Your Letters Wanted to Michigan Newspaper Which Endorsed Shared Parenting Bill
Background: Dads of Michigan, the American Coalition for Fathers and Children’s Michigan affiliate, the Family Rights Coalition, and other Michigan shared parenting advocates are fighting to pass HB 4564, a shared parenting bill. They have the votes to pass the bill but are fighting to get it out of committee, where it is bottled up.
In May, the Michigan National Organization for Women put out an Action Alert opposing HB 4564. I discussed NOW’s op-position to the bill and laid out the case for shared parenting in my column HB 5267 Will Help Michigan’s Children of Divorce (Lansing State Journal, 5/28/06), which I co-authored with ACFC Executive Director Mike McCormick. (HB 5267 was the 2006 bill which is identical to HB 4564).
The Editorial Board of the Oakland Press, one of Michigan’s larger newspapers, just came out with a well-reasoned editorial endorsing HB 4564. Jay A. Fedewa, PE, Executive Director of the Family Rights Coalition, is asking that the bill’s supporters email Allan Adler, the editorial page editor of the Oakland Press, to commend the paper and express support for the bill. His email address is allan.adler@oakpress.com. Please remember to be polite and positive.
The Oakland Press editorial is below.
Equal parenting bill worth passing
Oakland Press, 10/6/07
House Bill 4564 seems to make a very reasonable request: It calls for equal parenting time for fit parents.
The bill was proposed by state Rep. Glenn Steil, R-Cascade and introduced with the support of Reps. Fran Amos, R-Waterford Township; Marty Knollenberg, R-Troy; John Stakoe, R-Highland Township; James Marleau, R-Lake Orion; and 18 other representatives. It is currently in the Families and Children’s Services Committee.
It’s a shame a bill like this is needed but historically, dads have been on the short end in court cases involving custody and visitation when the parents divorce.
The “best interest of the child” should always be the top priority but too often that “best interest” leaves dads out of the equation.
Judges have expressed concern that the bill may take away some of their “judicial discretion.” Well, we’re all for judicial discretion, but someone has to stand up for the rights of fathers, those who are “fit” and more than willing to share parenting duties.
Our courts say they are doing this now, but judges admit that in the past, the tendency has been to side with mothers, giving them more custodial and/or visitation rights.
If the courts are truly doing this now, then why do so many fathers and their supporters feel the need for this legislation?
We think anything that helps “good fathers” stay “good dads” is worth passing. If the law has to be tweaked so that some judges don’t feel so put upon, then make the necessary changes.
But it’s time dads had some rights, too.
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| More from Glenn Sacks
Stumble It!
October 7th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Fathers should no more need to prove they are worthy of being in their childs lives than mothers are. This should be a given and natural. Some of us just “know” that shared parenting should be the default call unless either the mother or father puts the child at risk of harm. It’s too bad that groups like NOW and the media have done such a hatchet job on men the last thirty years. As W Farrell has said “we went from father knows best to father’s molest” in a few short years. It still shocks me that feminist get away with saying that 99 percent of Domestic Violence comes from men and that of those homes where DV exists often child abuse exists. Statements like those have sold news stories and formed public opinions. People simply can’t believe the truth about child abuse and how most comes from mothers with the son’s most often injured or killed. The facts are hidden and men and their children pay.
October 8th, 2007 at 6:15 am
men have lost the will to lead in just 30 short years. look all around and we see only docile, slumped shouldered and subservient man/boys. it’s a testament not to just the weakness of the male spirit, but also the unabashed cruilty of mothers in using their sons and daughters for personal gain. women are now truelly the head of the household. marriage is dying and will be dead in no more than 20 years. ain’t love a kick?
October 8th, 2007 at 6:21 am
one more thing. when men “were” the head of the household, they sweated, worked hard, sacrificed health and generally provided safety, protecton and financial support for the family. they still do those things, but more so for the queen and her own comfort than anything else.
October 8th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
I emailed the following to Alan:
Thank you for siding with us to protect our children.
Just 2 centuries ago we dumped tea into the harbor because King George tried to take our hard earned money. Today, we’ve authorized a judge the power to take our children away and we find it difficult to express the outrage. The states collect child support so they can say, “Look at me, I care”, but they don’t. These brutal oppressors collect more child support so the federal government can blindly reward their efforts. These tyrants make King George look like an altar boy.
All of us come into this world with but one Mother and but one Father. Our genome is defined by a long chain of ancestry that John Adams respected in his brilliant eulogy to his great, great granddad. What we have been and where our heritage will take us depends so much upon what we do today. All of us have a right to be raised by our own parents. Our inaction in allowing judges ‘to determine custody’ strikes evil at the core of humanity.
A child’s ‘best interest’ is protected when the society acts to protect their natural right to be raised by their own parents. ‘Judicial Discretion’ cannot be contrived to violate the basic human right we all own at birth. Our parents have a right to care for us, control our behavior and nurture our lives to adulthood and beyond. No man, judge or saint, can violate and take from us the life we own without committing the most evil atrocity on humanity. Why are idle minds so vacant?
Judges and governments don’t grant rights, we own them. Our rights are paramount to any societal interest conceived by tyrants. You know, our forefathers gave us their blood so that we would defend the young and weak. And it is obvious; our children have a right to be raised by both of their own parents.
These are the reasons good men will stand and support an equal parenting bill that is worth passing into law.
Best wishes,
Richard Allan Eichinger