New York state Mother and Father, a medical doctor / psychiatrist, have a Daughter together.

But mother has sole custody of Daughter.

Under New York law, that means that Mother, in general, has sole medical decision-making authority for Daughter.

During timesharing with Daughter, Father adjusts Daughter’s dosage of medication downward.

Father “concluded that the treatment regimen prescribed by his daughter’s doctor was too aggressive and the prescription strengths were too powerful.”

Mother initiates a contempt proceeding against Father for unilaterally adjusting Daughter’s medication.

The Court dismisses the Mother’s motion, finding that the Father has a “good faith basis” for adjusting Daughter’s medication dosage and, therefore, is not guilty of criminal or civil contempt, or willful defiance of Mother’s or her doctor’s court-ordered authority.

The Court also finds that Father’s status as non-custodial parent is not tantamount to being a “potted plant”.

Rather, a timesharing parent “has a residual authority to make decisions in the child’s best interest that are called for by the immediate circumstances–even if those decisions might overlap with or intrude upon the other parent’s ‘sole custody’ authority.”

Read more in this West Palm Beach Examiner article: Albany family court judge finds non-custodial dad not guilty of contempt for changing child’s meds.

Illinois Man allegedly abuses both alcohol and drugs.

While under the influence in two past incidents, Man allegedly pressed a knife to his girlfriend’s (Woman) neck, and shoved and choked her.

Couple separate when Man relapses again.

In another episode of violence, Woman calls police.

Man is arrested, convicted, and sentenced to incarceration as well as anger management and substance abuse classes.

A restraining order or order of protection is also entered against Man for Woman’s protection.

This is just one of more than 1,000 domestic violence complaints made to police per year in Bloomington, Illinois.

Police can spend hours responding to a single complaint.

Police typically make follow up visits as well.

Woman believes Man can get better and they can get back together.

Read more in this Bloomington [IL] Pantagraph article: Cycle of domestic violence traps victims, police.

Separated parents sometimes can’t agree on parenting issues.

Most issues can be resolved by mediation or litigation … whenever.

But some have deadlines.

Take school. Selection.

School starts when it starts.

Even if the parents are going through a custody case.

If the parents can’t agree, a judge must decide.

Depending on the nature of the dispute, the judge may want to hear from witnesses and see evidence.

Regarding differences in tuition, differences in religious orientation, differences in location, student track records, etc.

Hearings like that take time and plenty of advance scheduling.

But parents tend not to take such factors into account.

Alerting their attorneys to these issues much too late for a timely decision going the evidentiary hearing route.

Or perhaps they thought the matter was resolved only to learn at the last minute that it really was not.

Failing to definitively resolve the dispute in a timely manner can force decisions into hurried hearings with inadequate information.

Read more in this Witchita [KS] article: Parents’ procrastination in custody cases crowds family court dockets.

Two-thirds of juvenile correctional facilities inmates suffer from at least one mental health diagnosis.

Many such children are confined in such facilities because their families are unable to find affordable mental health treatment for them in their communities.

So, the government reports, 9,000 children a year are simply given up by their families in hopes they will have mental health treatment in corrections facilities.

So the children receive what treatment they receive at public expense … from juvenile detention facilities…

The primary residential psychiatric treatment facilities for minor children.

A juvenile criminal record, punishment, neglect, violence and abuse are just part of the nonmonetary price tag.

The current recession’s impact on state and county budgets only aggravates the problem.

Therapists trained in treating children are in short supply and multiple powerful narcotics often become the only treatment these children have.

Read more in this New York Times article: Mentally Ill Offenders Strain Juvenile System.

England is one-upping the increasingly common unified family court system.

In unified family courts, such as in Florida, the goal is for all cases involving a single family to ultimately be assigned to the same judge, be the case criminal, juvenile dependency, divorce or paternity, or criminal. That is the goal.

In England, victims of domestic violence can now come forward in a new dedicated domestic violence court and start the ball rolling in that one courtroom to obtain a divorce, child custody, an order of protection or injunction for protection against domestic violence, and a criminal charge against their abuser.

The judge will specialize in all these related issues and have power to implement all the above measures.

The courtroom will also have domestic violence victim advocates on hand.

In England, two women are killed each week by a current or former partner. Police there are summoned to an alleged incident of abuse every single minute.

Read more in this London Sun article: Special courts for women who are victims of domestic abuse.

New York Father and Italian immigrant Mother battle for custody of Son.

Mother accuses Father of child abuse.

But police and psychologists see things differently.

Mother is diagnosed with various psychological disorders and is found to have alienated Son from Father.

Father is awarded sole custody of Son and Court prohibits Son’s removal from US.

Nonetheless, Mother gets Son at school and abducts him to her native Italy.

Where she continues to accuse Father of abuse.

In time, child welfare authorities in Italy discredit Mother’s allegations and remove Son from Mother’s custody …

And place Son in an orphanage. Two years ago.

While Father is denied any contact with Son at all.

Father has finally been allowed supervised visitation.

But the Italian courts won’t allow him to take Son home.

And Italy is a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

Read more in this West Palm Beach Examiner article: American father Michael McCarty fights to rescue his son from an Italian orphanage.

Asylum will be available to foreign victims of domestic violence who show 1. that domestic violence is socially acceptable in their own country such that safety would always elude them there and 2. that their social standing in their own country is inferior to their abuser’s.

Re-consideration of standing policy is prompted under the new administration by the application for asylum of a Mexican woman who was beaten, raped and imprisoned by a man who set her bed on fire while she was in it.

It remains a government concern that this new protected class of asylum applicants not “open the floodgates”.

Read more in this New York Times editorial: Asylum for Battered Women and this New York Times article: New Policy Permits Asylum for Battered Women.

Colorado Husband and Wife have two young children.

Couple fear two year old Boy might have ingested some medication, after finding part of a pill on the floor.

Couple call a local Poison Control Center (Center), allegedly not for the first time. The Center recommends keeping an eye on the Boy and taking him to the hospital if he shows symptoms.

Center reportedly suspects child abuse or neglect.

Center contacts police.

Police arrive at the couple’s home and insist on taking Boy to the hospital.

A drug test shows that the Boy does not have any drugs in his system.

Then the local child welfare agency removes the couple’s two children anyway and places them into temporary protective custody.

The children are in foster care for five whole days before a hearing is held.

At the hearing, the children are placed into the temporary custody of their grandparents … pending the results of a second drug test on the Boy.

Read more in this [Denver, CO] Fox KDVR-TV 31 news article: Poison Control Center responds to child custody case and Family loses custody of children after calling poison control.

Illinois Woman obtains order of protection or injunction for protection against domestic violence against her ex-Husband, Man.

Man violates restraining order and is jailed.

While in jail, Man allegedly forms plan to hire hit man to kill Woman.

Man allegedly offers undercover police officer money to kill Woman.

Man is arrested for solicitation of murder.

Read more in this CBS WBBM-TV 2 new article: Prosecutors: Man Tried To Have Ex-Wife Killed.

If you’ve ever wondered whether or how divorce (or death of a spouse) affect a person’s health, a recently published study on mature singles sheds some light on the subject.

The study finds that the Single Again population experiences a lasting decline in health and/or mobility, even if they marry again.

Interestingly, never-marrieds tend to have fewer chronic health and / or mobility problems than those who are widowed or divorced.

The study attributes the statistics to the effects of the stress associated with the death of a spouse or figurative death of a marriage.

But the statistical correlation does not prove causality.

On the other hand, according to other experiments, marital strife also tends to weaken a spouse’s immune system – rather dramatically.

So staying together does not necessarily improve health at all…

Read more in this New York Times article: Divorce, It Seems, Can Make You Ill.