Afghan Husband and Wife have been married for six years.

Wife is now twenty years old.

Husband and Wife got into an argument related to Husband becoming engaged to his intended second wife … a child of 6 or 7 years of age.

Husband reportedly flew into a rage and hacked Wife’s nose off with a knife.

Wife lost a lot of blood and was in critical condition. Surgical repair of her face was beyond the abilities of the local plastic surgeons. Wife hopes to be able to travel abroad for cosmetic surgery.

This is allegedly just the most recent abuse Wife has endured at the hands of Husband and his family.

Afghanistan reportedly has one of the worst records of violence against women, despite enormous expenditures by the US to shore up their legal system.

Read more in this New York Times article: Afghan Woman’s Nose Is Cut Off by Her Husband, Officials Say .

For people whose child support account is in arrears, Albany, GA has devised a Parental Accountability Court to help them get back on track.

This court is not punitive. Rather, it helps to remove obstacles to parents paying child support, such as unemployment, addictions, mental health issues, etc.

This is just a small pilot program right now but it sounds promising.

Read more in this Albany Herald article: New Parental Accountability Court Aims to help dads catch up on child support payments .

Arizona Husband and Wife raise foster children with special needs. Lots of them.

As their living. To the tune of more than $100,000 per year.

They reportedly excel at rearing the children. And such children are typically difficult to place.

The children arrive from psychiatric facilities, rehab facilities and group homes.

Husband and Wife allege that four of their foster children were removed from their home for political reasons due to the occupation of a national wildlife refuge in Oregon.

Another individual involved with the occupation of the refuge makes a similar claim.

After this article was initially published, Husband was subsequently killed by law enforcement officers at the refuge.

Read more in this Oregon Public Broadcasting Station news article: Militant Says Foster Children Were Pulled From His Home .

“They threatened to go after my social security.

“Can they do that?”

This question comes up surprisingly often.

And the answer is “it depends”.

Both child support and spousal support, or alimony, can be can be garnished from social security benefits. Even social security disability benefits.

But not the recipient’s entire benefit.

Read more in this Elder Law Answers article: Can Social Security Benefits Be Garnished to Pay Debts?

New Jersey resident Husband and Wife are from India. They have a two month old Son.

Son ends up in a hospital emergency room with extensive head injuries.

Extended family reports that Wife lost her grip on Son while she was carrying him, and he fell to the floor.

After his treatment, Son is taken into protective custody and placed in foster care.

Husband and Wife are appealing to the Indian government to intervene on their behalf.

Read more in this News India Times article: Jersey City Couple Alleges Baby Wrongly Placed In Foster Care .

English Mother comes to New York with her 14 month old Baby. Mother happens to be a police officer.

While in New York, Mother is alleged to have left Baby in their hotel room alone and unsupervised and also of leaving him in the hotel lobby without a custodian.

As a result, Mother was arrested for endangering the welfare of a child … and resisting arrest. And Baby was taken into child protective custody in New York.

The criminal charges against Mother were subsequently dismissed, and Mother is back in her home in England.

But Baby remains in child protective custody in New York. Mother characterizes this as kidnapping.

But the circumstances are complicated.

In Brooklyn federal court, Mother has filed a case under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction seeking Baby’s return to the UK.

At the same time, Mother is suing New York City, including its police and child welfare agencies, for hefty damages. And objecting to the character of the foster mother with whom Baby was placed.

And in New York Family Court, a case is pending over Mother’s alleged neglect of Son.

Despite all the cases, Mother’s local attorney has no clue when Baby will be returned to the UK, regardless of whether he will be placed with Mother or others.

Read more in this [UK] Daily Mirror article: Brit policewoman’s baby at centre of international child welfare battle will remain in US for time being .

Parenting classes. They are required in Florida when both married and unmarried couples break up and litigate parenting rights. Such classes have aimed to improve post separation co-parenting for years.

In more recent years, parenting classes in many states have sought to teach incarcerated parents how to parent better. The educational programs impart the message that not being there with your children due to incarceration (or anything else) is neglect.

“Neglect is when a parent fails at one of their five roles: protecting, providing, teaching, guiding and nurturing. Neglect can lead to serious consequences.”

In Florida prisons, the course has been a thirteen week program at federal expense. Now, greater Tampa is rolling out an abbreviated four week adaptation in local jails, at county expense, for parents serving shorter sentences.

County funding is justified by feedback that indicates that the curriculum really works. Parents in confinement grasp that they are failing their children. And just may be finding the will to do better after their release.

Read more in this Orlando Sentinel article: Classes for dads in jail help inmates learn about fatherhood .

Husband and Wife live in Texas. Husband and Wife have six year old Son together.

Wife allegedly takes Son to Mexico. And remains there.

That was four years ago.

Wife is wanted in Texas on a charge of felony interference with child custody.

Mexican law enforcement officers recently caught up with Wife and arrested her under a federal warrant, and took Son into child protective custody.

It is unknown at this time whether Wife will be extradited to the US or first prosecuted in Mexico on Mexican charges.

It is also unknown at this time when (or if) Son will be returned to Husband’s custody in Texas.

Mexico is a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. But that does not always ensure swift or smooth compliance with the Convention.

Read more in this news article on Breitbart: Texas Boy Kidnapped by Mom Found After 4 Years in Mexico .

A large Swedish study of 150,000 children found no significant difference in mental health of children who lived with each parent part of the time. And in some of the sub-studies, children of divorce actually had better mental health.

A small survey of people in the UK, however, found a correlation between health problems at 50 years old and parents divorcing before child reaches age 7.

Read more in this UK Daily Mail article: Couples who stay together ‘for the sake of the  children’ are not doing the best thing for their youngsters’ mental health .

Woman has domestic violence restraining order of protection against her for benefit of Lady. That means no contact is allowed between the two.

Woman “tags” or sends a message to Lady within Facebook.

Now Woman faces criminal charges for violating the restraining order.

In her motion to dismiss the charge, Wife maintains that the order of protection does not specifically prohibit communications through Facebook.

The domestic violence judge disagrees, denying the motion. Because the order bars contact through “electronic or any other means”.

Past cases have likened tagging to e-mail.

Read more in

• this New York Law Journal article: Judge: Facebook Post Could Violate Protection Order and
• this New York Post article: Woman faces jail for tagging former in-law on Facebook .