Baby disappeared during religious riots in India in 2002, which left approximately 1,000 people dead.

Baby’s Muslim family eventually gave him up for dead.

Recently, Baby’s family discovered that he was still alive.

A Hindu police officer had allegedly found Baby and more or less gave him to relatives to raise as their own child.

The police reportedly did not investigate Baby’s family’s missing person reports very thoroughly, or Baby would have been found in 2002.

Now, Baby no longer remembers his biological parents, and is attached to his “foster” mother.

Six years after Baby’s disappearance, Baby’s biological parents go to court in India to secure Baby’s return to their family.

But the Indian Court rules in favor of the so-called “foster” mother and denies Baby’s biological parents’ appeal.

The biological parents have not given up on getting their son back legally, now that they know he is alive.

In India, most commentators appear to side with the “foster” mother.

Are they guided by family law or religious law – or the law of politics?

Read more in this Washington Times article: Child custody case stirs Hindus, Muslims.

Ex-Husband has custody of Child. Ex-Wife is ordered to maintain medical insurance for Child.

Child seriously injured in bad accident. Dad discovers that Child’s insurance lapsed several weeks before.

Finding out that your child’s or your insurance coverage has been canceled or modified just when you need it most is a nightmare.

There are a couple of ways to prevent that from happening.

The source article discussed the Qualified Medical Child Support Judgment Order required in every Missouri divorce involving minor children where insurance is available.

But an endorsement to any insurance can be negotiated and ordered which requires the insurance carrier to provide 30 – 90 days notice to the insured prior to canceling or modifying (reducing) coverage. That works whether the insured is a child or a former spouse.

The party required to provide the insurance should be required to deliver the certificate of insurance / declarations page reflecting the special endorsement to the insured within 10 days after final judgment.

Read more in this South Side Journal article – Fox Family Files: Do you have a “Q-order in your divorce decree?

India has a small but thriving industry. Surrogate mothering.

For poor, uneducated Indian women, being a surrogate is a way to earn the equivalent of $4 or $5,000.

And then the biological parents adopt the child.

But sometimes, things go wrong.

For example, a Japanese couple hired an Indian surrogate mother to carry their baby to term.

But before the baby was born, the couple divorced.

Now the biological mother no longer wants the baby. And the surrogate doesn’t want the baby.

The biological father does but, under Indian law, a single father cannot adopt.

So now the eleven (11) day old baby remains in the hospital, under the care of the biological father’s mother.

Awaiting someone who can take legal custody of her.

Read more in this Canadian Press article: Surrogate child custody case in limbo in India after Japanese parents divorce.

Elderly couple married twenty years.

Wife files for divorce.

Wife obtains restraining order against 75 year old Husband.

Case drags on.

Husband unhappy.

Husband sets Wife’s house on fire, starting it in the attached garage.

Husband posts sign on the fence blaming “family court” for the fire.

Husband then sets Wife’s adult daughter’s house on fire, also starting it in the garage there.

Then Husband shoots himself in the head with a nail gun.

Wife and stepdaughter survive.

Husband survives.

Husband charged with attempted murder and arson.

Seventy-five year old Husband faces life sentence.

Read more in this San Diego Union Tribune article: Man who went on rampage over pending divorce to stand trial.

Boy lives in Poland with Mother, Grandfather and Grandmother, after Father dies.

Mother moves out of area and leaves Boy with Grandparents, visiting only occasionally.

Court temporarily restricts Mother’s parental rights and awards custody to Grandmother.

Grandmother and Grandfather divorce. Grandfather continues to live in same home with Grandmother and Boy.

Grandmother dies.

Mother removes Boy from Grandfather and disappears.

Court places Boy in Grandfather’s foster care permanently.

Mother fails to return Boy to Grandfather’s care.

It is later found that Mother removed Boy from Poland to Ireland.

Upon locating Boy, Grandfather applies for return of the Boy to his custody in Poland under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

Mother claimed that she left Poland, among other reasons, because Grandfather had a preferential relationship with the local authorities in Poland. Mother presented no proof of that though.

Mother also denied Grandfather’s custodial rights at the time she removed Boy from Poland, despite Polish court orders restricting her custodial rights and awarding Grandfather custodial rights.

The Court also found that the Mother had done little to maintain a relationship with Boy and had repeatedly, willfully ignored lawful Polish court orders.

Although the Boy expressed the wish to remain with his Mother in Ireland, the Court found that the Boy was immature and subject to Mother’s influence.

The Mother was subject to an arrest warrant for abducting Boy.

The Court also found that the Boy had not really settled in Ireland and that there did not appear to be a risk to the Boy if returned to Poland.

For all of the above reasons, the Irish court ordered return of Boy to Poland, his place of habitual residence before his wrongful abduction.

The Irish court concluded that any further custody proceedings should take place in Poland. The Irish court did not decide who should have custody.

Read more in this Irish Times article: Boy must be returned to his grandfather in Poland.

International debt. The term conjures up notions of international balance of trade.

But it can have another meaning entirely.

International child support debt. What’s that?

That’s when a nation’s children are owed support by foreigners.

And also when a nation’s adults owe support to foreign children.

These are international financial transactions.

Foreigners, mostly New Zealanders and Americans, owe Australian children $235 million. Canada and Britain also have substantial international child support debt.

But the problem goes beyond even that.

Under the Hague Convention, Australia is obligated to collect from Australia residents monies owed to foreign children.

And other nations that are parties to the Hague Convention have reciprocal obligations to collect international child support for foreign children.

Read more in this Australian article: Foreign dads boost child support debt.

Flash backward:

Minnesota court finds that Husband physically abused Wife.

Husband and Wife’s seven year old girl reveals to therapist that she is being physically abused by her father and that she doesn’t feel safe with him.

Girl reports the same thing to court-appointed investigators / advocates for her.

Ample artwork by both children seems to support their accounts of abuse and cries for help.

Outcome of this Minnesota child custody case?

The girl and her older brother are placed in the custody of her father.

The Court concluded that the abused Wife was unstable and had coached the children, and that the children were better off with the abusive Husband.

Flash forward:

The seven year old is now twenty-three years old. Now able to choose, she lives with Wife.

She maintains that she told the truth during the custody trial – and the legal system turned a deaf ear to her and her brother.

Grown up now, she wants to advocate for abused children and children’s rights in family court cases that, too often, are all about the parents and the parents’ rights – at the expense of their children.

Experts agree that all an abuser has to do to gain custody of innocent children in many courtrooms is utter the words “parental alienation syndrome” in the same breath with the other parent’s name.

And the abused parent who tries to protect their children from the abusive parent is labeled the bad parent whose visitation should be restricted.

Read more in this Minneapolis City Pages article: Reporter’s Notebook: Jennifer Collins speaks about her family’s case.

American Wife and Belgian Husband separate. Wife allows children to travel to Belgium to spend the entire summer of 2006 there with Husband.

Husband keeps children in Belgium beyond date they were supposed to return. Further, Husband, filed for – and won – sole custody of the children in a Belgian court.

This isn’t a case where the Wife was reckless or foolish in handing over the kids for this international jaunt. No, a US Court ordered Wife to send the kids to Belgium to visit Husband for the summer.

The US Court was presumably influenced by the fact that Belgium is a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. But Wife hasn’t seen her kids for two years now – except via webcam, on occasion.

The family did live in Belgium for a time, but it was reportedly agreed to be only on a temporary basis while Husband completed his studies there. Further, when Husband, according to Wife (and her mother), became physically and verbally abusive and threatening toward Wife and the children during a visit to the US in 2004, Wife refused to return with him to Belgium.

Due to the Husband’s defiance of US court orders, the first entered anywhere, the US court refuses to entertain any arguments by the Husband against child custody jurisdiction in the US.

But that doesn’t transport the children back to the US and their mother, Wife.

Read more in this Lake County [IL] News-Sun article: Couple’s custody dispute has a 4,000-mile barrier.

A 12 year old Illinois boy recently died, apparently, from beatings. His 16 year old brother’s face is scarred and his arm is in a sling.

The cause of their injuries? Likely, child abuse, according to reports.

By whom? Allegedly, their adoptive parents – who still had eight minor children in their home at the time of the boy’s death. There reportedly may have been additional abuse of the dead boy by an adoptive or foster sibling.

Several of these children are adopted, the rest, extended biological family of their “caregivers”. All are in the state’s protective custody at this time.

The adoptive / foster parents went to court to request visitation. Not surprisingly, their request was denied.

No charges have been filed yet. But child welfare agency investigations and police investigations continue.

Read more in this SouthTown Star article: Will County judge denies visitation to Crete parents.

On October 1, Florida’s new law governing co-parenting after separation goes into effect. The new law represents a major rewrite.

At least as far as definitions and terminology. No longer will the terms custody or primary residential parent or similar terms be used.

Instead, Florida will join the ranks of states in which separating parents will have to adopt a parenting plan … a very, very detailed parenting plan … to conclude their family court cases.

The new statute’s sponsor is of the opinion that child custody battles were just about labels. So now, separating parents won’t have any reason to fight over child issues. Therefore, family court litigation will diminish.

The new statute’s sponsor also describes the new law as giving both parents “equal rights”.

Some are hailing the new law as a dramatic substantive change.

Others are saying “the more things change, the more they stay the same; a rose by any other name”.

Soon enough, time – and Florida’s court dockets – will tell.

Read more in this [Central Florida] Voice article: Victory for fathers’ rights in divorces.