DADS and MOMS of Michigan Newsletter

DADS and MOMS of Michigan eNewsletter
November 2006

This is a brief report of some of the many activities going on around the state and country. There is a lot more to report so check the Dads and Moms of Michigan web site and the Message Forum for the latest news. Dads and Moms of Michigan will strengthen its focus on education and expand the programs around the state. For information call 248-559-DADS (3237).

Sign up for our eNewsletter at www.dadsofmichigan.org

Dads and Moms University Presents

Dads and Moms of Michigan University (DMU) is growing and the team has assembled a great expansion plan. We are expanding resources for Dads, Moms, Stepparents, and Grandparents, and in the Moms of Michigan and Parenting forums to provide more resources for both Parents. We are launching NEW parent education programs this month on Family Court Basics, Parenting Plans, and the Child Support Calculator.

DADS AND MOMS OF MICHIGAN FAMILY FORUM
Tuesday, December 5
Birmingham Community House, 380 S Bates St, Birmingham,MI 48009

Guest Speaker: Fathers Forum, how Dads stayed connected to their children
7-7:30pm: DADS presentation
7:30-8:30pm:Guest Speaker
8:30-9:30pm: LEGAL ROUNDTABLE

For information, call 248-559 DADS

DADS OF MICHIGAN: http://www.dadsofmichigan.org

DADS Merchandise

Consider ordering some DADS merchandise for your favorite DAD this holiday season. Soon we will be adding MOMS merchandise. Sorry MOMS, you are as important. http://www.dadsofmichigan.org/merchandise.html

PARENTING RESOURCES

Dads and Daughters
PACKAGING GIRLHOOD
Isn’t your daughter more than a sexy diva, boy crazy, shopping queen? Marketers and media spend $12 billion annually to use Girl Power to encourage a girl to buy and be sexy. "Packaging Girlhood," a new book from DADs advisor Dr. Lyn Mikel Brown and Dr. Sharon Lamb, exposes the ways media and marketers dictate what girls should look like, enjoy, become and consume. The September/October issue of Daughters (www.daughters.com) has a feature about the book and tips on what parents can do. Learn more at www.packaginggirlhood.com.

TRUCE TOY ACTION GUIDE
The Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children’s Entertainment (TRUCE) 2006-2007 Toy Action Guide is out in time for the Holidays. It tells how to select toys that promote positive play and reduce the influence of harmful toys on children. It also contains TRUCE’s 2006-2007 recommendations for "Toys for Healthy & Creative Play." Download it free at www.truceteachers.org

NEIMAN-MARCUS COOKIES (Recipe may be halved)
2 cups butter
24 oz. chocolate chips
4 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
1 8 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)
5 cups blended oatmeal
4 eggs
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)

Measure oatmeal, and blend in a blender to a fine powder. Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda. Add chocolate chips, Hershey Bar, and nuts. Roll into balls, and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 112 cookies.

STEP PARENTS

Blended Families / Stepfamilies
What is a blended family / stepfamily? | What plans can parents make for a blended family? | How do the age and gender of children affect the dynamics of a blended family? | Will attachment issues affect a childs ability to find comfort in a blended family? | What role should the nonresidential parent have in the blended family? | Myths about blended families | Tips for blended families | Building a life together: a review of dos and don'ts | When to seek professional help | References and resources | Related Helpguide articles

Kids Health - Living with Stepparents - Article on feelings children might have when a new family is blended together.

Blended Families Stories, questions, answers, and information on remarriage and blended families.

GRANDPARENTS

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren - this is a great site for Grandparents. FirstGov.gov: Grandparents Raising Grandchildren - US government information and programs for grandparents parenting their grandchildren. www.firstgov.gov/Topics/Grandparents.shtml

MILITARY ISSUES FORUM

DOM knows the trauma to our troops being separated from their family and children. Also, if a service member has a $2,500 arrearage, and the pay is not always great, they may loose their passport, and ability to serve. The FOC frequently does not adjust your support when you are deployed.

Support Our Troops

AAFES Gift Certificates
www.aafes.com/docs/homefront.htm The Army and Air Force Exchange Services is where most servicemen and women do their shopping. You can purchase gift certificates for those in Iraq and those hospitalized.

Adopt a Platoon
www.adoptaplatoon.org Adopt a Platoon has several ongoing projects to ensure that no soldier overseas walks away from mail call empty-handed.

AnySoldier
www.anysoldier.com Any Soldier is a non-profit organization that helps people send care packages to members of the armed services in Iraq.

Books For Soldiers
www.booksforsoldiers.com/ Help the troops escape boredom by donating some books. You can also donate DVDs and CDs requested by soldiers.

Camp Doha
www.campdoha.org/ Camp Doha provides valuable information for those about to deploy, their friends and families and anyone who wants to support the troops.

Cell Phones for Soldiers
www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/pages/1/index.htm Donated cell phones are recycled and turned into cash. The cash is used to purchase calling cards for soldiers in Iraq.

Operation Kids for Troops
www.kids4troops.com Write directly to men and women serving overseas in combat areas. Or place the names of loved ones serving overseas on the "OKFT Hero List" to receive encouraging mail.

Operation Uplink
www.operationuplink.org Donate money to Operation Uplink. The money is used to purchase phone cards so servicemen and women can call home.

Packages From Home
www.packagesfromhome.org Packages From Home sends personal care and comfort items to U.S. troops deployed overseas. Find out how to donate time, money or items to this non-profit organization.

LEGAL ROUNDTABLE

CHILD CUSTODY ACT OF 1970 (EXCERPT)
Act 91 of 1970

722.23 "Best interests of the child" defined.
Sec. 3.
As used in this act, "best interests of the child" means the sum total of the following factors to be considered, evaluated, and determined by the court:
(a) The love, affection, and other emotional ties existing between the parties involved and the child.
(b) The capacity and disposition of the parties involved to give the child love, affection, and guidance and to continue the education and raising of the child in his or her religion or creed, if any.
(c) The capacity and disposition of the parties involved to provide the child with food, clothing, medical care or other remedial care recognized and permitted under the laws of this state in place of medical care, and other material needs.
(d) The length of time the child has lived in a stable, satisfactory environment, and the desirability of maintaining continuity.
(e) The permanence, as a family unit, of the existing or proposed custodial home or homes.
(f) The moral fitness of the parties involved.
(g) The mental and physical health of the parties involved.
(h) The home, school, and community record of the child.
(i) The reasonable preference of the child, if the court considers the child to be of sufficient age to express preference.
(j) The willingness and ability of each of the parties to facilitate and encourage a close and continuing parent-child relationship between the child and the other parent or the child and the parents.
(k) Domestic violence, regardless of whether the violence was directed against or witnessed by the child.
(l) Any other factor considered by the court to be relevant to a particular child custody dispute.
History: 1970, Act 91, Eff. Apr. 1, 1971 ;--Am. 1980, Act 434, Imd. Eff. Jan. 14, 1981 ;--Am. 1993, Act 259, Imd. Eff. Nov. 29, 1993 .

Children from fatherless homes account for:

63% of youth suicides. (Source: US Dept. of Health & Human Services, Bureau of the Census).
71% of pregnant teenagers. (Source: US Dept. of Health & Human Services)
90% of all homeless and runaway children.
70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes (Source: U.S. Dept. of Justice, Special Report, Sept 1988)
85% of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders. (Source: Center for Disease Control).
80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger. (Source: Criminal Justice & Behavior, Vol. 14, p. 403-26, 1978).
71% of all high school dropouts. (Source: National Principals Association Report on the State of High Schools).
75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers. (Source: Rainbows for all God's Children).
85% of all youths sitting in prisons. (Source: Fulton Co. Georgia jail populations, Texas Dept. of Corrections 1992).

Man Ordered to Pay Child Support...When He's not the Father
A Maine man is being ordered to keep paying child support even after a paternity test proved that he was not the father of the child. While a district court judge found that he did not have to pay because the child is not his, the Attorney General's office wrote a letter to the man's attorney saying he owed support payments for the time from the child's birth until she reached 3 years old, when tests proved he is not the father. In many states, including Massachusetts, a negative DNA test does not stop the requirement to pay on-going child support.

Current Issues Facing Our Courts
By Guest Columnist Justice Maura Corrigan

Today, two-thirds of all of our new circuit court cases result from the breakdown of the family. Michigan now has more than 1,000,000 child support cases in the courts. Half of those cases involve children born outside marriage. (continue reading...) http://www.ctvmichigan.org/articles/corrigan_100906.htm

YouTube Interview With Robert Parker,

Wrongfully prosecuted in Genesee County by Attorney General Mike Cox's Child Support division, the Attorney General's office, properly confessed error in the Court of Appeals in an effort to have Mr. Parker's conviction vacated, his sentence set aside and the underlying criminal case dismissed. However, for reasons neither Mr. Parker, his lawyers, the Attorney General's office or the undersigned can fathom or understand, the Michigan Court of Appeals has denied the motion and concurrence of Mr. Parker's counsel, relative to the Confession of Error by Attorney General Mike Cox.

YouTube Interview with Bob Parker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdtiNkHv2D4

Combined Federal Campaign - DADS of Michigan CFC #3691

Dads of Michigan is now an approved charity through the Combined Federal Campaign. CFC is the world's largest and most successful annual workplace giving campaign. Pledges made by Federal civilian, postal and military donors during the campaign season (September 1st to December 15th) support eligible non-profit organizations that provide health and human service benefits. To learn more about giving through CFC, enter http://www.opm.gov/cfc/. On your application, indicate CFC #3691. For more information, click http://www.dadsofmichigan.org/fin.html

Dads and Moms of Michigan (www.dadsofmichigan.org) includes Dads of Michigan, Moms of Michigan, and Dads of Michigan PAC. These are volunteer responsible parenthood education organizations for fathers and mothers. They instruct on the importance of involved biological parents to the successful development of their children. Dads of Michigan PAC is an independent volunteer political advocacy group dedicated to legislation keeping both biological parents actively engaged in the lives of their children despite divorce and custody, in most instances. They believe men and women should be viewed equally under the law and their credo is: "fathers are responsible parents too...because the best parent is both parents." Dads of Michigan, the Michigan affiliate of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children, is also the developer of the Dads and Moms University of responsible education for teenage, divorced, and unmarried parents. This educational program employs several features to either directly or indirectly benefit nearly 2 million men, women, and grandparents and just under one-half million children each year in Michigan. For more information, please contact us at (248) 559-DADS (3237) or email info@dadsofmichigan.org.

Your financial assistance is vitally needed to help us meet our goals via the above projects. We ask you to please consider Dads of Michigan among your corporate and individual charitable contributions. Dads of Michigan is a volunteer, tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and qualifies for tax deductible contributions. Major credit cards are also now accepted.

DADS and MOMS of Michigan Code of Ethics and Business Conduct.

"Fathers are responsible parents too...because the best parent is both parents"