UPDATES IN MICHIGAN FAMILY LAW

Significant increase in unwed births reported by CDC

An alarming statistic was revealed on May 15, 2009. According to the Center for Disease Control, about 40% of all babies born alive in the United States are born to unmarried mothers.

The CDC report highlights are these:

• Childbearing by unmarried women has resumed a steep climb since 2002.
• Births to unmarried women totaled 1,714,643 in 2007, 26% more than in 2002. Nearly 4 in 10 U.S. births were to unmarried women in 2007.
• Birth rates have risen considerably for unmarried women in their twenties and over, while declining or changing little for unmarried teenagers.
• Non-marital birth rates are highest for Hispanic women followed by black women. Rates for non-Hispanic white and Asian or Pacific Islander women are much lower.
• Most births to teenagers (86% in 2007) are non-marital, but 60% of births to women 20–24 and nearly one-third of births to women 25–29 were non-marital in 2007.
• Teenagers accounted for just 23% of non-marital births in 2007, down steeply from 50% in 1970. [This is significant because it means that the initiatives to reduce teen pregnancy are really working!]

Parents, children - falling through the cracks?

The economy is having a profound effect on families - especially single-parent families struggling with survival. Today's news brought me the story of an Albuquerque, New Mexico mother who suffocated her adorable 3-year-old child. She then buried him in the sand on a playground. The mother and child were homeless and had been sleeping in a park after having been thrown out of two homes. The sad story is found here on Albuquerque's's Channel 9 & 10 News
It is so important if you know someone skating on the edge of disaster that you call child protection services. The Michigan contact numbers are here. If you live outside of Michigan and cannot find the number, call your local police agency and ask.

Child sexual abuse | High quality tools for use in detection & proof

Do you believe or does your client believe that a child has been sexually abused? A most important first step is to seek out capable, qualified and highly trained professional help. Your first call should be to Child Protection Services. [NOTE: The contact information for the agency near you in Michigan can be found here.] You should not attempt to elicit the details from the child yourself. This may seriously compromise prosecution of a child molester. There are many links below to resources that may be found online dealing with the tools used by experts to determine whether the abuse alleged has actually occurred.

Child abuse & neglect | Effect of worsening economy

Today's economy and growing unemployment put huge strains on families. Some of these families may have been under pressure before the economic slowdown. Increasingly, family practitioners are seeing more cases involving domestic abuse and neglect of children. It's important that services be made available as quickly as possible. As Dr. Robert Sege and Barbara Talkov wrote in an Op-ed piece in today's Boston Globe:

GPS equipment to monitor stalkers?

Reporter Ariana Green reports in the May 9, 2009 issue of the New York Times that twelve states have adopted legislation allowing the use of global positioning devices to track and monitor persons against whom personal protection orders ["PPOs"] have been issued. [View the states here.] The purpose, of course, is to make sure that abusers are not violating the PPOs or harassing their former victims. After all, a PPO is merely a piece of paper. It is not a bulletproof shield; it cannot protect a domestic violence victim from further abuse when a violent spouse, former spouse or former domestic partner is determined to harm someone. According to the NY Times, about one-fourth of PPOs are violated each year.

Who Does She Think She Is?

Celebrate the creativity of women. "Who does she think she is?" is a documentary that follows the lives of several working female artists. These women have vastly different backgrounds and circumstances, but share the challenges that women must overcome while they attempt to balance an art career with motherhood. A documentary that explores allegories about larger issues that trouble women of all ages, races and professions -- women who have or do not have children -- this film explores what it means to be female, creative at this time in this country. See the trailer here: