Stimulus Checks Intercepted for Child Support: My Client's Story and a Rant

While I myself have been too busy to post this past week, a few of my clients have found themselves quoted in the news. There's only one I can mention here. Cheryl Hayes, my former client, has authorized me to discuss her case after she thanked me for directing Associated Press reporter Steve LeBlanc to her this past Tuesday, thus resulting in her interview an hour later and a photo session that

New Massachusetts Law on Child Passenger Safety

Recently, and as previously noted by Massachusetts Law Updates Massachusetts has passed a new child passenger safety bill. The new law provides: "No child under the age of eight and measuring less than fifty-seven inches in height shall ride as a passenger in a motor vehicle on any way unless such child is properly fastened and secured, according to the manufacturer’s instructions, by a child

Massachusetts Legislature Acts to Reform Child Abuse Laws, Prevention Measures, and Bureaucracy

Here's the best article I could find on the very important bill passed by the Massachusetts House and Senate on Tuesday, reforming child abuse laws and prevention within this state: Worcester Telegram and Gazette, by John Monahan: Child abuse protections approved/Legislature redefines laws, intervention. (It is interesting that when both the Boston Globe and the Worcester Telegram and Gazette -

Getting Tough On Child Rape

Soon after the Massachusetts House passed a bill earlier this month that would be tougher on the crime of child rape, the US Supreme Court set a limit on just how tough any state can be, when on Wednesday it held capital punishment for child rape to be unconstitutional. For further background on the case, see my previous post: Supreme Court to Consider Whether Death Penalty Can Be Imposed for

Texas Appellate Court Rules Against Government's Illegal Raid on FLDS

This just in from the Associated Press: Texas Appellate Court rules Texas wrongly seized FLDS sect children.With no thanks to the national ACLU, and other suddenly silent, supposed defenders of civil liberties, the Third Court of Appeals in Texas just did the right thing in denouncing the outrageous government raid on the FLDS sect, and reversing the boneheaded trial court ruling. The appellate

Michael Jackson Just Needed A Sheet

And you thought Michael Jackson was crazy when many years ago he dangled his baby from a hotel window? Maybe he just needed a sheet below, onto which he could have dropped Prince Michael II. Don't get it? Then see the YouTube video below, for a bizarre ritual that provides a good example of when state intervention in a religious community is truly necessary to protect children. Hat tip to

Lawyers Are Good Doobies

Legal Blog Watch recently took note of the fact that about 350 lawyers, a majority of them family law attorneys, in West Texas have volunteered to represent, without any compensation, the 400 children taken by the state in its raid on the polygamist religious sect. Yes, it's true. Many lawyers are good doobies.

More On The Texas Polygamy Scare and The Civil Liberties Non-Scare

I have recently compared the troubling invasion by the Texas government of the polygamist sect near Eldorado, Texas, to our federal government's invasion of, and war on, the country of Iraq. I have yet another analogy. Yes, at the risk of creating confusion by making yet another comparison, sort of like mixing my metaphors, or similes, or whatever they are, I must say that this other related

From Aluminum Tubes to Broken Bones: Texans, Lies and Statistics

Remember the Aluminum Tubes, Niger, and The Big Nuclear Threat from Iraq? These themes were brought to you by the Texan in the White House. Well, now welcome to some new theatrical themes coming directly from Texas: Broken Bones and Teen Pregnancy Statistics. Texas officials are trying to put the spin on another questionable invasion, this invasion being merely that of an unpopular, religious

Destroying the Polygamist Village to Save It

I, like Robert Ambrogi at Legal Blog Watch, have been amazed to see such silence in the legal blogging community after the Texas raid on the polygamist sect in Eldorado, in which hundreds of children were taken away from their parents, in what has been appropriately called the biggest custody case in Texas, if not national, history. Despite claims that this is simply a case of the government's

Massachusetts and New England Tops for Children

More evidence that Massachusetts, and its sister New England states, are great places for children has just been released by the Every Child Matters Education Fund. Susan Scully Petroni, editor of the Bay State Parent magazine, reports on the good news at the Bay State Parent Blog here. The full report itself: Geography Matters: Child Well-Being in the States. Excerpt from the Bay State Parent

Guardian ad Litem or Attorney for the Child?

The Family Law Prof Blog yesterday issued the following post, which in discussing a recent Iowa appellate case also pointed to several other useful sources that explore some issues regarding the appropriate roles of, and distinctions that should be made between, guardians ad litem, appointed by courts to investigate issues in custody and abuse and neglect cases, and lawyers appointed to represent

Governor Patrick Issues Executive Order Creating Watchdog Child Advocate Office

Gov. Patrick is to create an Office of the Child Advocate that will track cases of child abuse and neglect, and that will oversee the Department of Social Services, Department of Youth Services, and other agencies with responsibilities relating to children. This is a good idea, especially given the problems we have had with the performance of our state agencies. Such oversight authorities have

To Spank or Not to Spank

The answer is no. Don't spank.The trend, throughout the US, is away from corporal punishment, even if there is no trend to outlaw it explicitly. While spanking is not clearly outlawed in Massachusetts, our case law does not clearly condone it either. And there is currently proposed legislation here that would indeed explicitly outlaw it; if the legislation is passed, Massachusetts could become