Custody Judges Rule on Parental Vengeance

The scope of the courts' reach into family affairs has long been contentious, but a recent trend in Canada's legal system has brought a new controversy that has some onlookers praising judges and others condemning them for accepting what they call "voodoo science."

More than ever before, Canada's judges are recognizing that some children of divorced and warring parents are not simply living an unfortunate predicament, but rather are victims of child abuse and suffering from Parental Alienation Syndrome.

Though debate swirls as to whether the occurrence should be termed a syndrome, a disorder, or simply ‘parental alienation,' Canadian and American judges, lawyers, and psychologists are increasingly buying into a view that sees programming a child to despise a non-custodial parent as grounds for removing the "brainwashed" child from the alienating parent's custody - or what is known in the extreme as a court-ordered "parentectomy."

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Extended Stay Child Care Helps Parents Get Back on Feet

In a desperate but loving attempt to get their lives on track, Samer and Yvette Assaf handed their children to strangers nine days ago.

The overwhelmed young couple—both 19—plan to spend two months saving money from their retail jobs, moving into an apartment and buying a car. Then they will return for their children.

In the meantime Baylee, 2, and Julian, 2 months, will live with different families in Des Plaines who volunteer with Safe Families for Children, a rapidly growing non-profit. The network places children with host families while their parents try to mend their broken lives.

"We both cried," said Samer Assaf, 19, who lives with his in-laws in Westchester. "It was like we lost everything ... but we know it's not forever. In a good way, it motivated us to get out and get a job and concentrate."

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NYC Proud of Millions More in Child Support

Economic indicators are pointing upward in at least one place in the city: The Office of Child Support Enforcement increased the amount of collections for child support payments in 2008 by more than $50 million over the previous year.

New York City collected $670.6 million in child support monies in 2008, increasing its total by more than 8 percent from the previous year’s tally of $620 million, according to the Human Resources Administration (HRA), which oversees collection efforts.

“The increased collections in New York City are nothing short of extraordinary, and are a major factor in the record-setting collections achieved in New York State in 2008,” said David Hansell, commissioner of the state’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, in a statement last month.

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Bench Warrant Sweeps Widened to Owed Child Support

The search for deadbeat Lapeer County fathers and mothers will fan out to neighboring counties for the first time.

Bench warrant sweeps of parents failing to pay their child support will continue in 2009 in Lapeer County and be expanded into Oakland, Macomb and Genesee counties. Circuit Court Judge Michael Higgins and Circuit Court Judge Justus Scott, family court judges, will conduct hearings on those arrested, said Friend of the Court Emil H. Joseph, Jr.

"We've never gone beyond the county borders, and we're entering into an agreement with other jurisdictions to get positive results," Joseph said. "Our primary resource before was when an out of county person was pulled over and we'd run them through LEIN (law enforcement information network.) They'd take them into custody, and we'd pick them up and bring them to Lapeer."

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Simmons to Pay $40,000 a Month in Child Support

Court records show Russell Simmons has agreed to pay $40,000 a month in child support. Los Angeles Superior Court judge Marjorie Steinberg signed off on an agreement Thursday giving Kimora Lee Simmons sole custody of the couple's two daughters, nine-year-old Ming and six-year-old Aoki. The couple's divorce was finalized in January. Kimora Lee Simmons filed for divorce in March 2008, citing irreconcilable differences.

Russell Simmons, the 51-year-old hip-hop mogul, was granted visitation rights and must pay child support until each daughter reaches 19 and a half years of age.

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