A 16 year old Florida girl has been charged with a domestic violence crime and is being held in juvenile detention.

She allegedly admitted to putting seasoned salt into her mother’s food. How is that a crime?

Apparently, her mother is allergic to seasoned salt, among other things.

The mother has reportedly been experiencing allergic reactions for weeks, this latest one serious.

There is no indication whether the allergic reaction could have resulted in death.

When the girl’s half-sister learned of her tainting of their mother’s food, the accused threatened her life.

A recent similar incident between two unrelated, younger boys touched off a media debate as to whether a child willfully tainting another child’s food with a substance to which that child is allergic should be a chargeable offense and, if so, the severity of the penalties that should be considered.

The beginnings of an epidemic of juvenile angst … that has the potential to take a lethal turn against friends and family?

Read more in this Tampa Bays TV 10 news article: Police: Mom’s food spiked.

It seems that the answer depends on who is answering the question.

A report just released, and endorsed by several associations, concludes that it is worth the extra wait for minority foster children.

The reasons cited were that minority children adopted into white families “face special challenges” and that “white parents need preparation and training for what might lie ahead”.

On the other hand, many child welfare workers say that the federal law that makes the adoption process race-neutral has helped many minority children find permanent homes – and sooner.

It is unknown whether the report addresses whether children in foster care “face special challenges” … particularly when they remain in the child welfare system for prolonged periods of time, even through the age of majority.

Maybe the answer really turns on precisely how much longer minority children will be doing the waiting. At least to the minority children doing the waiting in foster care.

One has to wonder: was the question put to any of them – while they were still children in foster care?

Read more in this New York Times article: De-emphasis on Race in Adoption Is Criticized.

Show me a former spouse writing an alimony check, and I’ll show you a griping former spouse. Some things never change.

But other things do.

For example, in our brave new world, sometimes the wife earns more than the husband. In fact, in approximately one-third of marriages these days. And, sometimes, she earns a lot more.

Perhaps that is what drives the couple to divorce. Perhaps not.

Either way, more and more frequently these days, the former spouse writing the alimony check is the ex-wife, not the ex-husband. And when she is the one, she’s no happier about having to do it than the typical ex-husband is. Maybe less so.

But, the scenario of the ex-wife writing an alimony check is not coming to fruition in all cases where it could, that is, where the law would support it.

Part of the reason is that many ex-husbands simply won’t hear of collecting alimony from their ex-wives. It simply offends their sensibilities.

But part of the reason is a larger, gender-neutral settlement trend away from what Florida calls permanent, periodic alimony.

Why? Because neither party wants the extended, additional ties to each other. (Or the deterrents to forming permanent attachments to new significant others.)

The Solution: agreements to dispense with traditional alimony as such, in favor of adjusting property division to deliver a one-time windfall to the spouse who would have received alimony. This may well be characterized legally as “lump sum alimony”, but lay people tend not to think of it as alimony at all.

Read more in this Wall Street Journal article: Men Receiving Alimony Want A Little Respect and this Looking Fit magazine article: Female Top Earners Cite Increased Strain, Marital Troubles.

Many separating / separated parents fully appreciate the danger of abduction of their children abroad. Perhaps to their foreign-born ex’s homeland, someplace where he or she will have a legal advantage in child custody proceedings.

Most separating / separated parents do not perceive such a danger within the US today. But consider this …

A little boy went missing from his father’s home in Pennsylvania – in the morning, last Father’s Day.

The alleged culprit(s)? His mother, who had lost custody of the boy. And her boyfriend.

Macon, Georgia had just been ravaged by numerous tornadoes. But the American Association for Lost Children nonetheless was able to trace the missing child to that city.

Mother and boyfriend were reportedly charged with interference with custody of a child, among other charges.

And four other children were allegedly removed from the mother and boyfriend’s home and taken into state protective custody.

Nearly a year after the boy’s abduction. Right here in the US.

Read more in this Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article: Area man spearheads boy’s rescue.

Couple is having marital difficulties. One spouse, most often (but not always) the wife, suggests marriage counseling.

The other spouse, most often (but not always) the husband, refuses. Or goes along – but refuses to participate meaningfully.

He (or she, as the case may be) doesn’t want to discuss his (or her) innermost feelings with a stranger.

Now, it’s just a matter of time before the frustrated spouse files for divorce.

Enter a modern spin on marriage counseling: Marital Mediation.

Anyone familiar with the divorce process is likely acquainted with mediation in divorce cases.

Well, a Connecticut mediator and social psychologist is applying mediation techniques to marriage counseling.

The Marital Mediation process flushes out areas of conflict and fosters communication and negotiation, and facilitates agreements on mutually desirable corrective actions.

There is less emphasis on exploring and confronting emotions, and more emphasis on committing to a written contract for proactive, logical behaviors to improve the marriage.

This approach may well better serve couples where at least one of the spouses refuses to discuss his or her emotions with a stranger.

But one thing is the same in Marital Mediation: both spouses must be willing to “come to the table” and give the selected form of marriage therapy their all. Otherwise, it is doomed to fail.

Read more in this Wilton [CT] Villager article: Counselor offers different way to help heal a marriage.

Florida’s Marchman Act. A statutory scheme to compel an assessment for substance abuse and, if warranted, treatment.

It doesn’t sound as though it has anything to do with divorce or family law. But, unfortunately, surprisingly often, it does.

A previously happy marriage strained by one spouse’s substance abuse.

A parent-child relationship upended by the parent’s substance abuse.

A child endangered by their timesharing parent’s substance abuse.

Even before something horrendous happens, desperate family members may seek help under the Marchman Act.

Often, family relief under the Marchman Act is too little or too late – or both. Those are the cases that culminate in divorces and proceedings to modify custody and/or visitation.

But sometimes, every so often, the Marchman Act really can offer a life line to a family member who has gotten in way over their head – and knows it, but needs a special kind of help to climb out.

And so save the substance abuser. And their marriage. And their family.

Read more in this Sun Sentinel article: Marchman Act a valuable tool for families trying to help addicts.

California has an interesting child custody bill pending.

Proponents of the bill would leave more of the burden of putting forth evidence on custody directly on the parties – and more of the burden of determining custody on judges, based on that evidence.

First, the bill aims to limit the use of formal custody evaluations by professional custody evaluators, typically therapists of some kind.

Second, the bill explicitly prohibits use of the much-debated and criticized term “Parental Alienation Syndrome” – and the word “alienation” – in custody evaluations.

Interestingly, opponents of the bill include several psychological associations – and the California Bar’s section of family law members.

I have posted several times about parental alienation syndrome and the debate raging over its legitimacy:

1. One Parent’s Parental Alienation is Another Parent’s Protection of Their Child
2. Aftermath of Parental Alienation: Children Grown Up
3. Parental Alienation Syndrome: Fact or Fiction?

One California evaluator points out that some evaluators tend to find alienation in almost every case – and others rarely, if ever, find alienation. Unfortunately, the basis for their conclusions may have less to do with the case at hand than the expert’s point of view.

Many women’s groups contend that alienation claims have led to custody awards to abusers.

Many men’s groups contend that alienation claims have damaged, if not destroyed, their relationships with their children.

Sadly, there is truth in both positions.

And even some psychologists admit that often it is not possible for evaluators to tell whether alleged child victims of alienation are in fact victims of abuse – or coaching.

Read more in this San Bernardino Sun article: Bill wades in to custody battles.

One area of the law where states differ dramatically is in child support enforcement.

An Indiana man accumulated $120,000 in child support arrearages.

That’s a felony in Indiana, for which he was charged with three counts.

That man was sentenced to nine (9) years in prison for non-payment of child support.

To be followed by 15 years of probation.

Indiana likely has a much higher rate of compliance with child support orders than Florida does.

Read more in this WSBT TV article: Man $120,000 behind in child support gets 9-year sentence in South Bend.

Three Florida children were caught a week ago in the alleged planning stages of a school shooting incident such as at Columbine. The three thirteen year olds were reportedly arrested yesterday for conspiracy to commit murder, a felony.

The plot was uncovered through electronics: text messages, webpages, etc.

According to her sister, one of the kids tried to commit suicide a few days earlier, over her boyfriend’s breakup with her.

All three teens’ mental health was evaluated under Florida’s Baker Act.

The alleged ringleader was angry over being teased by peers. Although he was angry at two particular students, he posted on a website that he wanted to kill as many students as possible – and then themselves.

It has not yet been announced whether the teenagers will be tried as juveniles or adults.

Read more in this Daytona Beach News Journal article – Police: 3 DeLand school teens plotted murder and this Orlando Sentinel article: Fla. 7th-grader arrested for planning school shooting.

More marriage and divorce statistics.

According to the Pew Forum, among US residents, of all religions, followers of Hindu are the most likely to be married and the least likely to be divorced.

However, the sampling of Hindus was the smallest, so that was where the greatest margin of error existed.

Next least likely to be divorced were Jews, Muslims and Mormons, all coming in four percent higher than Hindus.

Next were Catholics, at one percent more likely to be divorced.

Read more in this India West article: U.S. Hindus Least Likely to Divorce: Survey.