We hear statistics almost daily of a fifty percent divorce rate in this country. Those are just cold hard numbers until you look into the faces of the children whose lives are being destroyed by those they trust most. The divorce rate in this country is appalling and the pieces are being left to innocent children whose childhoods are being disrupted at an alarming pace.

In our neighborhood in the last two years we have witnessed several different families split apart and the ramification that leaves with the children. A neighbor lady a couple of doors down lost her children to the state after her and her husband split up due to drugs in the home. Her children have been in state foster care for the past four years while the mother strives to get her life back in line so she can be fit for parenting again. Today is her trial, whether or not she is competent to have custody of her children. I have watched her do her very best to clean up her life, work steadily, try to stay clean and earn the respect of the court to get back her children. Her children are pretty resilient, for the most part they younger two are doing pretty well, but she has lost her teenage son. He looks like his father now, lost and alone in the world. The father is in jail, and the son wanders the streets looking for what? Love, guidance, security, a home in a troubled and lost world. Tallahassee family law has great responsibility to these children. To try to make the best decisions based on the facts they have to determine the best course for these children. It is a hard profession, family law, and I respect those people who are determined to help fix the mistakes of the parents and smooth where possible the ramification for the children.