[AKidsRight.Org] Happy Mother's Days/ Sunday NY Times on Reform/ Setbacks in California & Louisiana

webmaster@AKidsRight.org

Good People & People of Faith,

A brief message with:
1. Special Greetings to Moms for Mother's Day
2. Sunday - buy the NY Times, major story on F-4-J & reform.
3. Louisiana - HB 92 moving against shared parenting.
4. California - shared parenting loses.

1. Special Greetings to Moms for Mother's Day
----------------------------------------------
>From all of us who are members and associated with AKidsRight.Org,
our best wishes for a Happy Mother's Day! A special greeting to
those of you who may not even see your children. A special greeting
to those of you who may not even have received a card from your
little ones because your former spouse just doesn't care and is
blind to your value as a parent. A special greeting for all those
"awkward" moments this Holiday can bring: "Did your kids send you
flowers?", "I got a beautiful card from my daughter, how about
you?", "We are all going out for dinner tonight, and you?"

A VERY special greeting to those of you who have to deal with
family members & friends who say, "Well, best to accept it, life
goes on!", "I'm sure whatever happened was all for the best...." 
Please understand they just don't know. Would you have used those
words in talking to a slave in the 1850's? Would you have used
those words in talking to a black forced to the "back of the bus"
in the 1950's?

Admit it, maybe you would have -- until you learned to understand.
Until you experienced it first hand.

On this very special day, let us all remember, yes, they can take
away our children -- but only we can give them our dignity. We may
not be perfect, but that does not mean we don't have a God given
"right" to participate as an equal parent in our children's lives.

We open the door to reform when we demonstrate the power of our
love.  When we stop seeking to be the ONLY parent to our children,
but an EQUAL parent.  If they stick a camera in your face and ask
you "why?".  Don't waste your 20 seconds on hate for your former
spouse, the social worker, judges or lawyers.  Tell them about your
great love for your kids -- even better, show them....

That is what NonViolent Action is all about. That with real Faith,
real Love, and real Sacrifice, real miracles can happen -- not just
the stuff you see in "Touched by an Angel" or "Joan of Arcadia".
But you have to believe, you have to act, and then noble dreams
take on flesh and become
reality. http://www.AKidsRight.Org/civil_back.htm

"Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for
love is as strong as death, its passion unyielding as the grave. It
burns like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot
quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all
the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned." --
Song of Songs 8:6-7

2. Sunday - buy the NY Times, major story on F-4-J & reform.
-----------------------------------------------------------
[Most of us probably don't buy the Sunday NY Times. Make this
Sunday an exception.  From what we have heard this will be an
in depth story and should be VERY educational for anyone involved in
reform.  A 'major' media source will have a chance to 'weigh in' on
both the goals and methods of Family Law reform.  It should be
interesting. - Ed.]

Submitted by: Ron Jagannathan <ron.jagannathan@gmail.com>

Just to let you know that I have confirmation from Jamil (F4J
coordinator in the U.S) and others that Fathers 4 Justice will be
the cover story on the front of the New York Times Sunday Magazine
on May 8th which has just gone to press.

A lot of work has gone into this and the article will look at the
fathers movement in general in the US and F4J in particular. A NY
journalist met with Jolly, Jamil and Jason (talk about
alliteration!) in NY.

For F4J and for Fathers Rights, non-custodial parents it could be a
big deal and give us an anchor on which to hinge our US campaign.

Ron Jagannathan

3. Louisiana - HB 92 moving against shared parenting.
------------------------------------------------------
Submitted by: "Derek Meche" <wdmim2@cox.net>

Dear Group;

       Please inform your Louisiana members about HB 92 that would SCRAP
shared parenting!!  WE need an all hands out on this one.  Write the members
of the House Civil Law and Procedure Committee and ask them to KILL this
BILL!!

Derek Meche
La Dads Director

Louisiana Legislature Website:  http://www.legis.state.la.us/

HB 92 on web site
http://www.legis.state.la.us/billdata/streamdocument.asp?did=291660

Rep. Bowler's Page http://house.louisiana.gov/H-Reps/members.asp?ID=78

Page of the House Civil Law and Procedure Committee.  They will hear and can
KILL this bill.  http://house.louisiana.gov/H-Reps/clcommittee.asp

Letter to Media

Children have a right to be raised and supported by both fit
parents. Why do members of the Louisiana legislature want to take
away the right of parents to share in raising their children? Why
do we want government telling us we can not share in the most
fundamental right of the family? Representative Shirley Bowler and
friends want to do just that. She is introducing HB 92 which would
make obtaining or keeping shared parenting virtually impossible in
this state.

Why do this when the family court judges, family psychologists,
legal scholars, federal government, and other state's government
representatives recognize the importance to keep both parents in
children's lives. And why would you want to create the known harm
if both fit parents do not share in their children's lives.

Example: Last year the governor of Iowa stated, "The most important
legislation I have signed in Iowa was the bill to promote the
improved shared parenting law for couples divorcing." The bill was
overwhelmingly passed by the Iowa legislature.

Studies strongly support shared parenting for our children.

The first shared custody statute was signed into law in Indiana in
1973, and since then shared parenting has spread to all states in
the U.S. "Inherent in the express public policy is a recognition of
the child's equal right to equal access and opportunity with both
parents, the right to be guided and nurtured by both parents, the
right to have major decisions made by the application of both
parents' wisdom, judgement and experience." -Judge Dorothy
T. Beasley, Georgia Court of Appeals, In the Interest of A.R.B., a
child, July 3, 1993.

"One clear message from the accumulated divorce research is that
children profit by continued exposure to both parents." Journal of
Divorce, Vol. 8, No.2 Winter 1984

"The application of shared parenting planning serves to lessen the
negative effects of divorce on children by 95.7%." Report on the
National Survey of Family Court Judges, Journal of Divorce and
Remarriage, Robert L. Fischer, 1997, Haworth Press

Why then would the state seek to make shared parenting legally more
difficult? Why do our legislative representatives want to promote
more conflict in the family, rather than less? And ultimately, why
would anyone want to remove and separate a child from fit parents?

The citizens of Louisiana need to find out the answer. Call the
governor's office, call your legislative representative, and call
Mrs. Bowler.

This House Bill 92 is wrong for the families of Louisiana. It
represents another example of "backward" thinking by our
legislative representatives, and gives every family another reason
to leave Louisiana.

Louisiana Children and Families Foundation

4. California - shared parenting loses.
---------------------------------------
Submitted by:  Lowell Jaks <info@ancpr.com>

In somewhat of a repeat of the hijacking of Nevada SB109, a bill to
presume that both parents are equally fit to parent their own
children in the State's eyes, California's AB1037 goes down to
defeat.  2,000 letters were sent to Sacramento, yet, just as in
Carson City, insider special interest destroyed the bill in an
apparent display of power politics that will keep pesky parents out
in the cold and kids alienated.  The dishonest, sexist, and
anti-American child custody and "child support" industry marches
on.

Commentator and activist Glenn Sacks had this to say:

  Despite the massive support we generated for AB 1307, the new
  California Shared Parenting bill, children and the parents they
  love and need were defeated today in the California Assembly
  Judiciary Committee. Two thousand of you called, faxed or wrote
  Sacramento in support of AB 1307. 

  By contrast, the opposition, led by the California National
  Organization for Women, the California Alliance Against Domestic
  Violence, the California Judges Association, the State of
  California Commission on the Status of Women, and the California
  State Bar Family Law Section, had no discernible popular
  support. Nevertheless, they successfully attacked the bill by
  claiming that a rebuttable presumption of shared custody puts
  women and children in danger of abusive men. They also claimed
  that fathers who fight for custody are usually abusers....

  The California Shared Parenting Alliance's presentation at the
  hearing was impressive, particularly the testimony of family law
  attorney Denise Placencio. The highlight of the proceedings came
  near the end of the testimony when Assemblyman Mervyn M. Dymally,
  the bill's principal author, said "here's my final witness"--and
  held up a box with almost 2,000 of our letters in it!

  Our defeat represents the triumph of special interests over
  children and families. The California Shared Parenting Alliance
  won the endorsements of dozens of mental health professionals and
  family law experts, as well as veterans and retirees
  groups. These were backed by popular support vastly beyond
  anything the special interest groups opposing us could
  muster. CSPA has plans to continue this fight, and Dymally says
  he will be bringing the bill back next year.

  Why does this happen? Despite 2,000 letters, apparently citizens
  are content to let the State dissect and manage the family, and
  apparently for all the wrong reasons.

------------------

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