Most new parents will tell you that raising a child is expensive, but rarely do you hear an actual dollar amount. The federal government, however, recently released its annual report laying out the specific costs of rearing a child.

The report is prepared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and used by states in calculating financial guidelines for child support and foster care. The report found that parents who welcomed a little bundle of joy into their families in 2011 can expect to spend almost $300,000 in the next 17 years.

Did you catch that the cost calculation stops after 17 years? That means the $300,000 doesn't even include the cost of college. That amount was also based on middle-income families earning $59,410-$102,870 before taxes. For higher earners the cost of a child was $490,830, and it was $212,370 for the lowest income households.

Over the past few decades, women have been making significant strides in climbing the corporate ladder. Many women now have high paying executive positions, which used to be almost exclusively held by men. One indication of this trend is that increasing numbers of women are now paying spousal support and child support to their husbands after a divorce.

Nationwide over the past three years, 47 percent of family law attorneys reported an increase in the number of women paying spousal support, and 56 percent saw a rise in mothers paying child support, according to a survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML). The president-elect of the AAML explained, "It shows that women have really moved up financially and that in many instances they are the major bread winners in a lot of families."

The shift in women's careers can also be seen in the numbers of those seeking advanced degrees. According to information from the Digest of Education Statistics, the number of women graduating from law schools has almost doubled, and women are now the recipients of about half of all medical degrees. In 1980, only about one out of three medical degrees was awarded to a woman.

When a couple divorces, puppy love may give way to a fierce dog fight. As more people treat their pets like family members instead of property, the number of pet custody cases has been growing.

A survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) in 2006 found that 25 percent of respondents had seen a substantial rise in pet custody cases since 2001. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, one attorney recently reported his pet custody cases had grown as much as another 15 percent since 2007.

Illinois, and all other states, consider pets to be property which is subject to the division of property in a divorce. Many pet owners, however, treat their dogs, cats, birds and other animals as members of the family. This can lead to emotional disagreements as to who will keep the pets when spouses part ways.

Since the 1990s when the first electronic visitation cases began to appear, virtual visitation between children and their parents has continued to grow. In 2010, Illinois became the most recent state to legally recognize virtual visitation. Currently six other states have laws governing "electronic" or "virtual" child visitation, and 22 more have efforts underway to develop similar legislation.

Virtual visitation includes anything from instant messaging to social media to video chatting. Technology has made it easier for parents who live far from their children to stay connected and involved with their kids' daily lives. For instance, a child may show off a lost tooth over Skype, or a parent may play a game with a child through Facebook.

According to the National Center for State Courts, an estimated 35 million children have parents who are divorced, separated or never married, and 25 percent of these kids have a parent who lives in a different city. Almost 10 million kids don't have routine in-person contact with one of their two parents.

Americans are familiar with wedding expos where future brides can see the latest wedding dress designs, check out new floral arrangements and sample wedding cakes. Recently, however, divorce expos have been attracting a significant amount of attention. At such events expo-goers will find seminars and booths on financial planning, parenting after divorce and an array of other topics.

The Wall Street Journal recently published a piece discussing the phenomenon of divorce expos, highlighting an event that took place in New York last month titled "Start Over Smart: A Modern Divorce Expo." Examples of featured seminars included: "Moving on After Infidelity," "Parenting Through Divorce," and "Into the Fog-Becoming a Single Dad and a Single Dude Again." The event also included booths staffed by attorneys, financial planners and even dating coaches.

The organizers who planned the New York expo based it on an event in Paris, and similar expos have gone on across Europe. They feel it fills a need to provide resources for those going through a divorce. "Even after divorce, people need a network of continued support to help them transition into their new, post-divorce life," one of the organizers explained. The expo serves as a place for people to get legal and financial information, as well as network with those individuals facing similar challenges.