PBS Documentary on Family Law to Be Aired

The documentary on family law which PBS promised after our Campaign Against PBS's Father-Bashing Breaking the Silence is called Kids & Divorce: For Better or Worse, and it will be airing on PBS affiliates in mid-September.

PBS broadcast the anti-father documentary Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories on many of its affiliates last October. The film accused family courts of anti-mother bias, attacked Parental Alienation Syndrome, and portrayed divorced dads seeking shared custody as batterers and child molesters aiming to steal children from their mothers. The film was extremely one-sided, and presented a harmful and inaccurate view of divorce and child custody cases.

Working with Fathers and Families, the American Coalition for Fathers & Children and others, we organized a campaign against the film, and over 10,000 of you called or wrote PBS to protest. Our demand was that "PBS provide fatherhood and shared parenting advocates a meaningful opportunity to present our side."

The campaign generated considerable media attention and controversy, and both PBS's ombudsman and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's ombudsman expressed sympathy with many of our aims.

In November we made the bombshell announcement that one of the women profiled as a heroic mom in the film had been found culpable of multiple acts of child abuse by a California Juvenile court. While the film claims that the mother lost custody of the daughter because of the father's legal machinations, in reality the Juvenile court transferred custody to the father to protect the girl.

In December PBS issued a statement saying they would commission an hour-long documentary to examine the issues raised in the film and by our campaign. PBS said that "plans call for the documentary to be produced and broadcast in Spring 2006" and that the "hour-long treatment of the subject will allow ample opportunity" for those of differing views to "have their perspectives shared, challenged and debated."  We commended PBS for understanding our concerns and taking action to address the situation.

In April PBS filmed and interviewed Fathers & Families members. PBS describes Kids & Divorce: For Better or Worse as follows:

"Millions of American families are affected by divorce. Divorce and its aftermath generate strong emotions, sometimes influencing children into rebellion and bad behavior. By profiling several children and parents going through a divorce, the program explores how divorce affects children, how parents can lessen the negative effects and the efforts to reform how the way custody decisions are made."

For a list of stations and dates where Kids & Divorce: For Better or Worse is scheduled to air, click here.