You can read the whole article here – and I’ve pasted most of the column below (and bolded my portion for my mom’s easy reading):

It was just a week ago that the nation was captivated and horrified by the runaway weather balloon that supposedly carried away six-year-old Falcon Heene–or so we thought. But the Heenes could now be, charged with staging an elaborate hoax.

While most people seem to be focused on the criminal charges the Heenes may face, what damage was inflicted on their children? And does the state of Colorado have grounds to intervene?

Clearly the incident had a detrimental effect on balloon boy himself, as the world watched him vomit on live TV during an interview with Meredith Viera.

Today we hear accusations from a former co-worker of Mayumi Heene claiming that Richard Heene is unbalanced and worrying that a Jonestown incident could ensue if his wife and children are not taken out of the home immediately and placed in protective care (apparently Richard was trying to earn enough money from a reality show so they could build a bunker and hide from the sun exploding in 2012).

And while I hate to see any child taken out their home and placed into the hands of strangers, there may be legitimate cause for concern.

In fact, it may already be too late to avoid state involvement according to Victor Medina, managing partner of Medina, Martinez & Castroll, a Pennington, NJ law firm focused on counseling families in crisis.

According to Medina, the state agency charged with child welfare has a responsibility to make sure the Heene kids are safe.

“If this was truly a hoax, you can bet the parents will have to explain why they thought it was a good idea to involve their kids in this stunt. If it wasn’t a hoax, then Richard and Mayumi Heene will still have to say why they permitted such a potentially dangerous situation to unfold. Either way, the Heenes can expect to answer for their actions as parents,” he said.

But state intervention isn’t always the answer, Medina contends. “By all accounts, this was a loving, if misguided, family. Sometimes the court system can get over-involved in the lives of a family and create more of a mess down the road. As in all things, reactions have to be carefully measured so that the best interests of the children, both balloon boy and his siblings, are served,” he says.

So what, if anything, can the Heenes do at this point to ensure their kids don’t wind up in the care of strangers if they are incarcerated or deemed unfit as parents by the state?

According to Georgia Family Law attorney, Steve Worrell, it’s not too late to make custody arraignments should both parents get slapped with jail time.

Worrell says, “The Heenes can name guardians now for their kids in the event the state deems it necessary to intervene. Then if they are found to be unfit, their choice of guardians will likely be honored by a court unless the selected parties are also found to be unfit.”

Only time will tell what’s going to happen with these poor children, but I’d like to know what you think? Should the state intervene to protect the welfare of these kids? Or is this just a case of poor judgment from otherwise loving parents that can be easily fixed with counseling?

Article written by Amber Watson-Tardiff and featured at NJ.com Parenting Guidance Section posted here on October 22, 2009.

Here are the first two paragraphs and I urge you to visit her site and read the rest. Well-written and very informative:

Like many people my age, I am a HUGE fan of “early” Michael Jackson. Loved him pre-surgery, during the disco and Thriller eras. It was sad to watch such a talented individual become a self-hating recluse. It was sad to see him on trial for sexual molestation of a young boy, and I can only hope that he didn’t really do it. He was acquitted, in any event. It kind of made me sad to see how oddly it seemed he was behaving with regard to his kids – contracts with the birth mother, veiled faces, a baby dangled over a balcony…remember the weirdness?

Now everyone is talking about how much money he left behind and how complicated his estate will be, what with all of his credit and debt issues and split ownership of certain rights to music. There’s a lot of talk about how it could take years to settle his estate. I guess that mostly depends on the type of estate planning he’s done, and we’ll find out all about it soon enough.

But what about the kids?

Here is the link to the entire post.

• Special Needs Trust – allowing parents, grandparents and guardians to provide funds for a special needs child without disrupting eligibility for government aid.
• Exploring the qualifications of the child’s guardian.  Specifically, are they located close enough to qualified medical personnel?  Can they handle (or are they knowledgeable) about the particularities of caring for your child?
• Have you left enough financial and other resources to care for the child?  Everything from remodeling a house to make it wheelchair accessible to paying for the guardian to stay home full-time should be considered.

I would add another wrinkle here that I think is too often overlooked.  Many times a child has special education needs that don’t necessarily come to planners or parents when they think about future guardianship.  There are many educational matters that need to be explained or provided for and should factor into estate planning.