Woodnick Law, PLLC

08/22/2023

Yesterday morning all Presiding Judges in the state of Arizona were sent an unprecedented letter from DCS asking them to suspend ALL trial and severance (termination of parental rights) proceedings for the next two weeks. Deandra Area, attorney at Woodnick Law, PLLC, spoke to 12News about what this means and more! Read below.

On August 21, 2023, a letter from the Division Chief Counsel representing the Department of Child Safety (DCS) went out to all Presiding Judges across the state of Arizona. The letter requested that they “suspend any trials and severance proceedings” set in the next two weeks due to a review tha...

08/14/2023

Also check out a great article by our summer law clerk, Mallory Scott, that discusses a current issue before the Supreme Court: Is it Constitutional to prohibit people with active restraining orders against them to own fi****ms?

Often, in the wake of gun violence, politicians and commentators say that stricter background checks should become enacted to restrict dangerous individuals from owning the weapons used to perpetrate these crimes. States across the country have enacted various laws intended on restricting fi****ms a...

08/14/2023

Check out our latest article by our law clerk, Isabel Ranney, that discusses an often-overlooked aspect of child abuse and a recent case out of Flagstaff, Arizona that exemplifies the issue.

As we head back into the school year, it is an unfortunate truth that there will be an influx of child abuse and neglect allegations. Although summertime for children brings the promise of lazy afternoons at home, it also means that children are stuck at home with parents who might be abusing them w...

01/09/2023

Once a child is born, its parents are endowed with a “fundamental right to parent.” This means that like other fundamental rights (e.g. right to privacy, right to marry), there is a higher scrutiny placed on any attempts to interfere with that right and the presumption is that the right will rem...

04/29/2022

Woodnick Law is so excited to share that our very own Markus Risinger has been consulting on a project with Buzzfeed News that has finally been published!

On April 27, 2022, Buzzfeed News published an article on child abuse registries and how they disproportionately affect people of color. While researching for his article, Buzzfeed reporter Scott Pham consulted with numerous attorneys, including Woodnick Law’s own Markus Risinger.

08/02/2021

Our latest article, "Both DCS and the Police have Questions for Your Client - What Now," which was previously published in the Maricopa Lawyer, is now available online.

By Gregg Woodnick and Isabel Ranney Originally Published in the Maricopa Lawyer, online edition available 08/08/21. Your client calls you saying the police and the Department of Child Safety (DCS) are at their door. You know your client is in the middle of a

06/22/2021

By Deandra Arena and Isabel Ranney In the grand scheme of nearly indecipherable acronyms in child welfare investigations, one particular abbreviation stands out as being part of nearly every case but nonetheless being misunderstood by most parents. The “TDM,” or “team decision-making meeting,....

06/22/2021

By Gregg Woodnick and Isabel Ranney Despite being the fifth-largest city in the United States, Phoenix only has seven board-certified pediatric orthopedic surgeons, five of whom work at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Because of their specialty, it is safe to presume that the surgeons all know each o...

06/22/2021

By Markus Risinger and Isabel Ranney A person’s right to parent their children is a fundamental right under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. The only way to completely dissolve a parent’s fundamental right to parent in Arizona is through severance. Visitation, however, permits a third par...

06/22/2021

By: Gregg R. Woodnick and Isabel Ranney Imagine you are the mother of a six-year-old girl. After a day of playing at the park, you are getting your child ready for a bath when you notice blood in her underwear.