April 2026 Global Roundup
- Lesley Friedland and the FamilyKind Team
- 23 hours ago
- 3 min read
Recent family related news included a change in divorce law coming from Virginia and Japan; musings on how family separation, due to divorce, should be considered; questions about the viability of marriage today in the U.S; and a look at the unusual move of using a Department of Justice plane in a parental kidnapping investigation.
Tammy LaGorce, The New York Times, March 29, 2026
As of 2023, the last data available from Pew Research Center, there were about 111 million single adults ages 18 and up in the United States. That was a sizable increase from 70 million in 1990. The author explores the question: If millennials are succumbing to dating exhaustion and Gen X-ers are reaching the conclusion that modern marital standards are impossible, where does that leave Gen Z?
Justin McCurry in Tokyo, The Guardian, Tuesday 31 Mar 2026
Previously, Japan’s Civil Code required couples to decide which parent would take sole custody of their children when they divorce. But pressure from critics, who say the tug-of-war between parents caused children psychological harm and unfairly punished the “left-behind” parent and culminated in a 2024 parliamentary vote to change the law. Under the amendment, parents will be able to decide whether to arrange for joint or sole custody of their children. The new rules are the first major change to the country’s laws governing child-rearing in more than a century.
The Associated Press, NPR, April 23, 2026
The Trump administration sent a government plane to Cuba to return a 10-year-old from Utah who is at the center of a complicated and contentious custody fight involving the child's gender identity. Federal and state authorities sought the return of the child after a family member expressed concern that Inessa-Ethington went to Havana to get the child gender transition surgery. The use of the Department of Justice plane in a parental kidnapping investigation comes after the Trump administration sought to block access to gender-affirming care for minors and pressured health care providers over the issue. The charges do not say if the couple actually planned on getting the child gender-affirming surgery in Cuba or how they would get it because that surgery is not legal for children in Cuba.
Patricia Fersch, Forbes, April 24, 2026
According to various law firm’s websites and government data, 90-95% of divorce cases settle rather than going to trial. The author posits that divorce is not about revenge, accountability, or justice. It is about separation, providing financial support for children and the lesser monied spouse, and for both parties and the children to be able to move on to a happier, more secure place in which to launch their new post-divorce lives. Divorce should be considered rehabilitative—a means of rehabilitation from an unhappy and unfulfilling past into a brighter future.
Julia Broberg and Mariah Jallad, ABC News, April 24, 2026
After the murder of Cerina Fairfax by her husband, former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, in the midst of a reportedly contentious divorce, people are taking a closer look at the divorce laws in Virginia. Currently, being separated for a year is the only way to file for a no-fault divorce in Virginia. But new legislation going into effect July 1 will allow couples to file for a “bed and board” divorce on day one of their separation and start the legal process of dividing property and making custody agreements. Under the revised law, couples will still have to wait a year before the divorce can be finalized. Couples without minor children only have to wait six months.