How Recovering Addicts Can Get Parenting Time

addiction and custody
Note: This is part 1 of our special 2-part series on parenting after addiction recovery. Read part 2 here: Getting Back Your Parenting Time From the Courts After Addiction.

You’re out of rehab and determined to regain parenting time with your kids. Courts want children to have a relationship with both parents, but only if that’s in their best interest. If you have lost custody of your kids, or if your spouse has temporary custody due to your addiction, you will need to prove that you’re working on ongoing recovery and that you’re able to properly care for your children. Here are steps you need to take to regain parenting time.

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ABCs of LGBT Adoption in New Jersey

Note: On Friday 6/16, join us on our Facebook page  for a LIVE webinar on LGBT adoption!

More and more LGBT couples are deciding to become parents and are looking to adoption as a way to make that dream a reality for their family. How does adoption work New Jersey? Are there special rules for LGBT couples to follow? What else should you know? Here are some adoption basics for our LGBT New Jersey residents.

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The Ex Files: How To Deal With a High-Conflict Co-Parent

Dealing with a high-conflict co-parent can be mentally, physically, emotionally, and sometimes financially draining. If you don’t find strategies to manage your relationship with your ex, you can descend into a vat of resentment. Don’t let that happen! Read on to learn five effective ways to deal with your co-parent so you can thrive after divorce. Read more

Can Foster Parents Adopt Their Foster Children?

foster parent

Foster care, for most kids, is a temporary setting as they wait to be reunited with their birth families. Some foster children, for a myriad of reasons, are never able to be returned to their birth homes. When this happens, foster parents may decide to seek to adopt the children in their care.

What are the steps in New Jersey for foster child adoption? Here’s an overview of what you need to know. Read more

Steps To Becoming A Foster Parent In New Jersey

foster parentingFoster parents play an important role in providing a secure and safe home for children and youth in care—which is not always an easy task. Are up for the challenge? If you are ready and committed to becoming a foster parent in New Jersey, here are the steps you must follow: Read more

Are You Ready To Become A Foster Parent?

foster parentsInterested in becoming a foster parent in New Jersey? Here are six key guidelines and foster parent requirements that will help you understand your readiness to take on this important role in a child’s life. Read more

What Military Parents Need To Know About Child Custody Laws In New Jersey

military custody and parenting time

Like all other divorced c0-parents, military service members who co-parent sometimes experience legal issues with regard to child custody or parenting time. Certain laws protect military parents so that they are afforded the same ability to be heard in court and to respond to any lawsuits filed against them in New Jersey, especially if they are deployed. But understanding these laws, and the overlapping civilian custody laws that apply, can be confusing…and stressful. Are you a military parent, or are you co-parenting with one? Here are 5 key things you need to know about military child custody in New Jersey.  Read more

5 Subtle Forms Of Child Abuse And What To Watch Out For

child abuseNot knowing what really goes on in your co-parent’s home is one of the toughest aspects of divorce – especially if you’re concerned that your ex might be abusive. Read more

Can An Uncle or Aunt Be Legally Responsible to Support a Child?

uncle and aunt custody and support issuesHere in New Jersey, there is a legal theory where a person could be seen as a child’s parent, even if they are not the biological or the adoptive parent of that child. Under that theory, called the “psychological parent,” a person is seen to have stepped into the shoes of a biological parent by being a supportive force and influence in a child’s life either financially, emotionally, or both. Step-parents often find themselves becoming psychological parents. But what if you are an aunt or uncle? Could you ever be seen to be the psychological parent of your niece of nephew? Read more

New Jersey Law Requires Fertility Treatment Coverage for Same-Sex Couples

infertility treatment for same-sex coupleEarlier this week, Gov. Chris Christie signed legislation that compels insurance carriers for state government workers and public school employees to provide fertility treatment coverage for women in same sex relationships. This bill came out of a federal civil rights law suit that was filed last year against the State of New Jersey by a same-sex couple whose application for fertility coverage was denied by their health care provider, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. Here’s how the new law came about, and what same-sex couples can expect their insurance to cover. Read more