Governor Mike Pence has issued a proclamation declaring the month of November as Adoption Awareness Month in the state of Indiana.

“Adoption Awareness Month is an important time to celebrate those around the state who have opened their hearts and their homes to Indiana’s foster children,” said Governor Pence. “We owe many of these success stories to the important work of adoption agencies and attorneys from around the state who help connect Hoosier families with some of our most vulnerable children. While our administration has made strides to improve the adoption process in Indiana, each of us must continue to play a role in seeing that every child in Indiana finds a loving home.”

In 2014, Governor Pence signed into law House Enrolled Act (HEA) 1222, which created a nonrefundable $1,000 tax credit per adopted child beginning taxable year 2015. It also created an Adoption Study Committee to look at ways to make adoptions easier and more affordable for Hoosier families.  The Governor’s Adoption Study Committee completed its work and issued its final report with recommendations on June 30, 2015.

Currently, the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) is actively recruiting adoptive families for between 75 and 100 children, and more than 100,000 children in the United States foster care system are waiting to be adopted. In 2014, DCS completed more than 1,100 adoptions.

The proclamation, which can be found attached, coincides with an Information & Awareness Adoption Fair that Governor Pence and First Lady Karen Pence are hosting on Monday, November 16 in the North Atrium of the Indiana Statehouse. The Adoption Fair will take place from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. EST, with a short program beginning at 4:30 p.m. EST that will feature remarks by Governor Pence and Indiana Department of Child Services’ Director, Judge Mary Beth Bonaventura, as well as a closing prayer offered by First Lady Karen Pence. Representatives from the Indiana Department of Child Services and sixteen adoption agencies and associations will be in attendance to provide information on both public and private adoptions, post-adoption services, how to afford adoption, as well as additional available resources. Information regarding adoption in Indiana can also be found here: http://www.in.gov/dcs/2730.htm.

Indiana Black Expo // July 17, 2015. Governor Mike Pence joins Indiana broadcasting icon and community activist Amos Brown and community members for an impromptu photo at the 2015 Indiana Black Expo.

2) Interview // July 17, 2015. Governor Mike Pence pauses for a one-on-one interview with Amos Brown at the 2015 Indiana Black Expo.

3) Indiana Black Expo // 2012. Governor Mike Pence joins Indiana broadcasting icon and community activist Amos Brown for an interview at the 2012 Indiana Black Expo.

Dave Stafford for www.theindianalawyer.om

A Court of Appeals panel wrote Friday that justice demands an attack on an improper 2009 garnishment order and a refund to a couple that paid $50 a week in deficiency payments after losing their home to foreclosure.

The panel ordered plaintiffs be refunded more than $12,000 they were improperly ordered to pay.

Judges Rudolph R. Pyle III and Terry Crone reversed a trial court order denying plaintiffs’ motion for a refund in William C. Elliott and Mary Kay Elliot v. Dyck O’Neal, Inc., Successor in interest to Fifth Third Mortgage Company, 82A05-1411-MF-518. The Elliotts’ Evansville home was foreclosed upon in 2007, and an in rem judgment was entered. The home later sold at a sheriff’s sale, leaving a deficiency of about $16,900 on the mortgage.

Dyck O’Neal Inc. obtained interest in the deficiency and sued the Elliotts, winning a garnishment order in 2009. After representing themselves in the past, the Elliotts sought counsel who appealed the garnishment order and denial of a motion to correct error. The Elliotts argued that because the foreclosure order did not contain an in personam judgment, there was no basis for the garnishment.

“Here, in the foreclosure proceeding against the Elliotts, the trial court entered a default judgment and entered only an in rem judgment,” Pyle wrote for the majority, finding Dyck O’Neal “improperly initiated proceedings supplemental from the in rem judgment and sought an order for garnishment of wages. … (G)iven the specific facts of this particular case, we conclude that equity demands that the Elliotts are entitled to a refund, and we remand with instructions to determine the total amount paid by the Elliotts to Dyck O’Neal and enter an order for the refund of that amount including the applicable interest.”

Pyle wrote in a footnote that the ruling appears to be a collateral attack on the court’s garnishment order. “(W)e find there are ‘extraordinarily compelling reasons’ to address the merits of such an attack on that order, which improperly ordered the Elliotts to pay a deficiency judgment based on an in rem judgment in a foreclosure order.”

Judge Elaine Brown dissented and would affirm the trial court. “I would find no such extraordinarily compelling reasons exist in this case, especially given the long delay in the challenge to the propriety of the garnishment order,” she wrote, noting any challenges would be untimely.

The panel also affirmed the trial court’s denial of Dyck O’Neal’s motion to amend the foreclosure order to add an in personam judgment.