Free Republic

Here’s yet another piece that lauds equality between mothers and fathers in childrearing, but uses some very questionable “facts” and figures to do it (Chicago Tribune, 8/20/10). The writer, Alexa Aguilar, wants to think of her marriage as non-traditional enough that both partners work and both do childcare. But she notices that, when push comes to shove, she’s more likely to control childcare and housework while her husband does the more traditionally male tasks around the house. She even refers to herself as the “gatekeeper,” and I wonder if she knows about the social science that refers to mothers’ control...

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that, here at GlennSacks.com and Fathers & Families, we’re all about equally shared parenting post divorce or separation. That stems from the well-established fact that children of two-parent families do better than those of single-parent families. As far back as 1994, sociologist David Popenoe could say that, [I]n three decades of work as a social scientist, I know of few other bodies of data in which the weight of evidence is so decisively on one side of the issue: on the whole, for children, two-parent families are preferable to single-parent and stepfamilies....

It’s so refreshing to read a piece about shared parenting that’s free of the mis-/dis- information we so often see. That’s the case with this editorial about HB 1400 currently pending before the Massachusetts legislature (Worcester Telegram, 5/13/10). HB 1400 that’s backed by Fathers & Families would establish the presumption of equally shared parenting on divorce. The pertinent part of the bill is here: In making an order or judgment relative to the custody of a minor child, there shall be a presumption that, absent emergency conditions, or abuse or neglect of said child, the parents shall have shared legal...

Dear ALL, Okay guys and gals, the clock is running. The hearing in the House Civil Law and Procedure Committee on SB236 has been set for Wed, May 19th at 9:00 am. We have one week to get the word out. We have one week to get the phone calls in to the Legislature. We have one week to get on the Radio Talk shows. We have one week to get the emails, the letters, the articles written and sent. We will have to fight for air time because of the oil spill disaster. That is a much more important...

McCain opposes shared parenting reform, then makes racial remark By John Dias John McCainToday, Republican presidential candidate John McCain was asked at an Iowa town hall meeting what he would do to reform family law to ensure children are guaranteed equal access both to their fathers and mothers, following a divorce. A questioner asked McCain whether as president he “would be bold enough to address the issue of equal access to children for fathers that have gone through divorce.” The Republican presidential candidate responded, “I’m sorry to disappoint you, I am not going to overturn divorce court decisions. That’s why...

Call it the backlash against the backlash. Over the past decade, Americans have increasingly understood that the divorce revolution, fatherlessness and single parent households are harming our children. Now those who view the traditional family as disadvantageous to women are firing back, defending women who choose single motherhood and depicting fathers as superfluous. Last fall Stanford University Gender Scholar Peggy Drexler penned the highly-publicized book Raising Boys Without Men: How Maverick Moms Are Creating the Next Generation of Exceptional Men. This month Oxford Press released Wellesley College Women's Studies Professor Rosanna Hertz’s Single by Chance, Mothers by Choice: How Women...

Jane is a successful career woman. She has moved up rapidly in a competitive field, and is advancing her career by attending business school at night. Bob works out of their home and does most of the childcare. If Bob decides he doesn’t want Jane anymore, should he be able to take her kids away and push her to the margins of their lives? The opponents of the North Dakota Shared Parenting Initiative think he should. Under the NDSPI, unless a parent is unfit, both parents in a divorce will have joint legal and physical custody of their children. By...

Schwarzenegger Should Veto AB 2051 By Mike McCormick and Glenn Sacks The California Assembly just passed a domestic violence bill which will perpetuate the state’s harmful policy of excluding men and their children from receiving state-funded domestic violence services. Under AB 2051, only “battered women” are eligible for the shelters, hotel vouchers, counseling and legal services the state provides victims of domestic violence. Governor Schwarzenegger should veto this misguided legislation. Because AB 2051 is based on the discredited premise that men are rarely the victims of intimate partner abuse, the bill has aroused considerable opposition from domestic violence researchers and...

Child support enforcement programs are supported by all sides of the political spectrum, from women’s advocates on the left to traditionalists on the right. While this popularity is sometimes understandable, it has also allowed glaring and inexcusable abuses to fester and grow. Of these, none is more egregious than when men are forced to pay 18 years of child support for children who are not theirs, and who in many cases they’ve never even met. In “The Innocent Third Party: Victims of Paternity Fraud,” a new article in the American Bar Association's Family Law Quarterly, Washington DC attorney Ronald K....

How HHS Bullies North Dakota Citizens by Stephen Baskerville and Mitchell S. Sanderson Human Events Online Aug 17, 2006 Those who work in what was once nobly known as the civil service -- and what has degenerated into the "bureaucracy" -- are required by law and ethics to be politically neutral. Presidents and members of Congress, cabinet and sub-cabinet secretaries can voice opinions. Even judges are permitted (and often abuse) a privilege of obiter dicta. But career officials are supposed to implement the policies of the people and their elected officials, not publicly advocate what those policies should be....

In Kai Ma’s recent AlterNet column “The Difference Between a Womb and a Wallet” (7/26/06) she applauds a U.S. District Court judge’s quick, contemptuous dismissal of Matt Dubay’s “Roe v. Wade for Men” lawsuit. Dubay sought to wipe out the child support payments he is obligated to make to an ex-girlfriend who, he says, used a fallacious claim of infertility to deceive him into getting her pregnant. In opposing “Choice for Men,” Ma asserts that a “woman's decision to terminate a pregnancy is not the equivalent of a man's choice to financially opt out of fatherhood.” She cites the pain...

An important truth has been lost in the controversy over the way the Philadelphia Phillies handled pitcher Brett Myers after his recent arrest for spousal abuse. Mrs. Myers’ injuries and the accounts of several witnesses leave little reason to doubt her husband’s culpability. Nevertheless, the Phillies at first reserved judgment about the case, and allowed Myers to pitch. This was wrong, as the team admitted after widespread criticism, and Myers was given a leave of absence. However, in many domestic violence cases the men arrested do deserve the open mind and support which the Phillies mistakenly extended Myers. Spousal abuse...

Child support debtors are everybody’s favorite punching bag. The Daily News is apparently no exception, as reporter Dana DiFillippo recently penned two ill-advised, one-sided critiques of divorced and separated fathers. In Jail Threat Springs $$, DiFillippo highlights the story of a local "deadbeat” who offered a judge a “list of reasons why he had failed to pay almost $16,000" in child support. The judge “barks” at these explanations and gives the surprised father two months in jail. DiFillippo approvingly quotes prosecutor Maria McLaughlin, who “chalked up another victory” with the case, as McLaughlin blames the debtor for his incarceration. According...

The National Organization for Women turned 40 this summer, and formally celebrated its anniversary at its national conference in July. NOW President Kim Gandy has proudly recounted her organization's successes in opening up opportunities for women, and says they are “never giving up the dream of full equality for all.” Unfortunately, on some issues – particularly in family law and child custody – NOW's policies and actions contradict its ideals of “full equality for all.” This is most evident in the group's dogged opposition to joint custody and shared parenting. The logic behind shared parenting is hard to dispute. Kids...

The National Organization for Women turned 40 this summer, and formally celebrated its anniversary at its national conference in July. NOW President Kim Gandy has proudly recounted her organization's successes in opening up opportunities for women, and says they are “never giving up the dream of full equality for all.” Unfortunately, on some issues – particularly in family law and child custody – NOW's policies and actions contradict its ideals of “full equality for all.” This is most evident in the group's dogged opposition to joint custody and shared parenting. The logic behind shared parenting is hard to dispute. Kids...

A misguided collection of federal and state officials, divorce attorneys and women’s advocates have all united to oppose a simple proposition: children need both parents. The North Dakota Shared Parenting Initiative is based on the belief that all parents have a fundamental liberty interest in the care and custody of their children, and that no fit parent can lawfully be denied custody of his or her children. Under the Initiative, when family law courts adjudicate a divorce, unless there is clear and convincing evidence that a mother or father is unfit, all parents will have joint legal and physical custody...

Next week, an important moment will occur in the general trend toward recognizing the societal importance and legal rights of fathers. On March 28, the New York State Assembly's Children & Families Committee is scheduled to hear Bill A330 on shared parenting. The bill seeks to establish "the presumption in matrimonial proceedings for awarding shared parenting of minor children in the absence of an allegation that shared parenting would be detrimental to the best interests of the child." In short, a parent seeking sole custody (most commonly the mother) would assume the legal burden of proving why a shared arrangement...

MEETING ALERT ATTEND TO SAVE SHARED PARENTING! A meeting of Members of the House Committee on Civil Law and Procedure and members of the Senate Committee on Judiciary A THIS MEETING IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. ANYONE CAN ATTEND!! DATE: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 TIME: 2:00 p.m. PLACE: House Committee Room 6 PURPOSE: To discuss shared custody provisions in the child support guidelines This should be in the lower section of the capitol. Any State Trooper or person with a maroon jacket can direct you. There are also signs that tell where the meetings are being held. The title of...

In Divorce proceedings involving children in the United States, law abiding and wholly-fit-to-parent Fathers are relegated to little more than "visitor" in 85% of those proceedings. This "marginalization" of the critical role of the Father has removed a critical developmental influence from the lives of our children - the negative impact upon the societal landscape of the United States is readily apparent to anyone that cares to open their eyes and honestly survey that landscape. Visitors are not in a position to impart core-values to their children. The children are then often required to acquire their values on the streets...