Family and Parenting
Is President Obama limiting child support obligations for prisoners?
October 17, 2016
President Obama has decided to move forward a proposition to limit child support obligations for prisoners during the time they are incarcerated. Those who support this action argue that current child support obligations strap prisoners with insurmountable debt that inhibits their ability to ree...
What About the Beloved Family Pet?
October 15, 2016
Divorce is never easy but it is especially complicated when you share responsibility for living creatures with your spouse. There are legal guidelines in place to navigate child custody but what about pet custody? Ever increasingly couples share pets instead of children. This presents a difficult...
Step Families – Our Family Story as seen through Ian’s Eyes
October 14, 2016
The number of siblings I claim to have varies on any given day depending on what best fits my story. Sometimes it's three and sometimes it's five but I consider both to essentially be true. Until moving to Seattle at the beginning of high school, three was the only option. When my mom remarried I...
Rise in Prenups Requested by Parents
September 28, 2016
Many young couples are facing serious difficulties when it comes to entering the housing market. With student debts high and the cost of housing skyrocketing it may come as no surprise that more and more couples are getting assistance from mom and dad to make their first home purchase. While par...
Who Gets the Embryos?
September 23, 2016
We live in an amazing time, when couples of all shapes and sorts can come together to form a family. These bonds can be beautiful, diverse and complex. Take for example the issue of frozen embryos, a technology which has opened the gates to parenthood but also resulted in thorny ethical and legal...
Whose Turn is it Anyway? – Guest blogger……….
September 17, 2016
In our home both Mom and Dad have to work full-time to pay the bills, and this is likely a matter of fact for most households with children. But what happens when Mom gets a call from the school that Susie has a fever and needs to be picked up? Mom has a full day of clients scheduled at work, so ...
Emergency in Child Welfare
September 15, 2016
A couple weeks back we highlighted an article which told the story of a California family that fought CPS for the return of their children and ended up being part of a lawsuit against the state. That article used that family's story to shed light on greater systemic issues with the child welfare ...
How One Family Fought CPS
August 31, 2016
Huffington Post recently featured an interview with Jessica Weisberg, the author of a thought-provoking article in The Atavist which contrasts the efforts of a California couple who fought for their children back with the endeavors of an attorney who devoted his career to suing CPS. Randy and Dan...
Post Hurricane Katrina – Where are They Now?
August 30, 2016
As our family does every year around this time, we think about Hurricane Katrina and its impact on our family. While sitting in the hospital the other night with Eric, we spent some time reminiscing about what has occurred since the storm. First, our location has changed, and changed and change...
Mom, I’m Fine, I was in a Fender Bender and Have a Small Laceration
August 29, 2016
OMG - This was the understatement of the year for me. It's Saturday night (Sunday a.m. about 2:00 a.m), I have been in Seattle for a total of 3 hours, I am awakened by the familiar ring of my son, Eric, (each of the 6 kids has their own ring, of course) but I can't reach the phone, as I am still...