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Children Need their Fathers to Have Equal Rights
The Love of a Father
If you're a father (or a step-mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, daughter, brother, grandfather, uncle, or friend who knows a Dad who has been alienated from his children) and you have been denied the right to equal access to your children, equal time with them, and/or an equal role in parenting, it's time to act!
For far too long, custody laws and court decisions have favored mothers, even in situations where the father is able and willing to act in every way as a full and equal partner in parenting.
This bias has offered the easiest way out for judges and magistrates, appeasement of angry or fearful mothers, and a means for the federal government to funds its voracious appetite for spending on entitlement programs. The last item seems like an odd addition in the series, but it is both true and quite important.
If not for the revisions to the welfare system that were passed by Congress in the 1980's and 90's, we might be a country of equal parenting, and less divorce, than we are today. But thanks to the need to fund additional welfare programs, and the shortage of direct tax money for the funding, the indirect tax of child support became the best alternative.
The result has been that divorced fathers are regularly and grievously hit with a burden of support that is beyond their means to pay. This is how the federal government subsidizes the welfare system today.
So what is there to do? The system has been challenged in state legislatures across the country as well as Congress, but the women's lobby supporting the system is as strong or stronger than men's. The legislative route is foreclosed.
Likewise, the state court systems thrive on the imbalance and inequity in the system.
The only remaining recourse is through the Constitution itself and its guaranty of equal rights to all - including fathers. And the only way to bring the weight of the Constitution's authority to bear on the system is through the federal courts in class action suits.
Call Thompson Legal Services at (317) 604-1276 or email Andrew Thompson at ajt@thompsonlaw-in.com to discuss your rights and options.
The Cost of Change
In every state, there are literally hundreds of children who have stood willing to provide equal time, equal resources and and equal love for their children, and been denied by the courts. Nationwide, there are tens of thousands of fathers living with a similar deprivation of their fundamental right to parent their own children.
The courts often act as if the father has only one right - to pay child support to the mother. Fathers are no successful, by and large, acting on their own. But they rarely ban together, and generally do not know how.
But if tens of thousands of dads are treated the same way, in different courts across the country, they CAN join together as a single class, all with the same rights overlooked and violated in the family courts.
The federal courts and their rules afford a class of people whose rights have been violated the chance to pursue the enforcement of these rights in the federal court system. No doubt you've heard of class actions in claims against drug companies, manufacturers, by investors and in other contexts.
Unfortunately, up to now, little has ever been done to attempt class action reform on the enforcement of fathers' parental rights. The primary reason it hasn't been tried is that is a very large undertaking with extraordinary costs involved. So Dads and their lawyers have tried fighting these battles one by one, in their own, individual cases. In the end, this is very costly as well. in fact, whenever a custody battle is involved, a father can expect to spend $5,000, $10.000, even $25,000-50,000 or MORE.
In the end, then, while a class action suit could cost upward of $300,000 to prosecute to a final result, the tens of thousands of dads who might share in this cost, have spent literally millions and got nowhere in the state court, family systems across the country.
To break down the cost, if even 100 fathers invested at least $1,000, another 250-500 invested $250-500, and at least another 1,000 dads contributed at least $100, there would be more than enough funding to take a class action through the federal court system to gain the enforcement of equal rights for fathers.
And this can be accomplished while spending a fraction of what it takes to fight a losing battle in state court.
An organization, Reform Family Law Now, in conjunction with Family Law and Fathers, exists for this purpose. Please think about your own situation, or that of a father close to you - and consider making a contribution toward helping get this class action effort funded. You can make this contribution by visiting http;//reformfamilylawnow.org and contributing online, or call the Thompson Law Office today at (877) 365-1776.
Comments
composed by hsm 2012-06-08
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Please keep in mind that these situations happen to mothers too. My ex has done everything he can to disrupt my relationship with our daughters. I was one of those women where the judge knowingly and willingly gave our children to their abusive father. Don't lump this as men vs. women.
Going through this same thing with my SO. It's horrible I honestly want to cry all the time. His child is almost 1 and he's seen her maybe 10 times never more than a few hours her whole life. He pays child support and the amount is so high our family suffers. All he wants is equal parenting time, she won't give him more than every other weekend. Frustration!! I loved this article though, it gave me some hope!
The 105th Congress amended title 28 U.S.C. (&) 651-658, United States Code, with respect to the use of alternative dispute resolution processes in United States district courts, and for other purposes and enacted it by the Senate and U.S. House of Representatives Office of the Law Revision Counsel, October 30, 1998, Public Law 105–315.
This Act is cited as the ‘‘Alternative Dispute Resolution Act of 1998’’. The family courts are using this act to give credibility to a limited few PhD’s along with a number of key figures who are used in each family court controversy.
The ‘‘Alternative Dispute Resolution Act of 1998’’ is used so the courts can be dedicated to the concept that children who enter the court system through divorce or custody cases are deserving of their own legal advocates. In come the Guardian Ad Litems and Family Court Coordinators with huge fees you are court ordered to pay.
The courts use a network of lawyers, guardians and mental health professionals all of whom charge very high fees and produce prejudicial outcomes in divorce and child custody cases.
There is no preference shown towards women. Not where I live.
There is a preference towards the person they consider to be the parent that is going to make the network the most money if they are given custody. That is the one who gets the children, because that is the one who will cause the most money to be spent on court costs. The courts are not there for mothers or fathers. They are scared of no one. Their only interest is self and how to make the most money off of every parent who enters family court.
Title IV of the social security act, the ‘‘Alternative Dispute Resolution Act of 1998’’ and the “Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act” (“CAPTA”) are the acts which have created the downfall of the American Family as we used to know it.
These Acts are robbing the family of their children, all their earnings, homes, businesses and all the money in the bank. The courts attack until there is nothing left for them to take from you.
If you learn how to represent yourself in court then the judge writes up a Gate Keeping Order forbidding you from writing up any more motions or trying to represent yourself in court, throws you in jail and denies you all visitation with your child indefinitely and has the network of lawyers, guardians and mental health professionals give creditability to the Judges order.
This is not a free country and parents have no parental rights or any rights.
Oh yeah, and the average cost for a contested divorce when children are involved is $80,000.
It all boils down to the best interest of the government.
Title IV of the social security act is the downfall of the American Family as we used to know it.
It is said that the path to Hell was paved with the bricks of good intentions, and Title IV is exactly that in a nutshell.
The federal government has made a competition between the states for unrestricted and unregulated federal grant money to which ever state ''collects'' the most in "child support". It is statistically proven that Dad's pay the most, and the most often, therefore it is profitable for the state to make a custodial and non-custodial parent and almost always restrict Dad's time with the children, so the state can get the most cash for themselves to do whatever they wish with it.
Sick, twisted, and corrupt are some of the words that instantly come to mind.
In MO the lawyers, and judges, social services and the whole "family court" ring claim that they are acting under the best interest of the child. I just don't believe that to be so, especially when the whole system is designed to make you fight from the beginning, and keep you fighting forever.
Social services in MO claims that 4 days a month with a child is enough to keep a continuing, meaningful relationship. I say it is CHILD ABUSE, and ABUSE on the taxpayer.
Am I wrong? Does anyone really think that 4 days a month with a child is a meaningful relationship?
Visitation is for criminals, I am not a criminal, and will not be treated as such. Ever.
Parents are turned into visitors to their children every single day, because it is profitable.
It is profitable to keep you fighting in court.
It's profitable to make sure you don't see your children as often as the other parent.
It's also profitable to call you unfit, steal your children, and adopt them out.
The bottom line is OUR CHILDREN ARE PROFITABLE!
My fiance is going through a custody battle right now. He and his ex have had joint custody for the past 8 years - since their divorce. Now she wants full. He and I have been working very hard on keeping the order joint, but it seems like a pointless uphill battle that we won't win. I'm so frustrated with the system not listening to the valid points a father has to make.
I am a woman, but has seen many men suffer a great deal. Where was the idea coming from, that a father is not emotionally equipped to care for a child. Especially in days that had been exclusively a mans world.
What was the physiology of the process, that supported the woman so strongly. And where did it go so wrong, as to deny the father any and all rights, except the payment.
There were indeed a lot of "wrongs" in the past.
I think you bring up a lot of good points in this article. I have a friend who has suffered from this very thing.
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