Child Custody in ChicagoSince no one can literally “split the baby” after a divorce, it’s up to the parents themselves to work out an arrangement as to where the children will live (which is then approved by the court). If the divorcing parents are unable to agree on a plan, then either a mediator or an Illinois family court judge will have to make that determination. While “physical custody” is awarded to the parent with whom the child primarily lives, legal custody is awarded to the parent responsible for deciding how the child is to be raised. Joint custody is an attempt to give both parents equal time with their child, the non-custodial parent often spends time with his or her child during a scheduled visitation. A number of factors go into child custody decisions, including care-taking responsibilities, parental participation and general considerations of the child’s best interests. But when divorcing parents dispute custody claims, a seasoned divorce attorney in Chicago can best represent you and your child’s interests. |
Everyone knows that having a gun laying around the house is an obvious hazard to young children. But can having an old television laying around the house be as dangerous?
In the third reported television falling on a child death in recent months, four-year-old Gianna Hadjis was killed after a TV fell on her head in a University Park home, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.
You may have some general idea of what child custody is, but you may not know all the different types of child custody that parents and guardians can have.
Below, we provide an overview of physical, legal, sole, and joint custody arrangements.
A Chicago drunk dad was arrested for driving under the influence with his three-year-old daughter in the car. The dad, Robert Hudson, was not only arrested for driving drunk, but he was also driving with a blood alcohol level over five times the legal limit.
According to the police, a woman witnessed a man pull over and then stumble out of his car and fall onto the pavement, reports the Chicago Tribune. A few moments later, a little girl then helped herself out of the car.
Nunu Sung gave birth to a son in 2009 outside her Wheaton apartment. Sung left the baby outside as she went back to her apartment. The woman claims she was coming back to get him, but prosecutors say that she left the baby to die, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.
Currently in jail for abandoning her baby, Sung now wants to reinstate her parental rights after she is released. But the guardians of her now three-year-old son are seeking to terminate her parental rights completely and DuPage County prosecutors are arguing the case for them.
This is a tale of how not to resolve a child custody dispute. Christina Keck of Collinsville was involved in a particularly nasty child custody dispute with her ex-boyfriend. Perhaps trying to ensure that she would retain custody of her three-year-old son, Keck hired a would-be hit man to take out her ex.
But that hit man ended up being an undercover cop, and for the child custody murder plot, Keck will now be serving the next ten years in federal prison, reports the Associated Press.
Fourteen-year-old Matthew Degner died of pneumonia. When officials looked into his death, they discovered that the boy was living in a home with three other children and 100 animals. Now, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) is investigating the death and deciding whether to charge his mother with child neglect.
Degner lived with three brothers and sisters, ages between 12 and 17, in Berwyn with their mother, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. The boy's mother apparently hoarded animals, keeping 100 animals including 40 cats, 24 birds, and a squirrel in the family home described by animal control officers as "disgusting." Along with the animals, officers found feces, bugs, and no running water.
Serving a three-year jail term for dumping her newborn behind a garage, the mother abandons child now turns to a fight to prevent giving up her parental rights upon release from jail.
In 2009, Nunu Sung gave birth to a baby boy outside of a garage in Wheaton, reports the Daily Herald. The mother had kept the pregnancy secret and kept the birth secret as well, abandoning the child behind the garage. A man walking his dog came upon the baby covered in dirt and with his umbilical cord still attached.
When parents divorce, most people know that one parent usually gets primary custody of the child while the non-custodial parent gets visitation rights. As Illinois visitation rights are commonly associated with parents, grandparent visitation rights are often ignored and many may not even be aware of these rights.
The Illinois Legal Aid shed light on this issue when they published their senior citizens handbook discussing grandparent visitation rights.
In an ugly case of Illinois child abuse, a Midlothian toddler was recently found beaten to death. The child's mother had a history with the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) having been investigated for child abuse twice, and she is now being questioned in the baby's death, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.
As officials continue their investigation, it would be a proper time to review child abuse mandatory reporting laws. While it's uncertain if a mandatory reporter could have prevented the baby's death, these laws are in place to help the DCFS step in before a tragic incident occurs.
Twenty years ago Macaulay Caulkin made a splash in the hit movie Home Alone playing a child home alone in the Chicago suburbs after his parents accidentally flew to Paris without him.
The movie was a success partly because it made light of a serious dilemma most parents face -- leaving a young child home alone as the parents go to work, go to the supermarket, attend a movie, etc. But just because Caulkin was able to thwart two would-be burglars in the movie leading to a Hollywood ending, Illinois parents should think twice before leaving a child home alone as they could face serious legal troubles.
