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New Obama/Bayh/Davis 'Fatherhood' Bill Helps Bureaucrats, Not Dads
 From my new column New Obama/Bayh/Davis 'Fatherhood' Bill Helps Bureaucrats, Not Dads (Huffington Post, 6/23/09):
With support from President Obama, Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) and Congressman Danny Davis (D-IL) introduced the Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act of 2009 for Father's Day, a bill cosponsored by then-Senator Barack Obama in the last Congress.
Obviously Bayh and Davis have to contend with DC political realities, which work against fathers and make rational legislation to help them politically difficult. Still, this Responsible Fatherhood bill will help bureaucrats and others far more than it helps dads, and in some ways it will hurt fathers...
NPR: A Young Father Faces Parental Alienation & Realizes His Father Was Driven Out of His Life
A powerful story from Jordan Monroe on NPR about Parental Alienation. Another example of how difficult it is for fathers to remain a part of their children's lives in the face of mothers' hostility and a family law system which too often acts as an angry mother's enabler. His sad childhood remembrances also shed light on the way a child processes losing a mother or father after a divorce or separation.
From Standing In My Father's Shoes (All Things Considered, 6/19/09):
My dad and mom separated when I was 3 years old. I can still remember the day my mom left him standing in the driveway of The French Quarter, a Creole restaurant he and my mother built and ran in Alameda, Calif. He was wearing a light-colored shirt and stood watching as I waved back at him through the car window. It was as if it were a normal goodbye.
But after that day, my mother and grandmother didn't make it easy for my dad to see me. I remember asking myself all these questions: Where is he? Why doesn't he come pick me up? Doesn't he know where we are?
My grandmother made her opinions clear. She didn't like my father. "Your daddy ain't never done nothing for you," she would say whenever I mentioned his name. Well, he didn't give me anything for my birthday, I thought. Maybe she was right.
What I didn't know then is that I would come to understand my father when I became a dad...
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 Fathers and Families is a family court reform organization with a comprehensive strategy, an impressive history of fundraising success, and the largest reach of any advocacy group of its kind:
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"[My dad] he taught me to be...a real man. Puts his family first. Just always willing to sacrifice to do everything best for the family.
I'm one of four kids and I feel like all four of us got so much of his time. I don't know if I could do that. I only have two and I feel like there's no time for anyone."
--Mike Lowell, third baseman, Boston Red Sox
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