Father and Mother have Son together. Then separate when Son is a year old.

Father and Mother agree in a parenting plan filed with the court that Son will be circumcised.

Then Mother changes her mind. Mother reportedly drags their court case out.

The Family Court orders that Mother comply with their parenting agreement and sign the paperwork necessary for the circumcision to be performed.

Now Son is 4 years old and still has not undergone the circumcision as agreed by his parents and ordered by the Family Court.

Mother instead goes into hiding with Son to avoid the circumcision… after publicizing this sensitive, private matter in all the media.

And attracting political / social activists who are not unwilling to exploit Son and the situation to advance their cause.

And the Family Court finds Mother to be in contempt of court, and threatens to jail her.

Read more in this Yahoo News article via Associated Press: Jail looms for mom who fled with son to fight circumcision .

Couple are married.

Husband becomes seriously ill.

Wife continues to love, honor and cherish, in sickness as in health.

Wife commits to caregiving.

Another couple are married.

Wife becomes seriously ill.

Couple is headed for divorce.

These two very different, gender-driven scenarios emerge from a recent study out of Iowa State University.

The study reports that the divorce rate rises 6% when a wife acquires a serious illness compared to when she is healthy.

It is worth noting though that it is not necessarily the husband who files for divorce in this situation.

Illness may trigger wives’ dissatisfaction with their care or alter their perspective on their marriages.

Interestingly, couples’ divorce rates are not impacted when a husband develops a major illness.

Read more in this Phys.org news article: Marriage more likely to end in divorce when wives get sick, study finds

American Husband and Korean Wife meet as students in California, marry and have Daughter together in 2008.

Husband is a veteran of the Iraq War who suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries, and resulting depression and “erratic behavior”.

Wife is twice-divorced, the second time from an American man who was convicted of domestic violence against her. Wife, who is out of legal status in the US, has been seeking a US visa as a victim of domestic violence.

In 2009, Wife allegedly abducted Daughter to Korea, and Husband reported the abduction to federal authorities. Because of that, Wife was arrested last fall when she made a trip to Hawaii.

Since her arrest, Wife has been in a California jail awaiting trial on the federal felony child abduction charge and possibly on deportation, and Daughter has been in Husband’s sole custody without any visitation for Wife.

Husband now works steadily as a substitute teacher in a high school.

Wife alleges that she took off with Daughter because Husband was aggressive, and she was worried about Daughter’s and her own safety.

Husband admitted in court to once grabbing Wife by the throat and throwing her against a wall after she injured him and Daughter. Although police were called over that incident, no arrest was made.

Wife has now been convicted of child abduction and awaits sentencing.

Read more in

• this Sacramento Bee news article: Cross-cultural love story gone wrong turns into child abduction case and
• this Sacramento News 10 ABC news article by way of Associated Press: Korean mom convicted of abducting her American-born daughter .

UK Wife has four Children, ages 3 to 9.

Husband is convicted of murdering Wife … brutally.

Husband is serving a life sentence for that murder.

The Children are presently in the care of Wife’s family.

Now Husband seeks custody of Wife’s Children.

Strangely, Husband is not actually listed on any of the Children’s birth certificates.

Husband refuses to submit to a DNA test to prove his paternity.

Despite this, Husband is awarded legal aid for his custody case.

Litigation ensues over the prospect of utilizing Husband’s DNA from the murder crime scene to prove – or disprove – Husband’s paternity of Children.

A trial court rules that the crime scene DNA can be used for this purpose. But an appellate court has reversed that ruling.

In most US states, Husband would likely be legally presumed to be Children’s father if they were born during Husband’s marriage to their mother, Wife.

Read more in this UK Daily Mail news article: Killer who murdered his wife is granted legal aid worth thousands of pounds for custody battle over her four children

Man rapes Woman.

Woman becomes pregnant. Woman gives birth to Child.

Man is convicted of rape. Man serves sentence.

Man is released from prison.

Man petitions family court for visitation with Child.

Pennsylvania family court awards Man visitation.

Today, that could very well happen in the state of Pennsylvania. Among others.

But possibly not for much longer.

Two state legislators have introduced bills to allow the family court to terminate the parental rights of a convicted rapist to a child born of the rape. While leaving the rapist on the hook for child support.

The bills could pass both houses of the legislature and reach the governor next month.

Read more in this 90.5 WESA radio station news article: New Bill Would End Child Custody Rights for Rapists

He asserts that child custody laws treat kids like property, and denies them stable living conditions.

This point of view is vaguely familiar… It represents the mainstream view of a bygone era.

The evidence since then, however, almost universally highlights the positive features of more or less equal timesharing over the logistical challenges. Which do exist.

Read more in this Charlotte Observer article: Equal custody is unfair to the kids .

Washington state Couple are devout Christians, with libertarian leanings. They subscribe to what may be characterized as minority views regarding certain health matters.

Couple has two toddlers, Twins. The Twins were born at home, with no one but Couple in attendance. Strike one against Couple.

One of the Twins has eczema, a chronic skin condition. The medical community favors treatment with steroids.

Steroids can have lasting and severe side effects, however, particularly with use over extended periods of time. As a result, some people prefer to use natural and other alternative treatments.

Couple are among the people who prefer natural treatments. Strike two against Couple.

Couple are breastfeeding Twins. The government is of the opinion that Twins are “too skinny”. Strike three against Couple.

Washington state’s child protective services (CPS) removes Twins from Couple and takes them into custody, asserting that they were neglected and poorly nourished.

Twins were ultimately returned to Couple’s custody … but CPS was to monitor the family over time.

Couple, fearing ongoing government intrusion into their privacy and parenting, left Washington and headed for California.

Where they were apprehended by law enforcement. And arrested. And Twins were taken back into so-called protective custody yet again.

Now Couple is on trial. Whatever the outcome, will this be the end of it? And is Couple the proper target of child protective services action?

Read more in

1. this Natural News article: Holistic Christian families now criminalized in America; parents having to flee with children and
2. this King5 NBC TV news article: Bellingham couple’s child custody trial begins .

Since New York finally adopted no fault divorce, it is universal in this nation … at least as long as both spouses are on the same page.

In South Dakota and Mississippi, if only one spouse in a couple wants a divorce, the no fault option is not available.

In South Dakota, this means that a victim of domestic violence who wants a divorce must testify about the abuse in court, in the presence of their abuser who does not want the divorce.

This unconscionable dilemma led a South Dakota legislator to introduce legislation to help victims of domestic violence get a divorce over the objection of their abuser.

The bill failed to muster sufficient votes to pass though. Opponents worried that the legislative proposal would make it easier for any spouse to obtain a divorce, which they view as damaging to South Dakota.

Read more in

• this [Pierre, SD] KDLT NBC TV News article: SD House Votes Down Unilateral No-Fault Divorce Proposal and
• this [Franklin, IN] Daily Journal news article: House panel passes unilateral no-fault divorce proposal aimed at curbing domestic abuse in SD .

The proverbial “7 year itch” just may have some basis in fact. According to a statistical analysis at a finance website, divorces tend to occur, on average, in the eighth year of the marriage.

More persuasive, divorces in second marriages also tend to take place, on average, in the eighth year of the second marriage.

Read more divorce trivia in this Houston Chronicle article: The 7-year itch is real & other surprising divorce facts, based on data provided by: Infographic: Divorce Statistics .

Divorce statistics abound. But not so much by profession.

A recent study, however, does exactly that. And dispels the notion that physicians experience divorce rates higher than others engaged in grueling professions.

In fact, medical doctors in general were less prone to divorce than other health care professionals, such as dentists, health care executives, and nurses, and less likely to divorce than attorneys and non-health-care professionals.

Among health care professionals, though, pharmacists were least likely to get divorced. And among physicians, surgeons and psychiatrists were most likely to divorce.

One interesting side note is that women medical doctors were more prone to divorce than male physicians.

The lead researcher speculated that the reason for this is that female physicians experience greater stress, due to greater responsibilities in family life, in addition to professional stresses and demands.

The study found a correlation between number of hours worked and divorce, for women, … but not for men.

Read more in this Washington Post article: Divorce among doctors isn’t as common as you think, study finds .