myriad of interconnected planets which lie within the delta and site 20 corridors. This directly affects human mobility, as there are already commiserating about what happened to intergalactic travel treaties some 20 years later which were not bound by a real extensive treaty. The aliens get out of their shuttle in different colors, regal only by comparison standards – and maneuver as if they were kick star drones. All because, despite centuries of third party treaty interpretation, both contracting cultures experienced equal difficulty interpreting the pitfalls of a contracting agreement.

Understanding Emancipation Laws

How do you say “emancipation” in Klingon? What about Asgardian? Perhaps you’re more comfortable with Wookiee consonants or Huttese syllables? If you’ve ever thought, or been made to think, that the human condition is completely alien to other civilizations, I’m pleased to report the opposite likely holds true. And no, I’m not attempting to create an intergalactic incident by bringing the nuances of your ill-fated claim to serve as the basis for a space treaty. Let’s just say that we’re after something entirely different in this discussion of human emancipation laws, and how an extraterrestrial visitor might view an archaic Southern body of law.

So what are we getting at? Laws are the framework that allow civilizations to make sense of seemingly chaotic lives – if these rules didn’t exist, you might run into a fellow citizen in the street, say “good afternoon” and immediately challenge their possessions. But instead, we must follow an orderly hierarchy of justice – refusing to pay your parking ticket could earn you a fine; vomiting on someone’s shoes at an intergalactic deep-fried Snail race could land you a hefty social penalty.

Your average tin-foil-hat denier will lament that aliens have infiltrated our legal framework to somehow subjugate mankind. The truth is, however, that a great many laws across cultures and even epochs have more similarities than they do differences. And for humanity, there are few better examples than emancipation laws in the United States – specifically, Arkansas emancipation laws. They’re exacting, complicated, and reflect a much more polyphonic culture than the average alien might understand.

For the humans among us, emancipation is code for parental intervention in the lives of under-age offspring. In the land of black-and-white terms, it seems like a simple solution to a complex problem. Yet, Arkansas emancipation laws are complicated enough to make removing a splinter seem a Herculean effort. Broadly speaking, emancipation means that a minor – usually under age 18 – is legally freed from restrictive acts of their parental units and also given sole custody of their property.

Many jurisdictions permit restricted emancipation where the child is released from discrimination and liability, but only temporally. They’re free until their 18th birthday – at which point all prior rules are renewed. In Arkansas, however, the difficulties compound. While emancipation may seem like the perfect solution to an overbearing parental situation, certain restrictions are placed on emancipated individuals that artificial barriers to escape are. Requirements for emancipation in Arkansas include:

• Even by this point, it’s easy to see why the average Arkansas teen might give up on parental getaway attempts through emancipation. In fact, just a handful of reasons are listed above. From finger-printing concerns to intensive interview processes, you might find a comparable procedure for hurricane evacuation.
• Freed from the toxic fumes of family structure, the emancipated minor is presented with the keys to their new freedom. But unlike the average window of opportunity, emancipation does not last a lifetime. Instead of being entirely freed from a legal standpoint, emancipated individuals in the Natural State are more entrenched than ever.
• With the shackles of paternal punishments removed, these teens now answered to the Army of One – themselves.

A quick comparison of emancipation preparation can give an alien a good idea of the difficulty faced by Arkansas teens. In Wisconsin, for instance, an emancipated minor has all of the rights and responsibilities of an adult. You can go to the movies, but you’re also responsible for your credit record. Still, emancipation is reserved for a select few – who will be tried in a lesser court. These controls contrast against the new lives of Arkansans. Here, rules are much easier – pay your taxes, take out a loan and enjoy a savage taco night, all without the need to stroke of red tape. For the alien, such simplicity would be shocking, to say the least.