Over one-quarter of the Massachusetts Legislature has expressed clear, public support for Fathers & Families' Shared Parenting Bill, many of them signing on as co-sponsors.

Fathers & Families 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.

Fathers & Families persuaded the Boston Globe to become first major newspaper in the United States to endorse Shared Parenting in principle in an editorial (Feb 23, 2008).

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick told the Legislature that if they pass Fathers & Families' Shared Parenting, he will sign it.

Fathers & Families recently met with Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick concerning Shared Parenting and related topics.

Fathers & Families pushed "Shared Parenting" to the number one issue on the Massachusetts Governor's website for citizen input.

Fathers & Families ignited a debate in the Massachusetts Democratic Party over Shared Parenting, leading to a spirited, 40 minute debate on the floor of the 2009 Massachusetts Democratic Party Convention and winning 40% of the Convention's vote.

Child Support Services of Atlanta used the U.S. mail to wantonly mislead parents into believing it is a state agency and persuade them to send it child support payments, which its owner Stuart Clay Cole stole for himself, the Post Office claims. The federal complaint claims Cole's company has offices in Georgia and 12 other states, and used threats and intimidation to get money from noncustodial parents.

Child Support Services charged its victims excessive fees and failed to abide by its own "rules," refusing to allow parents to cancel contracts, the Postal Service says.

The Post Office seeks a restraining order and injunction authorizing it to seize mail sent to any of the defendants' addresses.

The Post Office says Child Support Services of Atlanta does business under "various names which include Child Support as a part of the name," in Georgia, Nevada, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and California."

Child Support Services used a variety of methods for the scam, including Internet and directory assistance listings that appear to link it to legitimate government child support collection agencies, the Post Office says.

Most of its offices are in capital cities, reinforcing the appearance of affiliation with state entities.

The company is accused of identifying potential victims through public records, then subjecting them to barrages of telemarketing and mail solicitations. Many victims were not under court order to pay child support, but Child Support Services used threats of arrest, license suspensions and wage garnishments to get their money, the Post Office says.

In some instances, Child Support Services "committed explicit fraud by forging correspondence to state child support collection entities to indicate the correspondence was sent by a person being served by the state entity and to direct the state entity to close its file to allow CSS to then serve the custodial parent whose signature it forged," according to the complaint.

Victims were told to send their payments to local offices of Child Support Services by mail; these payments were funneled to the company's Georgia office, the complaint states.

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:

• Get Involved
• Give a Gift
• Become a Member of the Fathers & Families Action Squad