Statistics Regarding Children and Divorce

Here are some interesting statistics that I found regarding children and divorce:

1. 40% of American children are being raised without their fathers.
2. Studies in the early 1980's showed that children in repeat divorces earned lower grades and their peers rated them as less pleasant to be around.
3. Teenagers in single-parent families and in blended families are three times more likely to need psychological help within a given year.
4. Compared to children from homes disrupted by death, children from divorced homes have more psychological problems.
5. Following divorce, children are fifty percent more likely to develop health problems than two parent families.
6. Seventy percent of long-term prison inmates grew up in broken homes.
7. Children of divorced parents are roughly two times more likely to drop out of high school than their peers who benefit from living with parents who did not divorce.

* Initial Source - http://www.marriage-success-secrets.com/statistics-about-children-and-divorce.html

Jason Pistiner, Esq.
SINGER PISTINER, P.C.
602-264-0110
jp@singerpistiner.com
www.singerpistiner.com

Should Parent's Lose Custody of Super Obese Kids?

A recent commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Assocation stated that it would be more ethical to put super obese kids into temporary foster than them have obesity surgery.

Dr. David Ludwig, an obesity specialist at Harvard-affiliated Children's Hospital Boston, said it would be in the best interest of the children to get them help that for whatever reason their parents can't provide. 

There are approximatley 2 million U.S. children that are extremely obese.  Extreme obesity could lead to type 2 diabetes, breathing difficulties and liver problems that could kill them by age 30, said Dr. Ludwig.

In 2009, an article in Pediatrics made similar arguments, advocating for temporary removal from the custody of parents "when all reasonable alternative options have been exhausted."

Will obesity arguments now have an impact in Arizona child custody disputes?   Based upon the statute that the Court looks at in determining custody, it really boils down to the what is in the best interest of the child(ren).  Therefore, it could be argued that a demonstrated failure by one parent to provide proper nutrition or exercise to the child(ren) when they are in his or her care, and a resulting severe weight issue with the child(ren), might form the basis for one party being awarded primary physical custody over another.


Jason Pistiner, Esq.
SINGER PISTINER, P.C.
602-264-0110
jp@singerpistiner.com
www.singerpistiner.com