Penny Boudreau's boyfriend Vernon Macumber gave her an ultimatum - it's either me or your daughter. Now some women in that case would have told him to hit the road. Others might have asked the girl's father Paul to take over custody of their daughter Karissa (pictured). Penny Boudreau did neither. She took the... »
Here's a piece in The New York Times Sunday Magazine that would like to convince us that, if you've got the money, single motherhood is pretty much an ideal arrangement for all concerned (The New York Times, 2/1/ 09). Like so many Times writers, Emily Bazelon seems to think that the world consists of a few privileged,... »
The State of Minnesota has instituted a pilot program at the appellate level that diverts family cases to mediation instead of being ruled on by the higher court. Read about it here. Basically, after the trial court has ruled on the case, if one or both litigants wish to appeal the ruling, they now... »
...except in this case. When it happens to a man, it's a riot. Just ask the guy who wrote this and the woman who drugged and raped her boyfriend. But that's no surprise for a guy who puts the Abu Ghraibesque picture at the right on his blog and who urges us all to "raise a... »
She says the balance of the court - once firmly in favour of granting custody to mothers - had tipped dramatically towards fathers. The Howard government's regime of "shared parenting" had given power to fathers at the expense of mothers. So, rather than appear in court, Australian Melinda Stratton kidnapped her son and fled the... »
This one is worse than most (Rockford Register Star, 1/31/09). In this case the father, Ralph Lowery, Jr. was actually entitled under Illinois law to notice of the adoption and an opportunity to contest it. That's often not true. Many states go out of their way to circumvent fathers' rights in cases of adoption, usually via the enactment... »
DNA evidence has sprung another man from prison. Robert Lee Stinson (pictured) was 21 years old when he went inside for the murder of a 63-year-old woman. His conviction, based almost solely on bite marks found on the victim has been vacated and he is a free man pending the state's decision whether to retry him. As... »
This time it's Carmina Lopez, 32, who allegedly had sex with one of her 12-year-old students numerous times three years ago (NBC San Diego, 1/30/09). The boy has come forward recently and police say it's not just a "he said/she said" case. Apparently there are witnesses. To those who say that boys this age aren't... »
I know the Super Bowl is long past. But we must take our opportunities to celebrate where we can, and this is one of them. Friends, we have successfully passed another Super Bowl Sunday without a massive spike in domestic violence, by testosterone-poisoned men against their wives and girlfriends. Indeed, it seems that the peddlers of... »
Here's an up-close-and-personal view of international kidnapping in which one parent snatches the child and flees to another country effectively denying access to the other parent (National Post, 12/27/08). It's illegal in all countries that are signatories to the Hague Convention, but that doesn't always get access for the parent who's been denied it. The... »
Ouch! That shoe hurts when it's crammed onto the other foot. It seems that men aren't the only ones complaining about their lives as non-custodial parents; women are too. And guess what? Their complaints about the family court system are largely the same as men's. It's true that non-custodial mothers have one additional complaint that their... »
We're in a serious economic recession. Negative economic growth, car companies gushing red ink, home values plummeting, jobs evaporating all signal grim times ahead, and most agree it's going to get worse. So it must be time for feminists to make up facts about the downturn affecting women more than men, for the purpose of directing government largesse their way. And... »
Several times I've admonished readers to always get a DNA test to see if you're the child's father. Married or single, get a test. If you don't you may end up supporting a child who's not yours whether you like it or not. If you're divorcing, always demand a test. They're not expensive and if you don't,... »
In this case it's Dave Flook of London, Ontario (The London Free Press, 1/31/09). He's in the middle of learning a few of those lessons life teaches you sometimes. He and his girlfriend lived together and had a child. Things were OK for a while, but tensions arose and she left with the baby to go to... »
That's the message from this piece out of Grand Rapids, MI (Grand Rapids Opinion, 1/29/09). Michigan, dependent as it is on the auto industry, is in bad shape, so increasing numbers of kids there are in danger of falling into poverty. According to the Grand Rapids Opinion, there are many things the state can do to address... »
What a novel concept. But that's one lesson to learn from this study (Medpage Today, 1/27/09). It's hardly the last word on the subject, as the authors themselves say. And of course the "costs" of training may outweigh the "benefits," but injuries to children by parents are both an immediate and a long-term problem. Physical... »
A 14-year-old Massachusetts boy has been charged with various sex crimes for his involvement in sexual game-playing with three girls aged 12 and 11. Although he too is a minor, the state declined to charge the girls with any wrongdoing. Strange as it may seem to say, that type of sexual behavior among children that young... »
William Coleman's case has been sporadically before the public for several years. He was a soccer coach at the college level in Connecticut. In 2002, in the middle of his "acrimonious" divorce and custody case, his wife accused him of rape. There was no physical evidence of rape and she delayed reporting it to the... »
Take a look at this (The Star, 1/27/09). Wayne Tippett (pictured) of Ontario fell in love with and married his high school sweetheart Darlene Cormier before they ever graduated. He worked and went to night school, got a college degree and developed an apparently uncommon expertise as a Xerox technician. At one time he was making $90,000 per year. ... »
I'm not making this up. Apparently, at least in Wisconsin, women can rack up some pretty big bucks just for taking care of their own kids and occasionally those of their friends and relatives. Here's an article about four sisters who basically just traded off care of each others' children and, over the course of three... »
Here's an impassioned piece about domestic violence (Memphis Commerical Appeal, 1/27/09). The writer, Marilyn Loeffel, is so moved by this topic that she urges people to act now. Change laws! Break the cycle of violence! Take charge of your life! This is a crisis! But of course Loeffel is interested in none of that. Her aim is to... »
Here's a woman who actually seems to understand a thing or two about fathers (Daily Mirror, 1/27/09). She seems to get the fact that fathers, from the very first, can be pushed out of the lives of their children. And she encourages new mothers not to do this. She points out that babies do... »
So how did Dad, Naveen Andrews (pictured at left), get custody of his son? Because Mom, Elena Eustache (pictured at right), violated the court's order on visitation. Fancy that - a court actually enforced its visitation order in favor of the father. I guess there's a first time for everything. Read about it here (TMZ,... »
Her multiple criminal acts go completely unpunished. She doesn't even get disciplined at work. It's illegal even to identify her. She swims untouched through every net. He is innocent, but is clapped in handcuffs, arrested and charged with rape. Even after the case is proven to be a fraud, he's still identified as, at one... »
"...the judge referred to a 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision that said if someone acts as a parent and provides support for a child during a marriage, they are obliged to continue that financial support after separation or divorce -- even if the child is not biologically theirs." As in the UK and in... »
This piece in the New York Times Sunday Magazine is quite a good read. The author, Daniel Bergner, does a good job of communicating some fairly vexed and vexing information from cutting-edge research into female (and some male) sexual arousal and desire. The research suggests that much of what we've been taught recently has... »
In this piece in the New York Times, economist/game show host Ben Stein (pictured) lectures us about our profligate natures (The New York Times, 1/24/09). Americans. We're all just Peter Pans living in Never Never Land. We don't know a thing about responsibility, prudence, paying our own way. And look what it's gotten us -... »
But you'll have to convince a Canadian judge. She found that a custodial mother so alienated her three daughters from their father that custody should be transferred to him and that she could not even see the girls until they have intensive therapy for children who suffer from parental alienation syndrome. Read about it here (The... »
It took a Galveston, Texas jury just 45 minutes to convict Kimberly Dawn Trenor (pictured) of capital murder in the unspeakably brutal death of her two-year-old daughter, Riley Ann, also referred to as 'Baby Grace.' The District Attorney called the child's treatment "sordid, sadistic torture." Trenor's husband and Riley's stepfather, Royce Zeigler, will be tried later for... »
As one lesbian said in my study, the feminist analysis used by the domestic violence agency she volunteered at not only made her abuse "invisible, it made it impossible." Here's an interesting article about a study of domestic violence in lesbian couples (Off Our Backs, 10/01). Its findings include the fact that DV shelters for... »
Hard as it may be to believe, a Georgia man is actually going to get back the money he paid in child support for a child who wasn't his. Read about it here (The Augusta Chronicle, 3/2/08). The judge in the case, David Roper, ruled that the mother and the biological father would have... »
Here's a test. Listen to the facts of this case. Randy and Melissa Pratt of Pennsylvania had about $1,700 in their bank account. One day they woke up and there was $170,000 in the same account - bank error in their favor. So they did what any reasonable couple would do - took the money... »
With the inauguration of Barack Obama as 44th President, we usher in a brand new Era of Responsibility. We're all glad to know that. And who could doubt it since we've had it confirmed to us by the new Prez himself and a multitude of news and opinion outlets? I, for one, have great expectations... »
The judge, sitting with Lord Justice Aikens and Mr. Justice Bennett, said: 'This whole case can be categorised as a misfortune to all those engaged in it. I would not wish to be the one to extend their misfortunes further.' With those words a British judge declined to allow a man who had been the victim... »
What's one of the first rules you learn in Journalism School? Get both sides of the story, right? Now of course you can't always do that. Sometimes there aren't two sides. Sometimes one side can't be contacted or won't talk to you. When that happens you say "Jane Doe didn't return reporter' calls and emails,"... »
"This is the first real evidence that mothers, through their behavior, act as gatekeepers by either fostering or curtailing how much fathers take part in caring for their baby." I view this as a small but important study - one that should be known to everyone with the slightest interest in fathers, mothers, children, families and the... »
Now we know. When parents get divorced, the distance between the children and the mother lessens while the distance between the children and the father increases. Now why would that be? Because she got primary custody? Because courts don't enforce his visitation rights? Because she alienates the kids from him? Because she moved to a different state? To be fair,... »
I guess it's appropriate that this piece appeared in the Fashion Section (The New York Times, 1/11/09). The people in it are nothing if not fashionable. It's about how people cope when dad loses his job and mom isn't earning. Of course by "people" I mean Wall Street toilers who've seen their salaries slashed from $800,000... »
Here's a lovely little piece about a man who fought for several years to get custody of his son (Argus Leader, 1/8/09). The mother was given custody during the course of court proceedings, but the trial court ended up giving custody to the father. Why? Because the mother had tried so hard to alienate... »
Her viewers might want to know “the rest of the story.” Oprah’s guest on this show was Brenda Slaby, an Assistant Principal in the West Clermont (Ohio) School system who, in 2007, left her 2-year-old daughter in the car alone for eight hours. It was August, the car was closed and the little girl died of hyperthermia. Of... »
|
|
