It is no secret that some custodial parents face constant challenges collecting child support, and that other custodial parents face similar challenges from time to time. Most custodial parents have already heard the most common explanations / justifications.

But here’s one from South Carolina that most probably haven’t heard (or ever thought to hear). S.C. Police: Man Faked Death More Than 25 Years Ago to Avoid Paying Child Support.

Based on the report, the non-custodial parent could not have had any contact at all with his children for all those years…

Advice Columnists: Move over and make room among your ranks for 10 year-old Libby Rees.

Libby’s first book is a self-help volume aimed at children of divorce. Libby ought to know what she is talking about, because she is a child of divorce herself.

Parents planning to divorce just may want to check out “Hope, Help and Happiness” first, to get a kid’s honest, fresh perspective upfront.

You can read more about Libby’s story at 10-Year-Old Writes Advice Book.

According to a provocative article in the Virginian-Pilot, relatively inexpensive home DNA kits have become popular purchases – by men firmly established in their roles as fathers to children.

The article correctly points out that such tests, by themselves, generally have no legal significance.

But, the article underscores, the arguably unreliable tests may have enormous social significance and consequence – particularly to the innocent children to whom these men acted as fathers – at least up until the test results came in.

The article pins the blame squarely on the manufacturers of these apparently profitable home DNA tests. But that may be a somewhat oversimplified view that calls for deeper examination.

Domestic abuse takes many forms and can cause severe harm to victims in different ways on multiple levels. Often media coverage of domestic abuse sensationalizes physical violence – and ignores the non-violent (or, perhaps, more accurately, non-physical) aspects of domestic abuse.

Yet the abuse that doesn’t leave a visible scar (“hidden abuse”) nearly always accompanies physical abuse – and, according to reports, often hurts abuse victims far worse.

The Dickson (TN) Herald offers a perceptive and powerful article in Domestic violence victim survives years of abuse. This piece stands out by also emphasizing the mental and emotional abuse allegedly inflicted by the allegedly controlling spouse.

Although published a couple of months ago, this article is timely, because this kind of abuse often escalates during the increased family togetherness of the extended holiday season.