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NH Supreme Court: Parental Alienation 'Inimical to Children’s Welfare'
“Across the country, the great weight of authority holds that conduct by one parent that tends to alienate the child’s affections from the other is so inimical to the child’s welfare as to be grounds for a denial of custody to, or a change of custody from, the parent guilty of such conduct.”--New Hampshire Supreme Court, in a new ruling
James Miller and Janet Todd had two daughters...a New Hampshire court awarded joint custody, with Ms. Todd as primary custodian and Mr. Miller with visitation rights.
Todd began a long series of allegations of child sexual abuse against Miller. Each and every claim was investigated; each and every claim was determined to be unfounded. As part of the investigations, the girls were subjected to invasive pelvic examinations at least twice each.
False though the allegations were, they served a purpose; they caused the New Hampshire family court to suspend Miller’s parenting time with his children throughout the course of the proceedings. This meant that, for over two years, he had no contact with his daughters and they none with him...Read more.
F & F Supports Bill to Open Dependency Court Hearings to the Public
 Fathers and Families and its legislative representative Michael Robinson have long campaigned for reform of dependency court and child protective services.
In 2007 we publicized the outrageous Melinda Smith case, in which a San Diego father and daughter were needlessly separated by the foster care system for over a decade–to learn more, see our co-authored column Choosing Foster Parents over Fathers (San Diego Union-Tribune,7/11/07).
That year we also launched a successful national protest campaign against the Florida Department of Children & Families’ deplorable mistreatment of father Rafael Izquierdo (pictured) in the highly-publicized “Elian Gonzalez II Case.” After a long fight against an agency accustomed to running roughshod over the rights of both fathers and mothers, Izquierdo was given sole custody of his 6-year-old daughter.
One of the reasons why these types of injustices occur is that in most states, dependency court proceedings are closed to the public and the media. Since 2005, Robinson, many other advocates, and concerned parties have lobbied California lawmakers, staffers, and members of the Senate and Assembly Judiciary Committees to increase transparency in dependency court proceedings.
Now these efforts are coming to fruition with AB 73, sponsored by California Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles), head of the Assembly Judiciary Committee. In Attempt under way to open up courts that deal with child abuse cases (Capitol Weekly, 3/01/11), reporter Malcolm Maclachlan explains:
AB 73 would make [dependency] proceedings “presumptively open,” meaning the public would have access unless a judge made a decision to close them.
The rationale for having closed courts is to protect vulnerable children. But Feuer said that his bill would allow for judges to close courtrooms in cases where the child could be put at risk, such as from an abusive parent who no longer has custody.
“An open system will hold participants in it much more accountable,” Feuer said. “That will safeguard the kids and integrity of the process.”
In 2002, Minnesota moved to presumptively open dependency courts, and a recent study of that move’s outcome showed that it did not have a negative impact on children. According to Maclachlan, the study also found that “more open courts didn’t discourage people from reporting abuse, compromise reunification efforts, lead to more adversarial cases, or increase court costs.”
To learn more about AB 73, click here.
F & F Helps Introduce Georgia Military Parent Child Custody Bills
At Fathers and Families we receive many letters from divorced or separated military servicemembers with painful but preventable family law problems.
To address these problems, Department of Defense Liaisons Office legislative representative Kevin Bruch and Fathers and Families legislative representative Michael Robinson worked to introduce Georgia’s HB 282. Many months in the making, the bill will help protect military parents’ child custody rights during and after deployments.
Currently, Georgia is one of the few remaining states that has no protections in statute. HB 282 (and its Senate companion bill, SB 112) largely mirror Fathers and Families’ California AB 2416, which was passed into law last fall.
HB 282 was introduced by Representative John Yates, Chair of the Defense and Veterans Affairs Committee. Representative Yates is also the last living WWII veteran in the Georgia Legislature. Fathers and Families applauds Representative Yates and Senator Joshua McKoon, who carried SB 112, for their efforts.
HB 282 and SB 112 will address servicemembers’ child custody issues in several ways. For one, they will authorize courts to issue orders granting grandparents, stepparents and extended families the ability to exercise a deployed soldier’s normal parenting time. By encouraging courts to issue such orders, we allow children to preserve their loving bonds with their deployed parents, and also protect the important relationships children share with their grandparents, stepparents, and other extended family. These bills will substantially reduce the current problem of deployed servicemembers being unable to enforce visitation/contact orders.
HB 282 and SB 112 create a rebuttable presumption that upon a servicemember’s return from deployment, child custody and visitation orders will revert to the original order. This protects the crucial role these parents play in their children’s lives, and helps prevent military parents from having to re-litigate their cases.
We will keep our members and supporters informed of the bills’ progress and any related Action Alerts. |
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| Massachusetts Legislative Update |
Update: MA Shared Parenting Bill Moved to More Favorable Committee
In past years, Fathers and Families’ shared parenting bill has languished in the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. We believe it might have suffered a similar fate this session, in part, because Co-Chair Cynthia Creem of Newton, a divorce lawyer, has strongly opposed shared parenting bills in the past.
This year, through our efforts, our shared parenting bill has been assigned to a different committee, the Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities. While the bill still faces an uphill battle, we hope that it will get a fair and thoughtful hearing in this committee.
We hope that the Committee will recognize that shared parenting is good for children, diminishes parental conflict, and is fair for adults. We hope the committee will also see that we have built wide support for shared parenting, securing 30% of the Massachusetts Legislature as co-sponsors of shared parenting legislation, as well sponsoring a ballot initiative in which 86% of voters endorsed shared parenting as the usual outcome.
Our bill now has a permanent number: H02684. (Previous numbers were temporary and should be disregarded.) Its lead sponsor is Representative John Scibak (”Sigh-back”). It is entitled “A Bill Relative to Supporting Children and Parental Custody.” It supports children and strengthens families by creating a rebuttable presumption of shared parenting in divorce cases, so that children can sustain their loving relationships with both parents.
Fathers and Families continues to seek lead volunteers to coordinate our efforts to win over legislators. If you are willing to take a lead role, please contact me at NedHolstein@fathersandfamilies.org by email or at (617) 542-9300.
To learn more about the bill, please see our Massachusetts Shared Parenting page here.
Together with you in the love of our children,
Ned Holstein, M.D., M.S.
Founder, Chairman of the Board, Fathers and Families |
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