Father of Kidnapped Boy Granted Full Custody

The mother of six-year-old kidnapping victim Cole Puffinburger has lost her full-time custody rights.

Wednesday, a family court judge awarded temporary full-time custody to Robert Puffinburger, Cole's father. And there is a disturbing reason behind the decision. News 3's Dan Ball explains why police are now looking into whether Cole's mother had something to do with his abduction.

It was just about two weeks ago on October 15 that Cole Puffinburger was violently taken from his home.Thankfully, it was just three days later that he was found.

But now, new information just released by Metro shows some odd behavior by his mother Julie several weeks before the abduction.

Collapsed International Marriages Rasie Child Abduction Issue

Japanese women from collapsed international marriages are increasingly bringing their children to Japan without confirming custody rights, creating diplomatic problems between Japan and other countries, it has emerged.

In one case three years ago, a Japanese woman's marriage to a Swedish man collapsed and she brought their child to Japan. Later when she traveled to the United States by herself she was detained, as police in Sweden had put her on an international wanted list through Interpol for child abduction. She was sent to Sweden and put on trial.

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction bans people from taking their children to their home country after a collapsed marriage without confirming issues such as custody and visitation rights. The convention has about 80 signatory countries, mainly in Europe and North America, but Japan is not one of them.

50 Cent Wraps Up Custody Deal

There'll be no more kidding around for 50 Cent. At least, not in court.

The rapper and his former girlfriend, Shaniqua Tompkins, have reached a settlement in their ongoing and bitter custody dispute over 11-year-old son Marquise, announcing this morning they have managed to broker a visitation schedule outside of court, thus avoiding the burden of a high-profile trial.

"I'm happy it's actually done with," Fiddy told reporters outside the Suffolk Family Court of the deal, despite the fact that it grants him less visitation time with the boy than he originally sought.

During this morning's five-minute hearing, in which both the rapper and Thompson were present, but avoided eye or any other contact, lawyers disclosed that 50 Cent will see his son one weekend per month, one month in the summer and spend half his winter and spring breaks in his father's custody.

Connecticut Says Mandatory Parenting Classes Allowable

A state law requiring Connecticut couples to take parenting education courses as a condition of their divorce cases is constitutional and protects children's interests, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The high court, in a unanimous ruling, rejected an appeal by Bristol resident Thomas Dutkiewicz stemming from his 2006 divorce.

Dutkiewicz said forcing parents to attend the classes is akin to convicting a person without a trial, since the law does not consider whether a person already is a good parent.

He also said it infringes on constitutional guarantees of freedom of choice in family matters and violates parents' right to choose what is best for their children.

The Supreme Court upheld a trial court's decision that the classes achieve "a compelling state interest by aiming to maintain familial harmony through a difficult transition."

North Dakota Child Custody Reform?

Existing child custody laws in North Dakota do not work as well as they could.

Divorce is most often hard. And the more the divorce is a matter for the court, given our adversarial legal system, the harder it becomes to have a good solution. That seems especially the case when it concerns the children of divorce.

Of course, there are couples who have divorced who have acted responsibly toward their children. They may be in the majority. However, in those occasions where a child or children become the focus of passionate, even obsessive, disagreement between parents, then something must be done.

Ideally, the laws and regulations that guide families through divorce should treat all parties fairly, within reason, with the needs of any children in the family considered first and foremost. These laws and regulations should be humane. Compassionate, yet firm and frank.

The Legislature’s Judicial Process Committee has endorsed changes in the state’s child custody laws that do much to improve the existing situation. The proposal originated with a North Dakota State Bar Association task force. When lawmakers arrive in January to do their work, this reform of child custody should be a high priority.

Sharon Stone Schooled in Custody Deal

Sharon Stone's son will remain a Frisco kid for the time being.

A San Francisco court's ruling that Roan, Stone's 8-year-old son with ex-husband Phil Bronstein, should continue to live in the Bay Area with his father is not a refutation of Stone's custody rights—rather, it's only an order mandating that Roan stay in his current elementary school, according to Stone's attorney.

Despite a judge's statement that Bronstein "shall have permanent sole physical custody," Stone still retains joint physical and legal custody of Roan, per their original agreement filed on Oct. 4, 2007, attorney Martin Singer told E! News Tuesday.

What happened was, the judge denied Stone's request to have Roan attend school in Los Angeles, saying the child was to “permanently stay in San Francisco,” Singer added.

Dead-Broke Deads and the Challenges to Parenting

“Deadbeat Dads” has been the headliner of multiple stories in multiple newspapers for decades. Cook County launched “Operation Father’s Pay”; Butler County in Ohio put faces of these so called deadbeats on pizza boxes; and the Los Angeles County District Attorney announced their “Most Wanted Delinquent Parent” list. Several other states have begun similar campaigns to collect on un-paid child support. All of these humiliating campaigns launched against these fathers would have us believe that the men targeted are insensitive deadbeats who are selfishly stiffing their children; however, research contradicts this.

The fact that many of these types of campaigns struggle to come up with alleged “deadbeats” who have an education or a middle-class job might give less zealous public officials cause to stop and pause. Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement data shows that two-thirds of those behind on child support nationwide earn poverty level wages; less than four percent of the national child support debt is owed by those earning $40,000 or more a year. According to the largest federally-funded study of divorced dads ever conducted, unemployment, not willful neglect, is the largest cause of failure to pay child support.

The “Most Wanted Deadbeat Parents” lists that are put out clearly illustrate this problem. Far from being lists of well-heeled businessmen, lawyers, and accountants, the vast majority of the men on these lists do low wage and often seasonal work, and owe large sums of money which they could never hope to pay off. Even a person with a college degree is a rare find on these lists. Nevertheless, the powers that be who create these lists say that the men on the lists are singled out for their “ability to pay”.

Virginia’s “Most Wanted” list was topped by a laborer, a carnival hired hand, and a construction worker. These men collectively somehow owed over a quarter of a million dollars in child support. A plumber topped the Texas “most wanted” list as the highest wage earner. Kentucky’s list sported only one obligor with an education, and the most common designation for occupation was “laborer.” Near the top of Arizona’s list was a maintenance man who owed $90,223 and, best of all, a roofer who owed $240,581. One wonders what the financial condition of those who weren’t “singled out” for their ability to pay is.

'PARAMOURS' OFTEN SEEN AS PROBLEM

In Family Court, they are called "paramours," and they can play a major role in child custody cases.
Live-in boyfriends are eyed suspiciously, children's advocates and attorneys say because they are often the most dangerous person a child encounters.
Judges frown on unmarried couples living together so much that some have been known to invoke the state's 200-year-old fornication law to encourage a single mother to avoid allowing a boyfriend to stay at her house.
Often, she says, the death of a child comes at the hands of an adult caregiver who is not related to the victim. What police say occurred in the Hillerby case is nearly identical to a 2007 St. George case. Donald Joseph Mauldin last year was sentenced to 50 years for killing his live-in girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter.
"A lot of live-in boyfriends don't have the affection or the bond with a child, and no experience as a parent," Ralston says. "We have found that the risk to children increases when they are exposed to multiple adults."
And it is even worse when that is a person who doesn't understand a child's behavior, or how fragile they are.
"They may even feel jealous of the relationship the child has with its mother," Ralston said.
Some states have even considered harsh penalties against parents who move in with a lover. In Iowa, the state legislature has considered a law that could cost a parent custody of her children if she allows a boyfriend to move in. Iowa lawmakers say 26 percent of child deaths in that state between 1995 and 2000 involved live-in lovers.

BALDWIN LASHES OUT AT DIVORCE LAWYERS

Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger's cutthroat custody battle over their 12-year-old daughter, Ireland, has made international headlines for years. The couple divorced in 2002 after nine years of marriage, but the vicious accusations on both sides continued, culminating in the infamous 2007 voice-mail message in which Baldwin berated his daughter.
In an interview with ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer, Baldwin, 50, spoke about his lengthy court struggles with Basinger, 54, and said that when the voice mail was released, it brought him to the brink of suicide.
"I used to pray to God every night. I would get in bed, and I would say, please, don't let me wake up in the morning," Baldwin said. "I began to think about what little town I would repair to in order to commit suicide. And then you, obviously you say, well, what would that do to my child if I killed myself? Me, I really didn't care about me."
After the media storm and new round of custody litigation that followed the voice mail release, Baldwin nearly broke his own promise to never give up on his daughter. Deterred by the barriers that he believes his ex-wife imposed on his relationship with Ireland, Baldwin said he almost lost the will to keep fighting.
"I don't care if the judges and the lawyers die of heart attacks in the process of getting their job done. They are corrupt, inefficient, lazy, stupid -- they're the most God-awful people."
Baldwin believes that many family court lawyers and their manipulations and delays make the child custody duel much worse than it needs to be. "The judges are like pit bosses in Vegas casinos. Their job is to make sure everybody stays at the table and keeps gambling."
Baldwin's clashed with Basinger for nearly eight years: there are hundreds of documents, 91 court proceedings so far, and about $3 million in legal costs.

Tennessee to Revoke Hunting, Fishing Licenses of Deadbeat Parents

The state is warning parents delinquent on child support payments that they risk losing drivers licenses, professional licenses and hunting and fishing licenses if they don't pay.

A news release from the Department of Human Services Tuesday says letters are being delivered to parents across the state behind at least $500 and haven't made a payment in more than 90 days.

More than 7,000 licenses were revoked last year for failure to pay, and there are more than 20,000 licenses currently at risk. Professional licenses that could be revoked include those of registered nurses, real estate agents, security guards and teachers.

Parents can prevent revocation if they contact their local child support offices to set up payment plans or simply repay the past due amounts.

Couple Wins Damages in Messy Custody Battle

An American woman who badmouthed her former husband and his new wife during a custody battle, claiming they abused drugs, and had paedophilic tendencies, has been ordered to pay R150 000 in damages to the couple by the Pretoria High Court.

Judge Chris Botha ordered that the man receive R100 000, and his wife R50 000. The Midrand couple claimed a total of R600 000 in damages - R300 000 each.

The parties are not being identified to protect their 13-year-old daughter, who is the subject of their bitter custody battle.

The court heard that after their divorce, the mother at first had custody of their child. The father later obtained custody and the mother moved to the US with her new husband in 2004. The daughter often visited her there.

When the child visited her in June 2005 the mother decided not to send the child back. She obtained an interim custody order, without the knowledge of the father, from a court in New York.

This was the start of a lengthy legal battle between the two, both in South Africa and in the US.

Custody Battle In Japan Highlights Loophole in Child Abduction Cases

Shane Clarke had no reason to be suspicious when his wife took their two children to Japan to see their ill grandmother in January.

The couple had married four years earlier after meeting online, and settled down with their daughters, aged three and one, in the west Midlands. Clarke, they agreed, would join his family in Japan in May for a holiday, and they would all return together.

Last week, however, he faced his wife and her lawyer in a Japanese courtroom, uncertain if he would ever see his children again. When his wife left the UK, Clarke now believes, she never had any intention of returning with him, or of letting her children see him.

"From the moment I met her at Narita airport I knew something was wrong," Clarke told the Guardian before a custody hearing in Mito, north of Tokyo. "I soon realised she'd played me like a grand piano. The whole thing had been orchestrated," he claims.

Clarke, a 38-year-old management consultant from West Bromwich, has gone to great lengths to win custody. The Crown Prosecution Service said his wife could be prosecuted in the UK under the 1984 child abduction act.

However, he can expect little sympathy from Japanese courts, which do not recognise parental child abduction as a crime and habitually rule in favour of the custodial - Japanese - parent.

PA Lawmaker Fighting $25 Child Support Fee

Some Pennsylvania families who need the government's help to collect child support received unwelcome news in the mail this summer: They must now help defray the cost of that service.

The Department of Public Welfare has sent out notices informing parents it will deduct a $25 annual fee from child support payments to custodial parents who receive at least $2,000 a year and who have never received cash assistance welfare benefits.

As small as that may seem, Rep. Kate Harper considers it a big deal for single parents who struggle to feed, clothe and shelter their children—and an outrage for the government to take any money intended to fulfill a child's basic needs.

"These people are taxpayers—this is their own money," said Harper, R-Montgomery. "This is one parent paying to another parent for the benefit of their children."

The fee is collected on a per-case basis, meaning that parents with more than one child-support case in Pennsylvania will pay the fee for each case.

Harper hopes the outcry from affected parents will be loud enough to prompt her colleagues to support legislation she introduced last month to repeal the fee. But persuading Democrats who control the House to revisit the issue in an election-shortened fall session will be a tough sell.

18 ADDITIONAL FLDS CHILDREN RELEASED FROM COURT SUPERVISION

Texas child welfare authorities have filed to remove 18 more FLDS children out from under court supervision.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said Thursday it filed 18 nonsuits with a San Angelo judge overseeing the child custody case involving children taken in the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch.
That makes 286 cases that have been nonsuited, said Child Protective Services spokesman Patrick Crimmins. The number includes 26 "disputed minors," whom CPS believed were children but later conceded were adults.
CPS said 439 children were taken into state protective custody during the April raid. The agency recently revised its count, reducing the total number by one, based on more accurate numbers as the nation's largest child custody case drags on.
A nonsuit ends court jurisdiction over the child, freeing the families from court orders such as parenting classes, availability for CPS investigators and a requirement to remain in Texas. However, CPS has said in many cases they could still have some level of involvement with the families.
Hundreds of children were placed in state custody when law enforcement and CPS caseworkers responded to the Utah-based polygamous sect's Eldorado property, based on a phone call alleging abuse and neglect.

50 CENT TO ATTEND COURT FOR CHILD CUSTODY

50 Cent is to appear in court next month, to try and win custody of his 11-year-old son Marquis.
The rapper has been battling for custody against his former girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins for the last few months. Now a hearing will be held on October 22 at the New York Family Court.
During their legal battle, Tompkins suggested 50 Cent - real name Curtis Jackson - was involved with a fire that damaged her home back in May. The rap star has denied having anything to do with it.
Until the court date, Jackson has been granted weekend visitation rights - allowing him to see Marquis every other weekend until the trial starts.

50 CENT DEFENDS LIMITED CUSTODY REQUESTS

Rapper 50 Cent has defended his child custody requests, insisting he only wants visitation ever other weekend because he wants minimum disruption to his son's education.

The 'In Da Club' hitmaker has been embroiled in a legal battle with his ex-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins over custody of 11-year-old Marquise for months, and now the former couple's legal spat will go before a judge on Monday.

50 Cent - real name Curtis Jackson - was reunited with Marquise last month after he accused Tompkins of "kidnapping" their son following a devastating fire at her New York home in May.

The star, who lives in Connecticut, has since been criticised for his request to spend just two weekends a month with Marquise - but the rapper insists he's simply taking his kid's schooling seriously.

Nudist Denied Visits with Grandchildren

Even nudists say their lifestyle is not for everyone.

But the residents of one nudist community in Pasco County says a contractor for the Florida Department of Children and Family Services overstepped its legal authority when it denied placement of two girls in Lake Como.

Lake Como is home to 500 people, few of whom wear clothes around the neighborhood. This spring, one of the residents got a court order granting weekend visits with her two grandchildren at Lake Como. The children's mother lost her parental rights because of several arrests and stints in jail.

On the eve of the girls' first weekend, a case worker for Eckerd Community Alternatives blocked the placement.

Custody Battle Erupts at School

Two Clarkston parents were arrested Wednesday, after a custody fight over their child spilled over into the classroom.

The two were taken into custody at around 12:30 p.m. Clarkston police said a separated couple encountered each other at the beginning of the afternoon kindergarten session at Parkway Elementary School.

Police said it was a verbal argument, but according to witness reports, at one point, they were physically pulling the child in both directions. Those witnesses said the classroom was cleared as a school resource officer responded and made the arrests. The two were cited for Disorderly Conduct and Disturbing School Activities, then released from police custody.

3 Pony Rule Cuts Strahan's Child Support

Former New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan on Tuesday won his appeal from an $18,000-a-month child support obligation imposed in his 2006 divorce, which a New Jersey appellate court found both exorbitant and unfairly apportioned against him.

The court, in Strahan v. Strahan, A-3747-06, said that the trial judge failed to make the specific findings of fact necessary to sustain his decision to add $200,000 a year to the $35,984 annual award that the couple's twins girls are due under statutory guidelines.

While acknowledging there are unique problems with determining the reasonable needs of children of high-earning families, the court said trial judges should nevertheless avoid overindulgence -- citing the doctrine of In re Patterson, 920 P.2d 450 (Kan. App. 1996), that "no child, no matter how wealthy the parents, needs to be provided [with] more than three ponies."

The court also found error in the trial judge's saddling of Strahan with 91 percent of the child support obligation, especially since the judge did not impute any income to Strahan's former wife, Jean, even though she is college-educated and capable of working but has voluntarily chosen not to do so.

International Custody Battle Resolved

A sharply divided Vermont Supreme Court on Friday waded into a long-running international custody dispute, reversing a Vermont Family Court decision and giving jurisdiction in the case to a Canadian court.

The 3-2 decision reverses a 2002 ruling by Judge John Wesley in Bennington that gave custody of a son born to a Bennington couple to the father and ruled that a Canadian court was right to give the mother custody of the child.

The mother in 2003 obtained her own child custody order in Canada, where she had fled after claiming her ex-husband had abused her and threatened to harm her and their son. She was convicted in federal court last year of kidnapping her son.

"This is one of those rare cases where the best interests of the child must take precedence over the policy goal of deterring parental wrongdoing," Justice Marilyn Skoglund, writing for the high court's majority, said in the decision. "Canada was the more appropriate forum to resolve this matter."

In a stinging dissent, Justice Brian Burgess said the majority's ruling sends the wrong message to parents unhappy with court custody decisions.