MA getting closer to equal parenting via HB 1400

September 25, 3:37 AMFamily Rights ExaminerTeri Stoddard

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shared parenting works by t.stoddard

Massachusetts is on the verge of becoming a shared parenting state.  Or it seems, after Governor Deval Patrick and today's committee members expressed unprecedented interest.  

HB 1400 would establish a presumption of shared legal and shared physical custody following divorce, where a family court determines that both parents are fit to care for their children.  Ned Holstein M.D., M.S., Founder and Chair of the Board of Fathers & Families testified today along with Harris Allen, PhD, Cheryl Quiambao, Annie McQuilken, Norma Millett, Shawn Gliklich, MD, Attorney Deborah Sirotkin Butler and other shared parenting supporters.

Glenn Sacks, F& F's Executive Director reports:

Through Fathers & Families’ efforts, over one-quarter of the Massachusetts Legislature has expressed clear, public support for our Shared Parenting Bill, many of them signing on as co-sponsors. We gathered thousands of signatures to place shared parenting on the 2004 Massachusetts ballot and led a successful campaign for its passage, winning 86% of the vote. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick told the Legislature that if they pass Fathers & Families’ Shared Parenting bill, he will sign it, and F & F recently met with Massachusetts Governor Patrick.

Many questions were asked of those testfying in favor of HB 1400.   Holstein described the meeting, saying it took about an hour.  ”They don’t do that if they just want to sweep an issue under the rug,” he said.

Myth busted

One myth that reappears whenever shared parenting is mentioned is that it is a tool used by abusive men who are aided by an evil empire called "the fathers movement."  People who perpetrate this myth will tell you that father and shared parenting advocates are women-haters who want nothing but harm to come to women and children.

Men's, fathers' and shared parenting organizations, like family rights and mothers' organizations want reform in family law to protect children.  Ideally, children would have both parents in their lives equally, but they don't advocate for abusive parents of either gender to retain custody.  "We are an equal parenting organization that happens to have the word 'fathers' in it's name," says Donald Tenn, president of Fathers 4 Justice.  "We have members who are fathers, members who are mothers, and even grandparents," he says.  (See Good dads reach new heights to protect their children)

Harry Crouch says an investigation in San Diego is rocking the foundations of the California Family Court System.  This investigation, he explains, took root through the California Men’s Center with National Coalition of Free Men member attorney Marc Angelucci and other NCFM members.  "A host of adversely impacted fathers and mothers joined together in an ever increasingly effective campaign to expose certain harmful, if not corrupt aspects of the family court system," he said..

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