Listen to a traditional “breadwinner” father, a “stay-at-home” dad, and a dad who’s trying to do both talking about their happiness as they try to balance, their fears, frustration and . . . well, happiness, being a father (Guess who’s more often to be a happy parent?)

The Initial Office Conference is the first part of the Assessment. The charge for the Conference is included in the Case Assessment fee, which is set based on the details of each case. We give each potential client a detailed online questionnaire and set the fee for the Case Assessment based on his or her answers. Once we determine the individual fee, we send potential clients an invoice, and they pay the fixed Case Assessment fee using the Pay Pal option on their personal homepage. We ask potential clients to pay this fee before the Initial Office Conference takes place, but do not process their PayPal payment into our bank account until after we deliver the Case Assessment.

At the Initial Office Conference, we conduct an in-depth interview and discuss and answer any immediate questions potential clients have. We sometimes ask potential clients to sign Releases if we need to get further information from third parties about the case.

After the Initial Office Conference, we ask potential clients to sign a Limited Services Engagement Agreement, which we upload to the potential client’s personal homepage on our Virtual Law Office. We don’t schedule Initial Office Conferences without a client’s prior written agreement allowing us to conduct a full Case Assessment.

At the Initial Office Conference, we decide on a delivery date for the Case Assessment that best meets the needs of the potential client.

The Case Assessment allows us to fully investigate a possible case and ensure that our services are most likely to meet the needs of each potential client. The Case Assessment is a written document that includes the following components:

(1) A detailed history of the facts of each case; 
(2) The substantive and procedural law that applies to each case;
(3) A statement of the potential client’s objectives; 
(4) The legal implications and options available to each potential client in reaching his or her objectives;
( 5) The steps we propose to take to help the potential client to reach his or her objectives; 
(6) Two to three pricing options, based on the information each potential client provides to us;
 (7) A reading list that will help potential clients to better resolve their legal problems, tailored to the needs and objectives of each case; and
 (8) An informational gift to help potential clients understand the legal process and law that is usually involved in Maryland family law cases.

Our Case Assessment process is constantly evolving to better meet the needs of potential clients. We are constantly working to improve it, so we will probably add and change the way we offer it and the things it includes as time goes on. However it evolves, we are proud to say that we’ve found a better way to provide exceptional legal services.

Not.

When I used to hear that, I remember thinking, “The respect you want is earned. You aren’t entitled to it.” Here’s an article by a therapist in Tennessee who had a dad who earned his respect the hard way, he lived it: Loving Fathers.

Children learn most from us as parents by watching what we do:

Here are a few ways to live so your kids will respect you:

First, criticize sparingly, and don’t ever call your kids names, no matter how much you’d like to do it!

Talk to your kids about what matters to you, in words they can understand, but don’t use them as a confidante or ever let them feel as it it’s their job to take care of your feelings.

Show them what it looks like when partners really love and respect one another. If you can’t do that, get help. If that doesn’t work, think seriously about what kind of relationship you want your kids to have with their partners and do what you can to build your life and yourself so you can have one.

ENGAGE! ENGAGE! ENGAGE! Pay attention to the fleeting dismay that can be there and gone in an instant on that little face. Listen to the tone of their voices when they ask a question. Get out of yourself and your schedule and your worries and your life. That’s one of the best reasons we get to be parents — so we can become a little more human in the process.

Have fun! Some of us have a very hard time playing. Sometimes, it’s because we had to take on too much responsibility as kids. Sometimes, it’s because we’ve always been serious, always been thoughtful or all caught up in trying to figure out how things work and why they happen. Let your kids be your teachers. You may find a part of your life you’d missed altogether.

Lots of hugs and kisses! Kids need touch, from the instant they are born. So do adults! Show your kids and your partner genuine affection, just for the sake of giving it, and you’ll reap huge rewards.

Live by the principles you want your kids to have. Let them see you doing the right thing because you believe in it, even when you have to sacrifice something of yourself to do it.

Spend time with your kids. Every parent with a new baby hears older people say, “Enjoy them now, they grow up so fast.” And they do. If you’ve made a habit of spending time with them when they’re small, you’ll be able to keep that habit going when they’re adults.

Make a life of safety and security for your kids. Reduce chaos and conflict in your home to its lowest common denominator. Show them what it looks like to see a parent who expects others to respect his boundaries, and who offers the same quality to the ones he loves most. Stability doesn’t mean living in the same house an entire childhood. It means that when a child walks through the door where dad and mom live, he feels at ease, welcomed, and comforted.

Here’s to all the wonderful fathers this year (especially mine). My link software seems to be broken tonight, so I can’t post the link to the You Tube video, but here are the words to a song by Keith Urban that say it all:

Lately I’ve been noticing
I say the same things he used to say
And I even find myself acting the very same way
I tap my fingers on the table
To the rhythm in my soul
And I jingle the car keys
When I’m ready to go
When I look in the mirror
He’s right there in my eyes
Starin’ back at me and I realize

The older I get
The more I can see
How much he loved my mother and my brother and me
And he did the best that he could
And I only hope when I have my own family
That everyday I see
A little more of my father in me

There were times I thought he was bein’
Just a little bit hard on me
But now I understand he was makin’ me
Become the man he knew that I could be
In everything he ever did
He always did with love
And I’m proud today to say I’m his son
When somebody says I hope I get to meet your dad
I just smile and say you already have

The older I get
The more I can see
How much he loved my mother and my brother and me
And he did the best that he could
And I only hope when I have my own family
That everyday I see
A little more of my father in me

He’s in my eyes
My heart, my soul
My hands, my pride
And when I feel alone

And I think I can’t go on
I hear him sayin’ “Son you’ll be alright”
Everything’s gonna be alright”
Yes it is

The older I get
The more I can see
That he loved my mother and my brother and me
And he did the best that he could
And I only hope when I have my own family
That everyday I see
Oh I hope I see
I hope everyday I see
A little more of my father in me

A little more of my father in me
I hope everyday I see in me
In me
In me
I hope everyday I see

A little more of my father in me.

Keith Urban (as featured on You Tube).

I’ve been feverishly working to overhaul my practice into a whole new business model, entering into a partnership, offering expanded services, upgrading the firm’s website (check it out at the same address, www.marylandfamilylawfirm.com).

The Law Offices of Dawn Elaine Bowie, P.C. is now virtually empty and Maryland Family Law Firm, L.L.C. has been born. I’m honored to have Vincent T. Lyon, Esquire as my partner. I will continue my work with fathers, but the firm is expanding our services to represent more divorce clients. Mr. Lyon will be responsible for managing cases involving wives and mothers. We are proud that now, we offer our services to good parents of both genders.

Look for more posts here, and check out our divorce blog too! (www.marylanddivorcelawblog.com).

Child Support.

I am so grateful for my children. One of my sons is a new father who stays home to care for my grandson. He is much like so many of you, who are a new generation of fathers. You are young men who have sworn never to allow your children to experience fatherlessness as you may have done. I’m proud of my sons and I’m honored to know those of you who are creating a new generation of parents who can love and respect both mothers and fathers.

When a parent thinks of a child as belonging to him or her, or sees the child as a a way to gain leverage of any kind against the other parent, it’s not uncommon for them to manipulate the child, or badmouth the other parent and his family, partner and friends.

It’s hard to maintain your equilibrium with your child when all this is going on, but there are a few things you can do:

(1) Be willing to listen without getting drawn into explaining yourself. Tell your child you care a lot about what he or she thinks and feels, but it isn’t up to the child to make the decisions. Make sure he or she knows that this is a decision adults have to make (even if your child is a teen).

(2) Assure your child that you are committed to working things out with the other parent in the fairest way you can.

(3) If your child repeats negative things the other parent or his or her extended family has said about you, don’t overreact or express your anger. Do assure your child that you understand the other parent is unhappy or angry with you and you are sorry he or she feels that way, but hope that eventually he or she will one day get over the anger. Expressing anger in front of the child will get back to the other parent, and that will only encourage the manipulation to increase.

(4) Don’t use your child as a messenger. If the other parent does so, kindly but firmly tell him or her that its up to you and the other parent, not the child, to talk about things.

(5) Don’t reject your children or get angry at them, even if they seem to be rejecting you. Be a constant, loving presence for them.

(6) Don’t justify yourself or defend yourself as you would if you were talking directly to the other parent when your child reports events you know are not true or repeats things he or she may have heard that disparage you. Depending on the child’s age, draw him or her out with simple questions that lead the child to reach his or her own conclusions about the truth of what he or she has heard.

That doesn’t mean that the problem isn’t real, it just means that the focus in a litigated custody case has to be on something more than a label. It has to be on the behavior of the parent, whether mom or dad, and believe me, both can indulge in this form of child abuse.

Here’s a link to a Today show clip that featured that now-famous and very ugly voicemail left by actor Alec Baldwin, for his daughter: Dale Atkins, Author of “Sanity Savers” Talks About the Behavior Behind Parental Alienation.

Here’s the problem. In order to document the behavior, you need a qualified mental health professional (read, psychologist NOT social worker) who understands the problem well enough to identify it, and to render an expert opinion as to how best to help the child who is the victim of the bad behavior. It’s hard enough for most working parents to afford competent legal counsel to navigate the maze of litigating for the rights of their children to time with each parent. When you add the cost of a qualified psychologist to the mix, it’s not something most working families can manage.

Some of Maryland’s courts have tried to address the problem with offering family support services that sometimes includes a custody evaluation, but even that olive branch is inconsistently applied. For example, in one large and well-heeled county, the court employs social workers who are not qualified to administer and interpret the testing that identifies and diagnoses the problems of behavior demonstrated by one hateful parent towards the other parent. Other counties have better mechanisms in place, requiring a fixed fee for the service, but in order to access the service, the offending parent has to demonstrate severe dysfunction. Many problem parents have other problems, such as personality disorders. A feature of these problems is the ability of the person with the disorder to manipulate helping professionals into “buying” their distorted view of reality.

Given the current economic climate and the very real limits imposed on state and local governments to provide free or reduced-fee services to family law litigants, it is crucial for us all to become actively involved in the budgetary process of our local and state governments to legislate for budgets that support families first.

Women at Google are showing that what fathers have been saying for the last twenty years is right! Children need both mothers and fathers, and mothers and fathers need to be able to share equally in making a living and caring for their families.

Check it out: Google Study by Sharon Meers Supports Equality of Men and Women. The study shows that mothers have everything to do with supporting the relationship of their children with the children’s fathers.