Top Stories |
Action Alert: Protest Phoenix Dad-Bashing News Report
In one of the most biased news reports I've ever seen, Phoenix KSAZ FOX 10 beat up on so-called "deadbeat dads" in its recent piece Deputies Round Up Deadbeat Dads. In it, Rochelle Black, the mother of a 3-year-old girl, blasts her husband as a deadbeat, holding the picture of their daughter up to the man's face. When her ex-husband, in handcuffs, begins to respond "you won't let me see her," FOX abruptly cuts away from him. Later, she claims poverty and he accuses her of lying before he is again cut off.
I have no idea if Jeffery Black is really the louse that his ex-wife claims he is–I do know that FOX 10 wouldn't allow us to hear what he had to say for himself. There was no hint of balance in the piece--not one word to contradict the noxious "deadbeat dad" stereotype being pushed.
We're asking Fathers & Families supporters to email Andrew Hasbun, the segment's reporter, and Linda Williams, the news anchor, by clicking here. Also, call the station at 602-257-1234 and voice your disapproval.
Again, to email the relevant parties, click here.
Hasbun, Williams, or the station may defend themselves by pointing to their recent piece Deadbeat Moms & Child Support Payments. Don't buy it–just as we don't want to see noncustodial fathers publicly humiliated, neither do we want the same done to noncustodial mothers. There certainly are fathers and mothers who don't come through for their children, but research clearly shows that most so-called "deadbeats" don't pay because they are unable to do so. The recession has made this even more dramatically true.
Again, to email the relevant parties, click here.
F & F Supporter Featured by CBS over Her Loss of Custody Due to Military Deployment
 Because of problems in the family court system, when a divorced or never-married military parent deploys overseas, they often face the possibility of losing their custodial arrangement and their relationship with their children. Fathers & Families and its legislative representative Michael Robinson have been at the forefront of this issue, successfully working to pass military parent legislation in dozens of states.
In 2003, Fathers & Families publicized the heartbreaking case of Lt. Gary S., a San Diego-based US Navy SEAL who had his child permanently moved from California to the Middle East against his will while he was deployed in Afghanistan after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The first success on this issue occurred in 2005 under Robinson's leadership with the passage of SB 1082. SB 1082 addressed the way parents who serve are often taken advantage of in custody and family law matters while they are deployed, and helped resolve the child support nightmare many mobilized reservists face.
 Fathers & Families organized a campaign in support of the bill, and the Senate Judiciary Committee Analysis of SB 1082 made specific note of your calls and letters. The bill was sponsored by Senators Denise Moreno Ducheny (D-San Diego) and Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside). According to Robinson, Senator Morrow was first inspired to take up this cause after Morrow read my column The Betrayal of the Military Father (Los Angeles Daily News, 5/4/03) about Lt. Gary S. (pictured with his son).
 Since then Robinson has worked with legislators and staffers in many other states on military parent legislation, and many states have passed bills modeled in part on SB 1082. These include: Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, Ohio, Michigan, Oklahoma, Utah, Mississippi, Alaska, Missouri, and two dozen others.
Robinson also worked with Congressman Michael Turner's staff on federal military parent legislation. More progress was made this year with the National Defense Reauthorization Act (HR 2647), which was signed by President Obama last month. The bill mandates that the Secretary of Defense produce a report on child custody litigation involving members of the Armed Forces, as well as international intrafamilial abductions of servicemembers' children.
Fathers & Families is now working to ensure that the bill's impact isn't watered down. The Secretary of Defense will submit its report to the Armed Services Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives by the end of March. Fathers & Families is collecting military parents' custody stories and will submit them to the Secretary of Defense–to submit your military parent custody story for inclusion, please fill out our form here.
Lt. Col. Vanessa Benson (pictured above) is a part of these efforts and is currently in a highly-publicized custody battle after she lost custody of her son following her deployment to Afghanistan. Benson was featured by CBS in its recent piece Military Parents Fight for Custody at Home. According to CBS:
After returning home from Afghanistan, Lt. Col. Vanessa Benson is in what she calls, the fight of her life…
She and her ex-husband are battling over custody of their 14-year-old son John. Benson, in accordance with her mandated family action plan, temporarily gave the ex-husband custody before she was deployed last December with the understanding John would return home once she did. That didn't happen.
"I had gotten an e-mail from my son's father that says, ‘You need to get a lawyer. I'm not sending your son back to you,'" Benson told Miller.
Benson, who serves in the 101st Airborne Division, said she hasn't seen her son in about two months and hasn't lived with him in a year.
The ex-husband did not want to talk to CBS News but has argued in court documents that it's in their son's best interest to stay with him in Florida for stability. But after seven months and $12,000 in legal bills, Benson said she doesn't think it is fair that she has to fight to win back a son she left behind to serve her country.
"I feel that I'm being put in the same category as an unfit mother," Benson told Miller…
Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, has proposed a bill he says would protect service members' custody rights by setting universal federal standards state family courts must follow…
"It is unbelievable the number of family court judges who will willingly use a service member's time away in serving their country in Iraq and Afghanistan to take custody away from them," Turner told Miller.
The Department of Defense has successfully fought the bill since its introduction in 2007, arguing that states are better equipped to handle custody issues…
"We're asked to drop everything to go to combat," Turner told Miller. "Is it too much to ask that we have protection for when we come back to get our children back?"
Benson told Florida Today:
I'm supposed to have my child back, yet all the judge's orders have gone unheeded and have gone unenforced by (the judge). How much more money do I have to spend to get an order (the father is) not going to abide by?" Now remarried to another Army lieutenant colonel, Benson, 39, said she raised John as a single parent for years and allowed her ex-husband liberal visitation.
The case isn't black and white–John does have a legitimate reason to want to stay in Florida, since his father is no longer in the military and can probably allow John to finish his last 3 1/2 years of high school without being moved again. While Vanessa has no more deployment orders, that could change in the future. However, Vanessa told Fathers & Families that her concern isn't simply that the boy may continue to live in Florida, but also that she feels she is being driven out of John's life...
|
|
| Join Fathers & Families |
 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:
|
|
|
F & F Action Items--Have You Participated Yet? |
|
Parental Alienation Heartbreak |
Parental Alienation & DSM V: ‘I still feel a deep loss from not having had time with my father growing up'
Parental Alienation cases are heartbreaking, and many of the numerous letters we've received as part of our new Campaign to Ask DSM to Include Parental Alienation in DSM V are sad examples.
David, a Fathers & Families' supporter, is an adult child of divorce and a participant in our campaign. He writes:
My brother, sister and myself were all subjects of Parent Alienation Disorder. This was long before it was ever heard of. I'm the youngest and I'm now in my mid-fifties. Both of my parents are still alive, now both approaching 90. Me, being the youngest, I briefly saw my father only two or three times while growing up. I listened to a constant stream about how horrible he was and the terrible things he did from my mother. My sister wouldn't even see him on those few times he came to visit.
I finally got to really meet my father when I was in my mid-20s. We initially spent about two weeks together. I listened to him for about the first week and then began asking him all the questions that had built up over the years. I asked very pointed questions regarding the stories that had been drilled into my head.
I discovered that my father was very honest and not at all as my mother had painted him. Since then, he and I have developed a relationship. However, I still feel a deep loss from not having had time with my father growing up. The worst part are the deep scars left in my family...
Read more here. |
|
|
Please Take a Moment to Fill Out This Form |
Fathers & Families has a massive E-Newsletter list numbering over 50,000 members and supporters. However, we could do more with more information about our supporters. We ask that each person reading this email take a brief moment to fill out this form. It will help our movement organize better and grow stronger.
Please click here to fill out the form.
Glenn Sacks, MA
Executive Director, Fathers & Families
Ned Holstein, M.D., M.S.
Founder, Chairman of the Board, Fathers & Families |
|
|
|
