Michigan Military Divorce

“I’m a real boy now. I’m not a boy in foster care anymore.”

After the final hearing confirming his adoption, a 13 year old boy said to Liz Johnson, a social worker and “recruiter” with an adoption coalition:  “I’m a real boy now. I’m not a boy in foster care anymore.”

What could be worse than spending most of your childhood in a foster care home . . . or a series of foster care homes? One thing is certain: the older a child is, the less likely that there will be a family out there willing to adopt. Most people seeking to adopt a child have an infant in mind. Older children carry "baggage," whether it's abuse/neglect in their families of origin and/or abuse/neglect within the system that seeks to care for them while attempting to find that perfect forever family.

Imagine . . . just imagine being 13 or 14 or 15 years old, having lived in foster care most of your life and feeling unable to invite a friend from school to your home because you are so different from your classmates. Imagine feeling like you are not a "real boy" because you don't have parents and your schoolmates do. Imagine feeling as though your home is but a temporary place. A sense of identity, family and permanency . . . a good self concept . . . these are keys to success that are denied to such children.

More men marrying wealthier women. What does that mean?

According to the New York Times, an analysis of census data to be released by the Pew Research Center found that women are victims of a role reversal that is profoundly affecting the pool of potential marriage partners. Key points from the New York Times:

“Men now are increasingly likely to marry wives with more education and income than they have, and the reverse is true for women,” said Paul Fucito, spokesman for the Pew Center. “In recent decades, with the rise of well-paid working wives, the economic gains of marriage have been a greater benefit for men.”

“We’ve known for some time that men need marriage more than women from the standpoint of physical and mental well-being,” said Stephanie Coontz, a professor at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., and research director for the Council on Contemporary Families, a research and advocacy group. “Now it is becoming increasingly important to their economic well-being as well.”

Whenever there is economic or educational disparity between spouses, a prenuptial agreement should be at the top of the list of pre-marriage things to do.  You can read more about prenuptial agreements on this blog here.

The New York Times article More Men Marrying Wealthier Women may be read here.

Online access to (some) Wayne County Circuit Court records

Tired of running over to the basement of the Wayne county Courthouse to access information about pending cases and obtain information about a case's tortuous history or about obtaining transcripts? Thanks to Lindsay Kennedy James, a Farmington, Michigan attorney for the following information.

Step 1:       Go  https://transcripts.3rdcc.org/

Step 2:       Establish yourself as a new user.  Make sure you put a “P” in front of your bar number. 

Step 3:       Go to “inquiry.” 

Step 4:       Insert your case number (e.g., 09-11111-CZ). 

Information provided:    The case name and number, the judge, the parties, the attorneys, and the dates and names of every hearing and the court reporter.  This could provide some help in terms of being able to research a case for which you may only know a case number.  Thanks, Lindsay!

Child Support | What expenses are covered by child support?

A very typical question that may be raised by a parent is whether the payor of child support is obligated to pay a certain percentage of extraordinary expenses - such as for school clothing, school activities, dance lessons, tutorial services, etc. Michigan operates under the Michigan Child Support Formula, recently revised effective October 2008. It's important for both parents to have a clear understanding - even before the final divorce is entered.

Here's the question in short form: What does a non-custodial parent (payor of child support) have to pay in addition to child support for the child's needs? School clothes? Dance lessons? Hockey? Football (if the school isn't picking up the tab and the children must pay to participate)?

Foreign travel with minor children | What documents are required?

We've had recent discussions on the ABA Family Law Listserv about how best
to guarantee that there are no glitches when a parent is traveling abroad with minor children and the other parent is not also traveling. The New York Times has published a helpful article discussing the issues and good suggestions for ensuring travel that doesn't involve border stops. The article, Practical Traveler: Stroller, Diapers, Paperwork may be read here.

Spring Break is fast arriving. Parents traveling to Mexico are usually required to present a notarized document from the other parent that will state with fair precision the knowledge of the trip, the expected departure and return dates, etc. An affidavit for parents to use that will facilitate border crossings can be found here.

Shocking back story | Goldman abduction linked to 1969 Abduction

I'm not easily shocked by anything. But a whole new light has been shed on how power and corruption in Brazil led to Sean Goldman's 5+ years retention in Brazil when, under the Hague Convention, he should have been returned within 6 weeks of his abduction. It wasn't just the wealth of Bruna Goldman's family. It wasn't just the major family law firm and expertise of Joao Paulo Lins e Silva. It was also about political intrigue and connections.

I was shocked to read the details, apparently first published on the BringSeanHome site in February 2009. A post from them is now revisited in an intriguing discussion on the Forum. You may read it here: http://bringseanhome.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2685

While you are on the site, please also take 5 minutes to access the user-friendly page where you can support pending legislation intended to give the US tools to combat international child abduction, Here is a direct link. http://bringseanhome.org/forum/showthread.php?t=327

David & Sean Goldman abduction case | Dateline | Background

Dear Readers,

NBC DATELINE: January 8, 2009:   I am sure that many of you saw the Dateline program on the Goldman parental abduction case. I am told that there were 11 million viewers! Here is an excellent summary of the program. http://tinyurl.com/y9bqczp

The segment where Sean calls David "Dad" will make your heart melt! I know that there are legions of folks who were overwhelmed to see David Goldman's determination to recover his son and know he is equally determined to ensure Sean's safety and well-being.

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL:    Video material that was left on the cutting floor when this moving 2-hour program was assembled can be accessed here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/

ANOTHER SHOWING:    In case you missed it, I am told that the show will be aired again today, Sunday, January 10th at 7 PM EST on TLC

BRING SEAN HOME FOUNDATION:    See http://bringseanhome.org for more information on how you may help other left-behind parents (LBPs). There are about 50 cases involving about 65 children still in Brazil There are many other tragic cases involving children abducted and and held in other countries. See http://bringseanhome.org to see how you can help! It is particularly important that you write, call, camp out on the lawn of your representatives in Congress. [Note: The best currency might be in your time and energy helping the foundation and/or contacting your representatives.

GOLDMAN ARCHIVES:    The complete archives (so far) on the Goldman discussion on this Blog can be accessed below:

Readability Redux | Uncluttered web pages

I've been using Readability for two days now. Oh my! What a difference! Imagine web pages that are crisp and clean and free of distracting flash and ads. Here is a link to my earlier post. http://tinyurl.com/y87qjzb  Then there is that little help for old eyes. Hit CTRL and roll the mouse button toward the top to increase font size. I am in heaven! [For Apple folks, it's Command and roll]

Try this. You are going to love it! [I wonder how long it's gonna take the people who sprinkle liberally all that ad content around to figure out how to beat this. Sigh.]

Sean and David Goldman | Home at last in New Jersey

In case you did not see it, here's a terrific video of David Goldman describing Sean's first moments at home, finally, in New Jersey.

Getting rid of ad content on web pages

I owe a debt of gratitude to Elizabeth Sadowski for calling this extremely valuable tool to my attention. Readability allows me to "filter out" all of those pop-ups and other advertising material that I find so annoying on websites. Even websites that are too valuable to disregard have what is for me unacceptable levels of ad content.

Liz says:  "In the words of my hero, Rocket J. Squirrel, 'Now here's something you'll REALLY enjoy.' Readability is a free download that lets you read web articles free of all that commercial junk flashing around the periphery and distracting your concentration from the text. It's like TIVO for your computer. You simply drag the "readability" word to your toolbar and drop it there. Then, whenever you want to read a webpage's text only, just click on the toolbar. If you want to get back to the original webpage, simply refresh the page."

The link to Readability is: http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/
I tried it. I liked it. I am sure you'll find it very helpful. Please consider subscribing to email updates to this blog so that you don't miss any of these tech updates. There is a space to enter your email address in the upper left-hand corner. When you get an update that isn't of interest to you, simply hit the "delete" button.