The State of Pennsylvania legislature currently has House Bill 463, last referred to the judiciary in February of 2009, which authorizes family courts to default to a rebuttal presumption of shared-parenting (essentially 50/50 custody) absent provable issues about parental fitness of logistical issues that would prevent same.
An excerpt:
§ 5303. Award of custody, partial custody or visitation.
(a) General rule.–An order for joint custody shall be awarded by the court unless the court finds that joint custody is not in the best interest of the child. There shall be a rebuttable presumption that an award of joint custody is in the best interest of the child. The court shall state on record the reason for any award other than an award of joint custody.
Shared parenting works, folks. We urge all Pennsylvanians to contact their state representatives in support of this initiative. Help stop vindictive parents from using children as a weapon against loving, willing, caring parents. Don’t allow them to keep abusing the legal system and the children in order to obtain a long-term, tax-free stream of income off of the hard work of the target parent. Support this bill and see it become law.
To review the full bill, sponsors and co-sponsors: Pennsylvania House Bill 463
Shared parenting DOES NOT WORK in my opinion. It does more harm to the child or children involved. I have had shared parenting and and it is pure hell, for me and my son. IF this was a perfect world and IF adults would act like adults and not use the children as pawns and if the judges and lawyers would not force crap down your throat then MAYBE JUST MAYBE AND ITS A BIG MAYBE it would work. If you were to take a poll of parents who have been involved in Family Court I am certain you would find that the majority(98%) who do have shared custody HATE IT. If you were a chid and had to spend 4 days at one house and 3 at the other how would like it? It is extremely rare to find adults who can actually be adult about this situation and actually ‘share’ the child and have the child grow up to be as well adjusted as another child who grew up in a home with 2 loving parents in the same household. I blame Family Courts for contributing to the dysfunction of families and especially the children who get caught up in their hell because the adults can’t do it themselves. Where else are we suppose to go for desperately needed help? You will not get it in Family Court.
PA HB 463 is a result of bias courts, alienating custodial parents, and millions of troubled children who are victims of the current system which was created in the wake of the no fault divorce.There is momentum for change in family law across the nation to create a presumption of joint physical custody. This action coming in the wake of a natural evolution of gender parenting roles and responsibilities in todays society. Proven by numerous studies and statistics, there exists a judicial bias in the courtroom regarding custody issues. To date, 87% of custody cases nationwide result in the mother being awarded primary custody of children. This turning a once loving and attentive father into an every other weekend visitor simply based on the legal systems archaic and personal perceptions of gender roles in parenting via the Tender Years Doctorine.
Having already been decided by the United States Supreme Court, this practice of favoring one person over another based on gender is the essence of discrimination. In contrast it has also impeded our rights via rule 11 of ” The Domestic Relations Exeption”( US Supreme Court 1992 Ankerbrandt v. Richards) which denies access to Federal Courts for parents seeking to question the constitutionality of state statues regarding family law. Psychological and Healthcare experts around the globe profess the everlasting benefits for our children to have both parents active in every aspect of their lives. Societal and economic shifts have expanded the roles that fathers play in their families. Father involvement is associated with positive cognitive, developmental, and sociobehavioral child outcomes(American Academy of Pediatrics 2006).
What does this bill do? It insures that a child will not be kept away from another parent during separation or divorce while the slow wheel of family law turns. Some cases taking years to settle. The proposed amendment also outlines clear penalties for contempt for parents who violate the order.Currently there are 30 states with similar laws.
Presumptive joint custody is a change from the current statute, which requires that custody decisions be made on a case-by-case basis by judges who are to rule “in the best interest of the child,” after hearing testimony from both parents. The problem with the current statute title 23 is that it is a vehicle to rule based on outdated personal and social attitudes of gender roles in parenting. In the past men were “providers of housing and financial security and women tended to the physical and emotional needs of the children”. Today with most parents taking equally intergrated responsibilities and roles in parenting, the outdated definition of the nuclear family as written in 1955 is for the most part obsolete. This statute has only facilitated damage to children when one parent is ripped from their lives causing needless suffering to all children and the fathers who have been alienated from their lives. Gender mainstreaming in family law is long overdue. Children with loving and attentive fathers are more likely to experience academic success, less likely to becoming involved with drugs, crime, and are less likely to suffer abuse at the hands of unsupervised parents and their paramours. Countless government funded studies prove that children who have two loving and involved parents are less likely to become a burden to society. These studies pointing to the 150 billion dollars a year that can be saved in future government spending that is currently used to aid one parent households. This dollar amount saved would be expected to increase overtime as the now adults who were once children affected by this system complete the life cycle. Healtheir children have been shown to be better educated and have higher earning copacities which translates into more tax revenue for government. They are less likely to display such behaviors and live lifestyles that ultimateley result in them becoming a burden to the tax payer.
The proposed law is supported by parenting rights groups nationally. These members feel that the current system is unfair and bias in favor of the mother having total custody making fathers a visitor by giving him usually 4-8 days a month “visitation” to be with their children. Even if they weren’t the initiator or cause of the divorce or seperation. Current statistics show that 2/3 of all divorce proceedings are initiated by women. Wich leaves staggering numbers of children fatherless (1.2 million more each year)(24 million currently).They criticize family-law professionals, claiming attorneys want to maintain the status quo because it lines their pockets with legal fees. Family law has become a billion dollar industry pitting one parent against the other in an adversarial relationship. Where as one is the winner and the other the loser resulting in the child who is the prize in this contest, being robbed of a meaningful relationship with his/her father.(87%) Ultimatley in the disallusion of a parental relationship everyone suffers, but no one suffers more than the children who are faced with the horrific pain of having one parent stripped from their lives.
The amended law was written by Rep. Robert E. Belfanti Jr. (D-Montour) who has sponsored similar legislation twice before. It was introduced in February with 50 co-sponsors and was referred to the House Judiciary Committee, where it currently awaits review by the Subcommittee on Family Law, chaired by Rep. Kathy Manderino (D-Philadelphia) who opposes the Bill.
This gives fathers an equal chance to be parents and not visitors. It does so expediantly without risk to children. It gives fathers the Constitutional right of due process while protecting childrens best interest at the same time.It gives the opportunity for America to repair the social destruction created by the current system. Children should be the center of both parents’ lives. They are not to be used as pawns or tools to inflict pain from one parent onto another in separation or divorce. According to the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 50% of mothers see no value in a father maintaining a relationship with his children. Furthermore 40% of custodial mothers admit to using custody as a weapon against their children’s father. Parental alienation is child abuse and is a real problem that is eroding the future of our nation, our children.
Susan –
Several of our clients are in 50/50 shared parenting arrangements. I am a parent in a 50/50 shared custody situation that our children enjoy immensely over the once seriously unbalanced parenting order. It has been a wonderful for the children, whose grades improved, disposition improved, and their behavioral and disciplinary issues (particularly in school) vanished. Since the implementation of 50/50 – litigation has been down drastically.
Another client managed to work with her ex-husband to make a 50/50 custodial arrangement by agreement that started the day that they split. Unlike my own situation, her and her ex have an amicable post-divorce relationship that is all about doing what’s best for the kids. Their children are thriving at home, at school, and in interpersonal relationships.
Contrary to your assertion above, which I’m sure is based solely on your own personal experience – several of us here happen to know a good number of families personally who are in a 50/50 shared parenting situation post-divorce, and not a single one of them “hates it.” Why? Because despite their feelings for their ex-spouse, they recognize that it’s the CHILDREN who love the arrangement of having both parents an integral part of their day-to-day lives.
Now, that’s not to say that there aren’t situations out there like you describe. I just have to be honest with you and tell you that those families we know of PERSONALLY – with 50/50 shared parenting situations – have happier, healthier children, and spend FAR LESS TIME IN COURT than those parents with a seriously unbalanced schedule, particularly when logistics, willingness, and parental fitness would allow for a more balanced parenting situation.
Susan,
Clearly, by your comments, you are creating the “hell” of shared parenting. Have you ever asked your son if he thinks it is “hell” being able to hold his head high and declare that he has an equally good relationship with both of his parents because he has meaningful time with both of you? Take a look in the mirror to see the person that needs to grow up and accept that the arrangement is the best of the bad situation that divorce is.
House Bill 463 is a law that is long over due. It will help rewrite past laws that have violated the US Constitution.
Violating the children and one non custodial parent. The child’s birth right of two parents. The non custodial parent
having been violated by stripping him of every benefit of having children. The state has inflicted cruel and inhuman punishment on the child and the non custodial parent for no crime. 8th and 9th Amendments. Why should any parent have to fight to maintain parental rights? Most previous custody awards have been made in violation of the “equal
protection under the law clause”, awarding mother custody solely because she is a woman. The overwhelming number of custody awards go to mother. Statistics tell the truth. HOUSE BILL 463 should be expedited immediately.
In the best interest of the child, of course.
Children from fatherless homes account for:
63% of youth suicides.
(Source: US Dept. of Health & Human Services, Bureau of the Census).
71% of pregnant teenagers.
(Source: US Dept. of Health & Human Services)
90% of all homeless and runaway children.
70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes
(Source: U.S. Dept. of Justice, Special Report, Sept 1988)
85% of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders.
(Source: Center for Disease Control).