Men’s Rights Spotlight: Fathers and Families
This is the first in a series of articles highlighting men’s rights organizations.
Fathers and Families improves the lives of children and strengthens society by protecting the child’s right to the love and care of both parents after separation or divorce.
We seek better lives for children through family court reform that establishes equal rights and responsibilities for fathers and mothers.
Decades of research show beyond doubt that children do better when two biological parents raise them. But divorce, separation and out-of-wedlock childbearing tend to separate children from their father.
So Fathers and Families seeks to change family law to keep both parents in children’s lives to the greatest extent possible.
Mostly, we try to change state laws that militate against father-child involvement post-divorce. We actively lobby state legislatures and have had great success over the years in advancing our agenda.
Here’s a list of some of our most recent accomplishments:
• Helped Pass 2011 Bills to Protect the Child Custody/Parenting Time Rights of Military Parents in Ohio, Georgia, Nevada, and Arizona.
• Got 30% of MA Legislators to Sign on as Co-Sponsors of 2011 Shared Parenting Legislation
• Helped Pass CA Bill to Protect Disabled Parents’ Child Custody, Visitation Rights
• Helped Pass CA Bill to Protect Military Parents’ Child Custody/Parenting Time Rights
• Helped Defeat MA Bill Which Would Have Marginalized Noncustodial Parents in Their Children’s Healthcare Decisions
• Helping Block Ohio Bill to Increase Child Support
• Protected CA Parent Targets of Parental Alienation by Helping Defeat AB 612
• Helped Pass 2010 CA Bill to Protect Alimony Obligors from Abuses
• Helped Pass Bills to Protect Disabled Parents from Family Court Financial Abuses in AZ, IN, & CA in 2009/2010
Click the link to read even more of Fathers and Families’ accomplishments over the years.
Fathers and Families is also a source on which fathers nationwide can rely for assistance in fighting their personal child custody battles. We regularly hear from men and women who have been victimized by the family court system. Although we don’t provide legal advice, we’ve been able to make a difference in legal outcomes for countless divorced dads seeking justice in family courts.
As but one example, we recently helped Colorado dad Peter Spitz get full custody of his son after years of fighting against his guardians.
But changing laws is only part of the battle; changing minds is also important. To that end, Fathers and Families maintains a daily blog that attempts to educate the public about the many problems that beset fathers in family courts and to correct the many misconceptions about fathers that appear in the news media and public discourse every day.
The problems fathers face in family courts are many. They include inequality in child custody awards, excessive child support and draconian measures to collect it, non-enforcement of visitation, no-contact orders based on little or no evidence, paternity fraud, parental alienation, child abduction, false allegations of abuse and discrimination in adoption proceedings.
Fathers and Families attempts to deal with each of these problems and more. The road is long and progress often seems slow. But those of us who have been in the movement for family court reform for many years see that great changes have been made.
That trend promises to continue and Fathers and Families will continue to lead it until true equality of mothers and fathers in family court is achieved.
By Robert Franklin
Managing Editor, FathersandFamilies.org
Get more information on how to deal with family law when you are a man. Visit DadsDivorce.com for answers to all your men’s divorce questions.
Contact a Cordell & Cordell mens divorce attorney if you need legal representation as most parties in family law cases do.
