Child-custody bill: Limit court action while soldier-parents overseas - Pennsylvania

Child-custody bill: Limit court action while soldier-parents overseas

Excerpt:

Pennsylvania soldiers sent into battle overseas would not have to worry about custody battles back home under a bill that cleared the Senate last week and moves to the state House.

Sen. Mike Folmer, R-Lebanon, sponsored the bill that would prevent courts from making permanent changes to custody arrangements involving the children of any serviceman deployed for active duty.

And when a soldier returns home, the bill would prohibit courts from siding against the serviceman on the grounds that his military duties are not in the child's best interest.

Sharing Parents the Best Answer - North Dakota

Sharing Parents the Best Answer

From the article:

Information was also given that social science research supports shared parenting, and that the so-called "best interest standard" is really no standard at all.

A study was also presented stating that 70 percent of young adult children of divorces wanted equal time with the absent parent and that the remaining 30 percent wanted significantly more overnights with the father.

Obama's Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act

Apparently part of Barack Obama's platform on family includes the following:

Strengthen Fatherhood and Families: Since 1960, the number of American children without fathers in their lives has quadrupled, from 6 million to more than 24 million. Children without fathers in their lives are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime, nine times more likely to drop out of school, and 20 times more likely to end up in prison. Barack Obama has re-introduced the Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act to remove some of the government penalties on married families, crack down on men avoiding child support payments, ensure that support payments go to families instead of state bureaucracies, fund support services for fathers and their families, and support domestic violence prevention efforts. As president, Obama will sign this bill into law and continue to implement innovative measures to strengthen families.

This is not an endorsement but is certainly interesting. I'm always concerned with the "crack down" language in reference to purported support dodgers without corresponding language about parental rights, accountability, etc...

State wants to know if you might be a dad - Virginia

State wants to know if you might be a dad

Excerpts:

The state Department of Social Services wants any man who is not married to a woman but could be the father of a child with her to voluntarily fill out a one-page registration.

The law, which went into effect July 1, is designed to protect men's rights in the case of a future adoption.

State officials emphasized that the confidential database is not an attempt to track sexual activity or partners. But it suggests men register "after relations with new partners or continued relations with the same woman."

Lawmakers passed the law creating the voluntary registry as a way to protect a man's rights and allow the state to notify him more quickly if a child he may have fathered is placed up for adoption.

DSS officials said registering means the state doesn't have to search high and low for the biological father, allowing an adoption to speed along. It also gives papa a chance to block the adoption if he wants to raise the child.

A father can register before a child is born, even if he is not aware of a pregnancy. Also the state suggests registering within 10 days of the birth, of receiving notice to register or within 10 days of discovering fraud by the mother.

If fathers don't file the paperwork, they give up their right for the state to inform them about a possible adoption or if they've lost their parental rights.

The registration doesn't establish paternity, which is a separate process. But DSS officials confirmed that the state's child support enforcement office will have access to the registry.

To register, men are asked to fill out a form they can get at their local DSS office or online at http://www.vaputativefather.com/. The hotline number is (877) IF-DADDY.

The form asks for the name of the mother and potential father along with his Social Security number and employment information, and it contains questions that try to pinpoint where and when the man and woman may have conceived the child.

The state requires the men to sign the form and mail it to Richmond, said Carla Harris, a DSS spokeswoman. Registration is free.

If the form contains the address of the woman, she will be notified.

New Jersey - Highland Park Psychologist Marsha Kleinman

AG: Highland Park psychologist coached girl on sex abuse claims

Excerpts:

The state Attorney General's Office has filed a complaint seeking to revoke the license of a Highland Park psychologist who has frequently served as an expert in criminal child abuse cases based on allegations she coached a 3-year-girl to make false claims of sexual abuse about her father.

In addition to the license revocation, Marsha Kleinman could face fines from the complaint filed Friday before the state Board of Psychological Examiners, a part of the Division of Consumer Affairs.

The accusations focus on Kleinman's treatment of a young girl between July 2003 and December 2004. She is accused of questioning the girl about possible sexual abuse by her father in "a suggestive, coercive and/or manipulative manner," according to the 16-page complaint.
Kleinman, 56, denies the charges.

"When people are advocates for children who are harmed in the home, they become a lightning rod, and there are people such as myself being targeted across the country by fathers' rights groups to shut down people like myself who protect children," Kleinman said today. "I expect all of this to be resolved."

Dads increase time with children, housework

Dads increase time with children, housework

Excerpts:

A comprehensive study of “time diaries” by researchers from the University of Maryland shows that fathers have increased their child-care work from 2.5 hours a week in 1965 to seven hours a week in 2003. There is a similar trend with housework: Dads did 4.4 hours a week in 1965 and 9.6 hours a week in 2003.

Perhaps even more striking, the total workloads of married mothers and fathers – when paid work is added to child care and housework – is roughly equal, at 65 hours a week for mothers and 64 hours for fathers.

“It’s not the case that men are slugs,” said William Doherty, a family studies professor at the University of Minnesota who has done several studies on fatherhood. “It’s a new generation of fathers, and they are internalizing some of the very high expectations that mothers have.”

Who Needs A Father Anyway?

If feminists are to be believed no one does - not even this boy....

You can view the video by clicking through Glenn Sacks blog.

Parental Alienation Awareness Day

Parental Alienation Awareness Day is April 25th.

Visit Parental Alienation Awareness for more information.

IowaFathers.com Hosting Non-Custodial Parents Rally

IowaFathers.com is hosting their a rally on 4/21/07. Per email:

On Saturday, April 21, 2007, we are holding our first ever Non-Custodial Parents Rally in Des Moines in observance of Parental Alienation Awareness Day, which is April 25th. Our guest speakers include Presidential candidate Dr. Mark Klein, Stephen Baskerville, PhD, the president of American Coalition for Fathers and Children (ACFC), Dick Woods of Fathers for Equal Rights, Pastor Ron Smith of Children Need Both Parents, Inc (Chicago, IL), among others. The event is being held from noon until 3:00 p.m. at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines, 227 Walnut St., Des Moines, Iowa, 50309-2104.