Comments

When I started this blog in March, my original intent was to allow discussion on each case, topic or article posted.  The problem was spam.  Spammers often flood the comment sections of blogs with advertising and other clutter using little computer programs that do nothing but search the internet to put advertising and other junk in posts on websites.  I thought the best way to avoid spam was to have everyone who wants to leave a comment become a registered user.  Sadly, I did not have the time to set up a registration page and all of the infrastructure for that,  so the comment feature remained on the back burner.  That is, until now.  I have opened up the comment feature so anyone can post a comment.  To verify that you are a real human being, you will be asked to answer an easy math problem (don’t worry, it’s real easy) before you can upload your post.

It is my hope that by opening up the site to comments we can create a dialogue that will  enhance our understanding of the law.  Comments and posts will be included in the search engine, so if you are looking for an answer on a particular question that I have not addressed in a post, you may find it in the comments.  You can also use the comments to raise any questions you may have about a particular post and receive an answer from me or other readers.  Comments can be used to spark debate.  I hope this feature enhances your use of the site.

Michigan Children’s Law Now Available for iPhone

You can now get your Michigan Children’s Law updates on the go with your iPhone/iTouch.  Our web site is now optimized for your iPhone and iTouch.  You can even review and browse previous posts by tag or category.  Just bookmark Michigan Children’s Law Blog on your phone and you are ready to go!

New Link: Calhoun County Juvenile Review

I added a new link to the Links page today.  The Calhoun County Juvenile Review is a review and summary of recently decided juvenile cases which have significant impact on the law.  The reviews are provided by Berrien County Probate Judge Thomas E. Nelson and Cass County Probate Judge Susan L. Dobrich.  They are very well-done and a very useful resource.  Ryan uses them as a reference for his state of the law seminar each year.

Follow us on Twitter

In addition to being notified of new posts by RSS and E-mail, we are now on the Twitter bandwagon!  If you are an existing Twitter user, you can now “follow” our Twitter feed and get notified of new posts.  What is Twitter?  Well, here is what Wikipedia has to say:

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends (delivery to everyone being the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, SMS, RSS, or email, or through applications such as Tweetie, Twinkle, TwitterFox, Twitterrific, Feedalizr, and Facebook. Four gateway numbers are currently available for SMS: short codes for the United States, Canada, and India, and a United Kingdom-based number for international use. Several third parties offer posting and receiving updates via email. Twitter had by one measure over 3 million accounts and, by another, well over 5 million visitors in September 2008, a fivefold increase in a month.

Get Updates by Email

You can now sign up to receive updates from this site by Email.  Just click on the icon “Subscribe via eMail” in the sidebar on the right, fill in the form and you are on your way to receiving an email each time this site is updated.  The email feed is provided by Feedburner by Google.

Welcome

Welcome to the Michigan Children’s Law Blog.  The purpose of this site is to provide lawyers practicing in the areas of child protection, juvenile delinquency and adoption law a resource for legal updates.  With the numerous changes in the law over the last year, I will be making posts almost daily until I am caught up.  I hope that you visit often and benefit from the site.

Each of the posts will allow users to make comments.  However, users must register on this site before they are able to post comments.