Click Headline for Full Story

January 2010

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA  

Former WilmerHale Partner Loses Child Support Ruling

Leigh Jones, The National Law Journal

02-01-10 -- A former Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr partner has failed to convince the D.C. Court of Appeals to throw out a deadbeat-dad contempt order leveled against him. . . . William A. Wilson III, now a partner at Wilson International Law, appealed an earlier decision by D.C. Superior Court Judge Kaye Christian, which found that he willfully failed to pay retroactive child support totaling $156,000. Christian later dissolved the contempt order after Wilson paid $83,972, an amount on which he and his ex-wife settled. . . . In its Jan. 28 decision, the D.C. Court of Appeals found "no reason" to disturb Kaye's 26-page ruling, which determined that Wilson had been fully able to pay the $12,617 per month to support his three minor children.

Report: More fathers given primary child custody

Avvo - ‎

01-19-10 -- Addressing an emerging trend in child custody cases, a recent report by a team of attorneys specializing in family law found that increasingly more fathers are receiving primary custody of their children after a divorce. . . . The report by Short Family Law and Attorney Litigators stated that although in the early 1990s most states discarded the Tender Years Doctrine, which led courts to grant custody to mothers in cases involving young children, the practice of favoring mothers seemed to persist. . . . However, some estimates now put the number of fathers given primary custody at about 50 percent. . . . According to the report, "Presently, a growing number of families have stay-at-home dads and mothers who fill the role of primary earner and household provider. And as the number of domestic dads has increased, so has the legal system's willingness to award fathers child custody."

ILLINOIS

Children best served by mom's lesbian relationship?

Allie Martin - OneNewsNow

01-08-10 -- An official with the Illinois Family Institute (IFI) says it's outrageous that a judge has permitted a mother to take her children from their dad in order to move in with her lesbian partner. . . . Recently Karen Kelsky, the ex-wife of Taro Iwata, took him to court in a custody battle. Kelsky has become a lesbian and was granted custody of the couple's two children, and will also be allowed to move to Eugene, Oregon -- 1,800 miles away from her ex-husband -- to live with her lesbian partner.

Fatherhood by Billboard?

by Marybeth Hicks, Townhall.com 

01-07-10 -- The billboards are everywhere. On one, a child's tiny toes rest atop the big, burly feet of a man, suggesting a playful moment between a dad and his toddler. Another portrays a laughing boy being chased by what appears to be his boisterous father. In another, a dad and son hop across the grass on bouncy balls in a larger-than-life spontaneous moment. . . . All of these images are captioned, "Take time to be a dad today" and refer to the Web site www.fatherhood.gov. . . . Positive images of fathers engaging with their children are a welcome message in a culture where families struggle to remain intact and mothers generally bear responsibility for childrearing. . . . Then again, I'm certain that our Founders are gathered in some corner of heaven wringing their hands and wondering how we evolved into a government that teaches its citizens how fulfill our most basic human responsibilities. . . . What next? Take time to brush your teeth today? Take time to blow your nose today? Take time to visit the potty today? . . . There's a reason they call it a "nanny state." But sure enough, this ad campaign is a major component of the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse (NRFC) funded by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families' Office of Family Assistance (OFA).

December 2009

NEW JERSEY

An emotional homecoming for Goldman and his son

Maryann Spoto, Star-Ledger Staff

12-30-09 -- "Our home." . . . Those two words from his 9-year-old son made a five-year, politically charged, multi-continent custody battle all worth it for David Goldman of Tinton Falls. . . . Returning to the Monmouth County home with his son Monday night after a much-publicized, international custody struggle, Goldman finally heard the words he longed to hear when his son, Sean, asked where they lived. . . . Goldman, 42, said he was overwhelmed. . . . ""Just to hear him say "our home,' '' Goldman said yesterday, his voice cracking and his eyes filling with tears. ""I waited five years to hear that.'' . . . With the safe return of his son, Goldman also said yesterday he would work with U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.) to get legislation passed that would help other parents in his situation. . . . ""My assistance is offered to Congressman Smith, however possible,'' Goldman said at a news conference in his attorney's Red Bank office. ""He is a hero. He didn't have to give up his Christmas. He missed his Christmas.''

Guest Viewpoint: After divorce, fathers too often excluded from parenting

By Jason Aulicino, The Register-Guard

12-30-09 -- According to the Strengthening Families Act of 2003, “Nearly 24 million children in the United States, or 34 percent of all such children, live apart from their biological father. Forty percent of children who live in households without a father have not seen their father in at least one year, and 50 percent of such children have never visited their father’s home.” . . . The Census Bureau, in 2006, found that five of every six custodial parents are mothers (83.8 percent). One in six are fathers (16.2 percent), and 37.9 percent of fathers have no access or visitation rights. . . . Simplified, the result of divorce for the majority of children is a fatherless home. . . . If you are divorced and are the noncustodial parent, then you probably have experienced first-hand the inequity that exists in divorce and child custody cases. Restrictive visitation rules — or parenting plans, as they are now called — often accompany sole custody awards regardless of circumstance. Many status quo parenting plans are not based on a presumption of shared parenting, nor do they promote a father’s presence in a child’s life after divorce.

TEXAS

Foster Grandparents team with Kids First program to provide support

by Kathleen Thurber, Midland Reporter-Telegram

12-27-09 -- As Reggie Webb kicked the soccer ball with his 12-year-old daughter while his 10-year-old finished crafting a Christmas card one recent Thursday evening, Foster Grandparent Mary McFarlin watched from the doorway and smiled. . . . "It's fun when you come and see the parents and kids involved," McFarlin said, turning her gaze to the adjoining room where a father shared pizza with his two kids. "When you see the families grow closer together it's good." . . . Across the hall at Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity, where the program meets, Geneva Mills or "Granny G" shifted her video camera as she observed while a mother and her 11-year-old daughter finished a craft. . . . The two are among a group of Midland's Foster Grandparents who have added volunteering at Centers for Children and Families' Kids First Program to their list of weekly activities. The program, which recently received a $10,000 grant from the Texas Bar Foundation, provides supervised visitation for non-custodial parents.

NEW JERSEY  

Brazil custody case: David Goldman gets custody of son Sean

Brazil's chief justice upheld late Tuesday a lower court order handing 9-year-old Sean Goldman over to his American father. The Brazil custody case has been dragging on for five years, reflecting the difficulty of international custody disputes.

By Daniel B. Wood Christian Science Monitor Staff writer

12-23-09 -- The ruling by Brazil’s chief justice in favor of an American man seeking to gain custody of his son has important resonances in an era of increasing international marriages, say several legal experts. . . . Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes late Tuesday ruled that nine-year-old Sean Goldman should be handed over to his New Jersey father, lifting a stay on a lower court’s order and raising the prospect that the two could be reunited within days. . . . The ruling comes in a five-year custody battle over Sean, who in 2004 was taken by his mother, Bruna Bianchi, to her native Brazil. Ms. Bianchi later divorced his father, David Goldman, and remarried. The boy remained in Brazil with his stepfather and other family after his mother's death last year, while his American father sued in both US and Brazil courts to get him back. . . . The case garnered international attention, and threatened to disturb Brazil-US relations. . . . “Although the Brazilian judicial system finally reached the right decision, its failure to act expeditiously contributed to this tragic story,” says Christopher Schmidt, a legal expert with the US law firm of Bryan Cave LLP.

GEORGIA  

Former NFL Player Henry Appeals Child-Support Ruling

Lawyers asked Ga. high court to review order that Travis Henry pay $3,000 per month and fund a $250,000 trust

Andy Peters, Fulton County Daily Report

12-22-09 -- It's not uncommon for judges handling child-support cases to order the noncustodial parent to establish a trust from which the other parent can make monthly withdrawals. But a lawyer for former NFL running back Travis Henry thinks DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Clarence F. Seeliger went too far in 2007 when he ordered Henry to pony up $250,000 to create a trust for one of his children and to make monthly $3,000 payments. . . . Seeliger said Henry's history of delinquent payments despite making a huge salary made the trust necessary in case he is late again paying for the child -- one of nine he has fathered with nine women, according to Seeliger's final judgment of paternity and legitimation.

NEW JERSEY

Dad falls more than $700,000 behind in child support

By John Petrick, The Record Staff Writer

12-17-09 -- He might just be the mother of all deadbeat dads, at least in Passaic County. . . . The Lavallette man has been locked in county Jail after a state judge found that he owes $746,058 in back child support payments to his family in Wayne. . . . “It’s the highest amount I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been here for 15 years,” said Presiding Family Judge Michael K. Diamond in state Superior Court in Paterson, speaking outside of court. . . . Mark J. Taggart is being held on a charge of willful nonsupport until he can pay at least $225,000 of what he owes, under Judge Diamond’s order. He first appeared before the judge after being picked up on an open warrant for unpaid child support following a statewide sweep on Dec 2, and must appear before Diamond for a review of his case every 14 days. His most recent court appearance was Wednesday, when he was still unable to post the minimum. . . . But that’s only the latest chapter in what appears to be a complex past. Diamond said part of the reason Taggart’s former wife has been in Family Court 20 times trying to track him down since their 1999 divorce might be because he’s lived in so many places since then.

Jailed Father on Hunger Strike

by Bruce Eden, National Writers Syndicate

12-17-09 -- Protesting Denial of His Parental and Other Constitutional Rights. Mr. Amir Sanjari, was divorced after a 17 year marriage. He's a UK Citizen who  was originally invited to the United States to Stony Brook University, New York for a research position. . . . Now he's destitute and on a hungar strike in jail to protest the unconstitutional denial of fathers' rights and more. . . . Initially, Sanjari and his ex-wife shared equal custody of their children and had similar incomes. Nevertheless he was ordered to pay $1,000 a month in child support. Such a payment is the first sign that something is seriously amiss. . . .  But when he lost his job and applied for a reduction in "child support", it was denied. This denial is also not unusual, wrong, but not unusual. His ability in the recession to get a job to cover the outrageous child support payment faded. It brought on hardships for him. . . . Eventually his ex-wife won sole custody of the children, he says, by lying about him while he was out of the country on vacation. . . . Sanjari, a competent man, was not idle though. He learned the law to fight for his children and his rights to see them and care for them on his own. He fought in the Indiana family court, its district court, and eventually in federal courts. He had to go on the run to stay out of jail for not paying what he couldn't pay - a common circumstance for fathers under such 'child extortion' orders. He spent time helping other parents with their family court cases while he was on the run. . . . Unfortunately, though well-versed in constitutional and federal legal processes, it became apparent that he'd get no due process to protect rights clearly denied to him. For the child support he couldn't pay, he's been sent to jail. . . . Amir is now on a hunger strike to try to expose his plight and that of other fathers under this tyrannical anti-father system that separates fathers from their children and turn them into criminals. <MORE>

Bruce Eden, Civil Rights Director
DADS (Dads Against Discrimination)--New Jersey

NEW JERSEY

U.S. dad says he hopes to bring son home

CNN

12-17-09 -- An American father said he hopes to be bringing his 9-year-old son home from Brazil on Thursday after a long international custody battle that has involved U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and many Brazilian courtrooms. . . . A Brazilian court on Wednesday ordered that the boy, Sean Goldman, be returned to the custody of his father in the United States. The father, David Goldman, spoke to CNN's "American Morning" on Thursday shortly after his plane touched down in Brazil. . . . "I hope that this is the last trip I'll have to come down here," Goldman said. . . . In an earlier conversation with CNN's Anderson Cooper, Goldman said, "I hope this time I will be able to go down to Brazil and come back home with my son. Hopefully the rule of law, god, nature, human decency will be followed, and Sean will come home to reunite with me, his only parent."

FLORIDA

Where's the justice?

Klaus H. Mehlhorn Opinion, Hernando Today

12-2-09 -- Re: "Concerned Father: Don't let my son go," by Tony Holt in the Nov. 22 edition of Hernando Today. . . . I am of the impression that this man, Nasser Samad, is genuine in his expression. As a parent having gone through this, I can feel his pain. I give my thanks to Tony Holt for exposing this "insensitive justice." Holt is a true patriot for this, and the judge is a total pinhead, as Bill O'Reilly would put it. . . . I cannot believe this judge, Daniel Merritt Jr., will not at least request a guardian ad litem. I also cannot believe this judge will not let the 11-year-old boy testify. In addition, I cannot believe this judge will not hear counseling sessions with the boy's therapist. This judge absolutely allows an injustice to exist and does nothing about it. I don't know all the facts, but from what I have read and from the experience of having gone through this same scenario, I must dismiss the judge and applaud the father and his lawyer. . . . At this juncture, if I were the father's lawyer, I would not stop arguing this point until the judge's wrong is corrected. I would continue to do this until Judge Merritt sees the light. I would do this before the Paris flight and at this point, I would do it for the cause at no further charge. His client deserves better, as he and his son have suffered enough. There is moral and ethical law and there is legal law. Moral laws are absolute like gravity is. Legal law is arbitrary and based on politics and money and is manipulated. It's easy to draw the line here.

IOWA

Girl entitled to dead dad's benefits, judge rules

By Jason Clayworth • DesMoinesRegister.com

12-2-09 -- Six-year-old Brynn Beeler is entitled to her father's Social Security benefits even though he died two years before she was born, a federal judge has ruled. . . . The West Branch child was born through in vitro fertilization using sperm from Patti Beeler's late husband, Bruce, who died of leukemia at age 37. . . . Beeler filed for Social Security survivor benefits for her daughter within a few weeks of Brynn's birth in April 2003. The federal government's initial denial of the request led to a legal challenge over the traditional Social Security eligibility interpretations. . . . It was, in my view, the right decision," said Patti Beeler. "We're the first in Iowa, but we won't be the last. You either deal with it now, or a year or 10 years later when there are more cases." . . . In 2006, the last year for which statistics are available, 54,656 babies were born using assisted reproductive technology, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's a 162 percent increase from the 20,840 births in 1996.

November 2009

TEXAS  

Father putting his life back together after daughters recant stories of molestation

By Diane Jennings / The Dallas Morning News

11-27-09 -- "Paul Parks" spent almost three years in prison for molesting his two young daughters. He spent another 15 years living with the stigma of being a registered sex offender. . . . All because of what they now say is a lie. . . . Last year his now-adult daughters changed their story and he was exonerated. Such recantations are not unusual, but being declared innocent by the courts is rare. . . . For Parks, who requested a pseudonym as he pulls his life back together, his moment came when a Dallas judge concluded that his daughters' recantations were credible. In April, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals set the convictions aside "on actual innocence grounds." . . . The 54-year-old father of nine, paroled in 1994, got a call at work last spring telling him that after 25 years of hoping and praying, his name was cleared. . . . "It feels like I've got my life back, like I was suffocating and I came back to life," he says. . . . "I didn't want to die with a lie." . . . Once a lawyer, now a truck driver, he celebrated by asking his boss for time off to attend the wedding of one of the two daughters who accused him of molesting them. . . . Parks' case is every man's nightmare: to be accused of molesting your own daughters and to have no way to prove you didn't do it. Even now, he's aware that without conclusive evidence, like in the flurry of DNA exonerations in recent years, some people will always wonder if he's guilty.

I traced my dad... and discovered he is Charles Manson

By Pete Samson. US Editor

11-23-09-- LIKE many adopted children, Matthew Roberts set about finding his biological parents with a mix of nerves and excitement. . . . In particular, he hoped that discovering his father's identity would help him to work out what made him the man he had become. . . . But nothing could have prepared him for being told his dad was... serial killer CHARLES MANSON. . . . Over a five-week period in the summer of 1969, Manson and his Family of commune followers committed a series of nine gruesome murders. Victims included pregnant actress Sharon Tate, wife of film director Roman Polanski. . . . Matthew, 41 - who bears a haunting resemblance to his father - sank into depression after discovering his identity. . . . He has since been in contact with his dad in a series of letters to his California prison and Manson has replied - each time chillingly signing off with a swastika. . . . Now Matthew, who was given up for adoption as a baby, has told of his horror at finding out he was the son of a monster. . . . He says: "I didn't want to believe it. I was frightened and angry. It's like finding out that Adolf Hitler is your father. . . . "I'm a peaceful person - trapped in the face of a monster." . . . Matthew grew up in Rockford, Illinois, and didn't know he was adopted until his sister told him when he was ten.

PENNSYLVANIA

Who Knew I Was Not the Father?

By Ruth Padawer, New York Times

11-17-09 -- It was in July 2007 when Mike L. asked the Pennsylvania courts to declare that he was no longer the father of his daughter. For four years, Mike had known that the girl he had rocked to sleep and danced with across the living-room floor was not, as they say, “his.” The revelation from a DNA test was devastating and prompted him to leave his wife — but he had not renounced their child. He continued to feel that in all the ways that mattered, she was still his daughter, and he faithfully paid her child support. It was only when he learned that his ex-wife was about to marry the man who she said actually was the girl’s biological father that Mike flipped. Supporting another man’s child suddenly became unbearable. . . . Two years after filing the suit that sought to end his paternal rights, Mike is still irate about the fix he’s in. “I pay child support to a biologically intact family,” Mike told me, his voice cracking with incredulity. “A father and mother, married, who live with their own child. And I pay support for that child. How ridiculous is that?” . . . Yet despite his indignation — and despite his court filings seeking to end his obligations as a father — Mike loves his daughter. Every other weekend, the 11-year-old girl, L., lives in Mike’s house in a quiet suburban neighborhood in Western Pennsylvania. Her bedroom there is decorated to reflect her current passion: there’s a soccer bedspread, soccer curtains and a soccer-ball night light. On her bed is an Everybody Loves Me pillow covered with transparent sleeves filled with photos of her and Mike, the man she calls “Daddy,” canoeing, fishing and sledding together.

NORTH CAROLINA

Father of missing girl laments giving daughter to mom charged with human trafficking

Associated Press, WGME

11-15-09 -- The father of a missing 5-year-old North Carolina girl says he never should have allowed her to go back to her mother, who is now being charged with human trafficking and other offenses. . . .  It's not clear if the charges are related to Shaniya Davis' disappearance, and authorities say they still don't know where the girl is. The girl's mother, Antoinette Nicole Davis, reported her missing Tuesday from a mobile home community in Fayetteville. . . . Police say she's facing charges for alleged child abuse and filing a false police report. . . . A man believed to be on a hotel surveillance video carrying the child has been charged with kidnapping.

GEORGIA

April Becker-Antoniou: Woman Finds Dad By Googling Herself

Huffington Post (blog) - ‎Nov 11, 2009‎

11-11-09 -- April Becker-Antoniou was reunited with her father, who had spent 30 years searching for her, through a Google search. . . . Becker-Antoniou's father, Dr. Scott Becker, created a web site named after his daughter, AprilBecker.com, as part of his efforts to track her down. . . . Becker-Antoniou typed the name into Google, performed a search, and stumbled onto the website Becker had made in his search for his daughter. . . . Becker's site contained this message:

April Joi (Joy) Becker

Dear April, When you read this, please send an email to: april@aprilbecker.com. Im your Dad and I would really like to talk to ya. When I get your email, I will ask you a couple of questions that only you would know so I can filter out the crazies out there. By the way, You have a lil sister that REALLY wants to talk to you :-) Dad Scott Robert Becker"

After seeing the site, Becker-Antoniou first contacted her father over email. As CBS reports, The two communicated by e-mail and over the phone for the past five days. Becker said he confirmed her mother's maiden name, her birthday, middle name and some other specific details only his daughter would know.

OHIO  

Daddy activists facing prison promise ongoing protests

Teri Stoddard Family Rights Examiner

11-10-09 -- Jury selection continued today for the two daddy activists who hung banners on a 175' construction crane at Ohio State University last year to draw attention to civil rights violations within family court.  One banner read "Stop the war on fatherhood" and the other "Fathers 4 Justice." . . . As Donald Tenn explained in 18 mos prison possible for CA dad his daughter Madison was illegally moved from California to Illinois by her mother.  His wife filed a false restraining order claiming fear of him, he says, when she learned the law wouldn't support her unilateral decision. . . . When unmarried dad Paul Fisher was prohibited from being an equal parent to daughter Demetra he took his case to the Ohio Supreme Court, and won.  But the local family court judge circumvented the win, claiming a change in circumstances to deny Fisher equal parenting of his daughter.  He now sees Demetra just four days a month.

VAWA facilitates and funds illegal parental child abduction - part one

VAWA facilitated and funded the illegal abduction of Madison Tenn

Teri Stoddard, Family Rights Examiner

11-4-09 --

Fathers 4 Justice daddy activist Donald Tenn opens up about his own child custody case as he faces 18 months in prison for an Ohio crane protest, in this exclusive three-part interview. . . . . On May 25, 2006 Madison Tenn was illegally moved six states away from her Sacramento, California home by her mother, says dad Donald Tenn.  Since that time Shannon Phillips has committed fraud and perjury in two states, wasted thousands of tax-payer dollars and kept a little girl from her loving, stay-at-home, primary caretaker daddy, he adds. . . . . Tenn is speaking out about his own case he says, because he's facing 18 months in prison for a peaceful protest for parents rights.  He wants people to know the truth; that he and Shannon were happily married, "We never had domestic problems.  I'm not a violent person.  I believe in communication.  The police were never called to our home."

Continued in parts two and three.

HELP KEEP VICTIMS-OF-LAW ON THE WEB SHOP OUR ADVERTISERS OR CONTRIBUTE NOW

October 2009

Custody battle arises between father, stepfather

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow

10-28-09 -- An odd child custody battle is now before the Pennsylvania Superior Court. . . . The story begins with a marriage between Eric Harner and his wife. The couple soon had a daughter, but divorced three years later, leaving primary custody of the child with the mother. Alliance Defense Fund attorney David Dye tells OneNewsNow that both remarried. However, the former wife died, leaving the little girl in the custody of her biological father. Dye says the stepfather then sued for custody. . . . "Well, the trial court sided with that gentleman, and the trial court made the little girl go back to live with the stepfather rather than with her own father, her stepmom, and her half brother," the attorney explains. . . . He further emphasizes that nothing has surfaced in the two-and-a-half years of litigation to indicate the biological father is not worthy of raising his own daughter. State law permits a third party to gain custody only under strict circumstances.

RHODE ISLAND

In this contest, there are never any winners

Bob Kerr: Providence Journal

10-11-09 -- Mickey Mouse got bounced from the birthday party. Actually, he never got in the door. He stood there, in full Disney, and was told he wasn’t wanted. . . . It was one of those mad, cruel moments from the divorce wars, where people get competitive over a kid’s happiness. In this case, a father who couldn’t attend his daughter’s birthday party because of a restraining order hired a person in a Mickey Mouse suit to go instead. It was his way of being part of the day without actually being there. . . . It didn’t work. The fun Mickey Mouse might have brought to the party was no match for a mother’s need to keep a father out of sight and out of mind. . . . There are lots of names for it — payback, revenge, getting even, sticking it to the ex. It might be the sickest part of divorce. It is the attempt to lay waste to the idea that divorced parents can both maintain strong relationships with their children. It is the attempt to poison kids’ minds. It gets vicious sometimes. . . . And it’s always expensive. Lawyers and therapists do well with it. A considerable chunk of a family’s assets can go down the tubes because an angry parent would rather keep hauling the case into court than reach healthy resolution. . . . Officially, it’s parental alienation syndrome. It’s not easy to diagnose. Sometimes, it’s impossible to determine whether one parent is more guilty of it than the other. It is filled with screams and accusations, court-ordered therapy and the degrading experience of visiting with one’s own sons or daughters under court-ordered supervision — at $35 an hour. . . . False charges of abuse are fairly standard.

WEST VIRGINIA   

Judge: W.Va. shelter rules biased against men

P.J. Dickerscheid, Associated Press Writer, Kansas City Star

10-8-09 -- A Kanawha County Circuit judge has voided West Virginia's regulations for domestic violence programs, saying they discriminate by denying abused men access to publicly funded shelters and women abusers access to treatment. . . . In a decision received Tuesday, Judge James C. Stucky said Family Protection Services Board's rules for licensing domestic violence shelters, certifying advocates and distributing state funding distort lawmakers' intent and violate the West Virginia Men & Women Against Discrimination's right to free speech. . . . The nonprofit advocacy group sued the state board last year. . . . Stucky said the state administers its programs on the premise that only men can be batterers and only women can be victims by requiring public shelters to adopt and adhere to the principle of separate but equal treatment based on gender. . . . "The practical effect of this rule is to exclude adult and adolescent males from their statutory right to safety and security free from domestic violence for no reason other than their gender," Stucky wrote in his Oct. 2 ruling.

Alec Baldwin Offers Divorce Advice in Paperback Book

By Martha Neil, ABA Journal

10-1-09 -- Divorcing actress Kim Basinger was hell, says actor Alec Baldwin. Plus it cost both of them some $3 million in legal fees. . . . But in a book that details the wrenching experience and has just been released in paperback, A Promise to Ourselves, he also offers some advice to others about avoiding the worst of the pitfalls he experienced. Among his suggestions: File first, get a lawyer who is not only skilled but someone you like and hire a good therapist.

September 2009

EW JERSEY

Walk will support efforts to Bring Sean Home

The Bring Sean Home community will hold a walkathon and fundraiser on Saturday, Oct. 3, at Pier Village in Long Branch to benefit The David & Sean Fund. . . . The Bring Sean Home Walkathon and Fundraiser will help defray expenses related to the abduction of Sean Goldman to Brazil and his repatriation to the United States. . . . Registration will begin at 9 a.m. at the hospitality tent in Pier Village's Festival Plaza. The day's events will kick off at 10 a.m. with a 3K walk along the oceanfront boardwalk, followed by live entertainment featuring local Jersey Shore performers. . . . This is a family-friendly event and participants of all ages are welcome, including those in wheelchairs, strollers and baby joggers. . . . Online registration is free and open to individual walkers, families, teams, and "virtual walkers," those unable to attend the Long Branch walk in person, but still wanting to show support for David and Sean.

To register online and for additional information about this event,

visit www.bringseanhome/walkathon

or call Mark DeAngelis at 917-751-3735; Christine Schmitt at 732-444-1087; or Melissa Capestro at 732-977-2855.

David Goldman is a Tinton Falls resident whose son Sean was abducted by his mother to her native Brazil in June 2004. Ever since Sean was taken, David has been fighting to bring him home, despite obstacles. In August 2008, Sean's mother passed away. Today, Sean remains in Brazil.

Bring Sean Home Website

U.S. father arrested in Japan for picking up kids abducted by ex-wife

USA Today

9-29-09 -- A Tennessee father has been arrested in Japan while trying to reach a U.S. consulate with his two children who had been abducted by his ex-wife, Nashville's WTVF TV reports. . . . Japanese police, who do not recognize U.S. family court orders, took Christopher Savoie into custody just outside the gates of the consulate in the city of Fukuoka. . . . In August, Savoie was awarded full custody of 8-year-old Isaac and 6-year-old Rebecca by a Tennessee court after his ex-wife, Noriko, whisked them off to Japan. The court also issued an arrest warrant for her. . . . WTVF says Savoie picked up the children Monday as they walked to school, according to friends and a witness. He then raced to the nearest U.S. consulate to try to get passports for them, CNN reports.

NEW YORK

Brooklyn Family Court judge refuses to terminate parental rights of incarcerated, illiterate dad

Daniel Weaver, Family Court Examiner

9-29-09 -- Kings County (Brooklyn, NY) Family Court Judge J. Alan Beckoff denied a petition to terminate the parental rights of an incarcerated father late last week. In the matter of Jayquan J., SCO Family of Services, a foster care agency, petitioned the court to terminate the parental rights of Clint J., saying that he had made no efforts to contact his child and had abandoned the child, therefore his consent was not needed to put Jayquan up for adoption. . . . "Teresa Tucker, the SCO caseworker, testified that Jayquan has been in a non-kinship foster home since entering foster care; that Respondent had no contact with him in the six-month period preceding the filing of the petition; that the agency had not discouraged Respondent from visiting or contacting Jayquan; that Respondent had not sent any cards, gifts, or letters to Jayquan; and that no one had come forward on Respondent's behalf. Ms. Tucker also testified that going back to May 2006, when Jayquan first came into SCO's care, Respondent did not have any contact with the child or the agency and had paid no support." . . . The judge found Tucker's testimony believable, but said in his decision, the agency treated the termination of parental rights in a perfunctory manner, acting as if Mr. J. "was little more than a technicality that had [to] be covered for the termination to go forward." . . . The court found the testimony of Clint J. to be credible, and his testimony underscores the difficulties that parents who are illiterate and/or incarcerated face when a petition is filed to terminate their parental rights. Mr. J testified  "that he told Becky C. that he wanted to get in touch with Jayquan either directly or through other individuals, but that he never got any addresses or contact information from the "foster people" and so did not know how to contact the New York City Administration for Children's Services ("ACS"). He said that he had no addresses or phone numbers for ACS caseworkers and that he wanted to send Jayquan clothing and cards but did not know where to send anything."

INDIANA

The War against Fathers

by Mike Adams, Townhall.com

9-21-09 -- Dan Brewington is among the latest casualties in a war against fathers that is tearing our nation apart, family by family. The Ripley and Dearborn County (Indiana) court system recently stripped him of his parental rights without reason or cause. He is no longer able to see his daughters despite his history of loving care for them and their strong bond with him. . . . Mr. Brewington has neither a criminal history nor a Social Services history. He is loved by his children whom he has taken excellent care of their entire lives. He has also demonstrated his ability to successfully parent the children under joint custody with the mother for the past 2 ½ years. Yet his rights were violated during divorce proceedings in which Judge Humphrey of Dearborn County ordered him to have no visitation with his children. . . . Ordering a man to have no contact with his children is a very serious matter. So there should be some compelling reason for such drastic intervention by the state into the life of a citizen. . . . As part of court documents submitted during the divorce proceedings, a custody evaluation report was, of course, submitted. In this report, a psychologist named Dr. Connor evaluated Dan Brewington’s parenting abilities. But Dr. Connor was not licensed in the state of Indiana at the time of his evaluation of Dan Brewington. So what was he doing stripping a man of his rights to see his children without proper licensure?

NEW YORK  

Criminal Past Does Not Bar Man From Adopting, Judge Decides

Vesselin Mitev, New York Law Journal

9-3-09 -- A history of crime and drug addiction spanning two decades should not bar a man from being eligible to adopt, said a New York surrogate judge who credited the man's attempt to turn his life around. . . . Since leaving prison for the last time in 2000, the prospective father has "demonstrably devoted himself to rebuilding his life," Nassau County Surrogate John B. Riordan ruled in Matter of the Adoption of Unknown (pdf), 362, allowing the man and his wife to take the first step toward becoming adoptive parents. . . . The couple had applied to be certified as qualified adoptive parents, which would enable them to be placed on a list of prospective candidates for private placement adoptions.

August 2009

GEORGIA

Childless man released from child support debt

CNN

8-11-09 --A Georgia man who spent a year in jail for nonpayment of child support -- despite the fact he has no children -- has been cleared of the debt, his attorney said Tuesday. . . . Frank Hatley, 50, spent 13 months in jail for being a deadbeat dad before his release last month. A judge ordered him jailed in June 2008 for failing to support his "son" -- a child who DNA tests proved was not fathered by Hatley. . . . Last week, Cook County Superior Court Judge Dane Perkins signed an order stating, "defendant is no longer responsible for paying any amount of child support." The order permits the state's Office of Child Support Services to close its file on Hatley. . . . "We're satisfied with the result for Mr. Hatley, but still troubled by the state's monumental lapse of judgment in this case," attorney Sarah Geraghty with the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights told CNN in a written statement. Hatley did not immediately return a call from CNN Tuesday. . . . His story dates back to 1986, when Hatley had a relationship with Essie Lee Morrison, who gave birth to a son. According to court documents, Morrison told Hatley the child was his, but the two ended their relationship shortly after the child was born. The couple never married and never lived together, the documents said.

CALIFORNIA

Abducted child's father faces prison for peaceful protest

8-9-09 --Donald Tenn, the Sacramento father who traveled to Washington DC recently for a rally to confront President Obama on his "fathers need to step up" comments, will be in a Columbus, Ohio courtroom Monday morning on charges related to his 4 day protest on a 175'  construction crane last year. . . . Tenn was a stay-at-home daddy until Shannon Phillips took their daughter to Illinois on what was described as a vacation three years ago.  After her arrival Phillips announced that she had no intention of returning to California, or of allowing Madison to return.  When Tenn reminded her that California law prevents parental move-aways Phillips filed her first of many false charges of domestic violence against Tenn. . . . At one point he had hope.  One judge refused a restraining order and scolded Phillips for her antics.  But after Tenn had one visit with Madison in Illinois Phillips renewed her campaign of false allegations. . . . He writes on his website dedicatedtomadison.com:

July 2009

NEW JERSEY

Court: Brazil boy can't be heard in custody battle

By Tales Azzoni (AP)

7-31-09 -- The Brazilian Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a 9-year-old Brazilian boy at the center of an international custody battle will not be allowed to testify about whether he wants to remain with relatives in Brazil or join his American father. . . . Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes ruled against the habeas corpus petition filed by the boy's Brazilian grandmother, Silvana Bianchi. She argued the boy should be heard before being returned to his biological father, David Goldman. . . . A Brazilian judge last month ruled that the boy be handed over to Goldman in the United States, but a Supreme Court justice suspended that decision after receiving a petition from a political party arguing that removing the boy from his current family environment would hurt him. Another judge at a lower court said the boy must remain with his stepfather in Brazil until a final ruling. . . . Goldman's Brazilian wife, Bruna Bianchi, took the boy to Brazil in 2004. She later married a Brazilian lawyer and died last year during the birth of a daughter. . . . Patricia Apy, Goldman's lawyer in New Jersey, has been arguing for months that the boy is in a fragile state and that because of his age and maturity level he should not be asked where he wants to live.

TENNESSEE  

Tennessee ACLU Affiliate Attorney Participates in Abuse of Children

Contact: Daniel Morgan, Christian Citizens against Corruption, 423-519-6410, stopdcsabuse@gmail.com  

Christian Newswire

7-31-09 -- Daniel Morgan is a father to three children 4, 6 and 7 years of age. When his children came home from visitations with their mother having burns, blistering, lacerations, needle punctures, bruising and infection. Mr. Morgan reported this to the Tennessee Department of Children's Services and his Attorney Peter J. Alliman (TBA #5984). . . . Physicians, Medical records, affidavits, letters and reports from school administrators, teachers and licensed clinical social workers all indicated that the abuses occurred to the children while in their mothers care and specifically by an adult male companion having past drug convictions while cohabitating with the children's mother. . . . Judge Jerri Bryant a Chancery Court Judge ordered that "the parties minor children shall not be left alone in the care of the wife's live in boyfriend John Scarbrough and the children shall not be allowed to ride in a motor vehicle being driven by John Scarbrough." Several police reports verify John Scarbrough blatantly violating Judge Jerri Bryant court order on numerous occasions. . . . When Mr. Morgan consulted his attorney Peter J. Alliman about the burns and lacerations to his 2 year old son Mr. Alliman reply was, "I don't have time to deal with your case on a day to day basis; there are other people with more serious problems!" When Mr. Morgan reported that John Scarbrough was in violation of Judge Jerri Bryant court order by picking up his 2 year son and his two daughters Mr. Allimans response was "Just because he doesn't have a drivers license doesn't mean he can't drive."

Family Court Injustices to Men

by Phyllis Schlafly

7-21-09 -- Did you know that a family court can order a man to reimburse the government for the welfare money, falsely labeled "child support," that was paid to the mother of a child to whom he is not related? Did you know that, if he doesn't pay, a judge can sentence him to debtor's prison without ever letting him have a jury trial? . . . Did you know that debtor's prisons (putting men in prison because they can't pay a debt) were abolished in the United States before we abolished slavery, but that they exist today to punish men who are too poor to pay what is falsely called "child support"?  . . . Did you know that when corporations can't pay their debts, they can take bankruptcy, which means they pay off their debts for pennies on the dollar, but a man can never get an alleged "child support" debt forgiven or reduced, even if he is out of a job, penniless and homeless, medically incapacitated, incarcerated (justly or unjustly) or serving in our Armed Forces overseas, can't afford a lawyer, or never owed the money in the first place? . . . Did you know that when a woman applying for welfare handouts lies about who the father of her child is, she is never prosecuted for perjury? Did you know that judges can refuse to accept DNA evidence showing that the man she accuses is not the father? . . . Did you know that alleged "child support" has nothing to do with supporting a child because the mother has no obligation to spend even one dollar of it on a child, and in many cases none of the "support" money ever gets to a child because it goes to fatten the payroll of the child-support bureaucracy? . . . These are among the injustices that the feminists, and their docile liberal male allies, have inflicted on men. The sponsor was former Democratic Senator from New Jersey and presidential candidate Bill Bradley.

GEORGIA  

Man jailed for child support, even though he was not the father, released

By Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

7-15-09 --A South Georgia man who had been jailed for more than a year for not paying child support — even though he was not the biological father — was released from custody on Wednesday. . . . “I thank God for this day,” Frank Hatley, 50, said in a telephone interview shortly after his release. “It feels good being free.” . . . Hatley had sat in a Cook County jail since June 25, 2008, even though a special assistant state attorney general and the judge knew Hatley was not the child’s biological father. . . . After showing a judge during a hearing Wednesday that he was indigent, Hatley was ordered released from confinement, his lawyer, Sarah Geraghty of the Southern Center for Human Rights, said. . . . The judge, however, postponed deciding whether Hatley must still repay the more than $10,000 in child support the state says he owes. But Hatley does not have to make any monthly payments until that issue is resolved, Geraghty said.

Court knew man jailed for a year for non-support was not child's father

Frank Hatley has languished in a South Georgia jail for more than a year

By Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

7-14-09 --The reason? He failed to reimburse the state for all the public assistance his “son” received over the past two decades. . . . The problem? Hatley is not the biological father -- and a special assistant state attorney general and a judge knew it but jailed Hatley anyway. . . . “I feel bad for the man,” Cook County Sheriff Johnny Daughtrey said Tuesday. “Put yourself in that man’s shoes: If it wasn’t your child, would you want to be paying child support for him?” . . . Daughtrey said he hopes a hearing Wednesday will resolve the matter. Hatley has been held at the county jail in Adel since June 25, 2008, costing the county an estimated $35 to $40 a day. . . . Even after learning he was not the father, Hatley paid thousands of dollars the state said he owed for support. After losing his job and becoming homeless, he still made payments out of his unemployment benefits.

PENNSYLVANIA  

Attorney Freed After Being Jailed 14 Years for Contempt in Divorce Case

JoAnn Loviglio, The Associated Press, Law.com

7-13-09 -- A Pennsylvania attorney who was released from prison Friday after serving the longest imprisonment on a civil contempt charge in U.S. history said judges have too much discretion in cases like his. . . . "If I had been convicted of murder in the third degree in Pennsylvania, I would have been out in half the time I was in jail," H. Beatty Chadwick said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. . . . A judge ordered Chadwick's release from a county prison in suburban Philadelphia more than 14 years after he was jailed for refusing to turn over millions of dollars in a bitter divorce battle. The case prompted dozens of appeals to county, state and federal courts, twice reaching the U.S. Supreme Court. . . . Chadwick, 73, said he will stay with his 41-year-old son, Bill, for now. He said he plans to find a job, though he was not sure what sort of work he would do.

PENNSYLVANIA

Chadwick freed after 14-year contempt sentence

By Mari A. Schaefer, Inquirer Staff Writer

7-11-09 -- H. Beatty Chadwick, imprisoned in Delaware County for the last 14 years, was in the jail library yesterday, giving legal advice to female inmates, when a prison official walked up and gave him the news. . . . He was a free man. . . . Minutes earlier, a Delaware County Court judge had issued an order granting Chadwick's petition for freedom and ending his 14-year incarceration for contempt of court - a U.S. record for that charge. . . . " 'We want you out of here right away,' " Chadwick, 73, said the official told him. . . . In 1995 - when Apollo 13 was a box-office hit, O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murder, and 168 people were killed in the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City - Chadwick, a corporate lawyer who grew up in Bryn Mawr, was embroiled in a nasty divorce. In April of that year, he was arrested by two sheriff's deputies at his dentist's Center City office and taken to jail. . . . A Delaware County judge had issued the order to jail Chadwick for failing to deposit $2.5 million in a court-controlled account to be used to pay alimony to his ex-wife, Barbara "Bobbie" Applegate. . . . Chadwick contended that he no longer had the money, saying he lost it in a bad overseas investment. The judge believed Chadwick had hidden the money after divorce proceedings began. Court-ordered investigations conducted since he went to jail have turned up no money.

CONNECTICUT

State, president promoting responsible fatherhood

Gary Stanek, Connecticut Post

7-4-09 -- About 24 million American children are growing up with absent fathers, and the state of Connecticut and President Barrack Obama are working to reduce that number. . . . Late this past month state legislators passed and sent to Gov. M. Jodi Rell a bill promoting "responsible fatherhood and strong families." Among the bill's strongest supporters was Rep. Bruce Morris, D-Norwalk, who co-chairs the Fatherhood Task Force. He said government has inadvertently built barriers in some instances to fatherhood, and the task force tries to come up with ways to remove them. . . . According to Morris, almost 50 percent of children in Connecticut "go to bed in fatherless homes." He and state Sen. Gary D. LeBeau, D-East Hartford, brought actor-comedian and fatherhood activist Bill Cosby to a December public hearing to support work on the bill.

Fathers wanted, fathers needed

By Jesse Muhammad, FinalCall.com Staff Writer

7-3-09 -- Father's Day, with its annual commercialized corporate advertisements and gift giving, has come and gone, but one group of men in America must continue year-round work to break the stereotype that they are irresponsible, no-good and indifferent towards parenting—the group of men is Black fathers. . . . Black children living in fatherless homes exceed 50 percent; single Black mothers are increasingly at the helm of households, not to mention the number of Black children having to talk to incarcerated fathers through a double pane of glass. . . . While analysts and the media often focus on the problem, Dr. Rozario Slack and other advocates seek to counter the negative image with examples of Black men who are successful husbands, fathers and role models. . . . “We can't just continue to point out the statistics. We already know them. But who is offering assistance to the men and being the example is the question. Where are those stories?” asked Dr. Slack. . . . Dr. Slack is the founder of Rozario Slack Enterprises in Chattanooga, Tenn. He travels across the country conducting seminars about marriage, fathering and other issues that impact children and families. He challenges Black men to develop healthy, wholesome family, and marital relationships. He has also published several books that offer real life tools. . . . “We help young men with pre-birth preparation, ways to avoid infidelity, financial management, and other means by which to save their families,” said Dr. Slack. He has been married over 16 years and has three children ages 13, 10, and 6. . . . “I am blessed to have an example in my parents who have been married for 58 years,” said Dr. Slack, who is also the head pastor of Temple of Faith Deliverance Church of God in Christ. “Divorce is far from my mind. We have to show that President Obama is only an example of other great Black husbands and fathers that exist. With all due respect, he is not the only one. Let's push them out front.”

June 2009

ARIZONA

More dads embracing bigger role in kids' lives

By Karina Bland, The Associated Press, Maryville Daily Times

6-29-09 -- It's just after lunch on a Friday, and Johnny Ruiz of Gilbert is outside with his three boys, pumping up the tires on their bikes. . . . Like a growing number of fathers, Ruiz spends a lot of time with his kids, juggling part-time jobs so he can be home when they get out of school. . . . In most families, it's still Mom who does the majority of the work when it comes to raising children, but in more and more homes, Dad is coming close. Over the past 10 years, experts say, a new breed of dad has been surfacing: He's more hands-on right from the start. He's going to appointments with the obstetrician and reading to his baby in utero. He's more touchy-feely, hugging and kissing the children as much as Mom does. He's taking the kids to school, volunteering in their classrooms and helping with homework.

What is a Good Father? Are You a Good Parent?

by Mark Adams, www.opednews.com

6-21-09 -- Unfortunately, since you’ve been kept in the dark about one of the most important ways that our Nation’s Framers provided for us to prevent abuse by government agents and criminals and the widespread damage that the loss of that right has caused, you are failing your children. However, you can redeem yourself by taking action now. . . . What is a good father or mother? A good father or mother provides a variety of things that are important to their children, but mostly importantly, a good father or mother takes action to make sure that their children are protected from harm. . . . Certainly, a good father or mother would take action to protect their children from being beaten, raped or tortured.  However, most Americans are failing their children in this most important task. Torture is routinely used by U.S. government agents against Americans, but the "news" media almost never mentions this serious issue or that it happens daily to completely innocent, mostly young, Americans. . . . Since most of you are saying, "No way. That can’t be true!" I’ll let you in on one of the dirty secrets that the "news" media cartel has kept you in the dark about.

Obama Tells Young Men To Be There For Their Kids

Events To Launch White House Mentoring, Fatherhood Effort

Ben Feller, Associated Press Writer

6-19-09 -- President Barack Obama, who barely knew his own father, had personal advice Friday for young men who become dads: "Even if your father was not there, you can be there for your child." . . . Two days before Father's Day, Obama was spending the afternoon promoting the importance of mentors and engaged parents. . . . He spoke at Year Up, a nonprofit program that trains 18-to-24-year-olds from urban backgrounds for college or professional work. The students get training for high-tech professions but also learn personal skills, like how to communicate well and solve conflicts, to help them succeed in life. . . . At the site in Arlington, Va., just outside of Washington, Obama told roughly 50 young men and women that it is the role of their communities to help provide them with support and direction. He said he knows they are headed into a tough job market but can succeed if they are persistent. . . . Obama took a brief tour of the center before speaking. At one point he got a lesson on the components of a computer from two of the students. Surveying a table full of parts, Obama said: "It's about time I figure out what's going on." . . . He implored the men in the group to be present for their own children.

Celebrating Dad is worth the hoopla

Rebecca Montgomery: Dallas Morning News 

6-19-09 -- This weekend we pay tribute to our dads. Just once a year, they get a day to rest on their laurels, have lunch at the restaurant of their choosing and be gifted with items that will quite possibly gather dust in their closets. . . . But it is their day, and they deserve it. . . . This year is actually the unofficial 100th anniversary of the observance of Father's Day. In 1909, in a small church in Spokane, Wash., a young woman named Sonora Smart Dodd listened to a sermon on Mother's Day. Her own mother already dead, she was being raised along with her five siblings by her father. It seemed to Sonora that father's should be given the same due and be granted a day dedicated in their honor. . . . Sonora and those who supported her spent decades getting the holiday officially established, and in 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the third Sunday of June as Father's Day. And now we have Hallmark and retail stores across the nation reminding us how important it is to honor our dads. . . . I'm not a huge fan of the over-commercialization of the myriad holidays on this nation's official calendar. But fathers – and the role they play in their children's lives – are extremely important. And if a little hoopla is called for, then so be it. . . . As a child, I didn't even realize that there were kids without fathers at home, or fathers who weren't supportive or present in their children's lives. That is part of the innocent bliss of childhood – whatever your experience is, you tend to believe that it is universal. Obviously, as I grew older, I realized there were fatherless families.

CALIFORNIA

Court Denies Benefits to Child Conceived With Dead Father's Sperm

Courthouse News Service

6-19-09 -- A child conceived from the sperm of her deceased father cannot claim survivor Social Security benefits, the 9th Circuit ruled. The court rested its decision largely on the mother's inability to prove that the father had consented to the birth. . . . A three-judge panel upheld the district court's denial of benefits to Brandalynn Vernoff and her mother, Gabriela. . . .      Brandalynn was conceived after her father, Bruce Vernoff, died of accidental causes in July 1995. Shortly after his death, Gabriela directed a doctor to extract five vials of Bruce's semen, which she used to undergo in vitro fertilization in 1998. . . . About five months after giving birth to Brandalynn, Gabriela filed a claim for child survivor benefits on behalf of her daughter and herself, as the surviving child's mother. . . . The Social Security Administration denied their claim, and Gabriela appealed, claiming her posthumously conceived daughter had an equal-protection right to the benefits. . . . But the San Francisco-based federal appeals court emphasized that a child must be dependent on the insured parent to be eligible for benefits. Gabriela could not establish her daughter's dependence, the panel said, because she was unable to prove that Bruce had consented to the birth.

NEW JERSEY

Boy sides with Brazilian relatives in N.J. custody battle

By Rodrigo Muzell, Philadelphia Inquirer  Staff Writer

6-19-09 -- Sean Goldman, the focus of an international custody battle between his father, David Goldman of Monmouth County, N.J., and his mother's family in Brazil, has told a psychologist he doesn't want to return to the United States. . . . The interview, conducted in Brazil at the request of his mother's family, was filed in federal court in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday. . . . David Goldman's attorney, Ricardo Zamariola Jr., said in a Supreme Court hearing in Brazil last week that the 9-year-old was under pressure from his mother's family and was unable to decide for himself whether he wanted to stay in Brazil. . . . A Brazilian judge ruled this month that the boy would have to come back to Tinton Falls, where his father lives. . . . Joao Paulo Lins e Silva, Sean's stepfather, obtained a decision in a court of appeals in Brazil to delay the boy's immediate return to the United States. Sean's mother, Bruna Bianchi, died last year. . . . It is unclear when the court will issue a final decision on custody. . . . Arranged by the Brazilian family, the interview occurred in a hospital in Rio on Monday, and was witnessed through a one-way mirror by 13 people, including a family judge. The transcript, released by Lins e Silva's attorneys, revealed a boy upset with the possibility of leaving his Brazilian family.

Any man can be a father.  It takes someone special to be a dad. 
~Author Unknown~

Dad Commits Paternity Fraud, Goes to Prison

By Robert Franklin, Esq. | Men’s News Daily

6-18-09 -- We've seen plenty of paternity fraud before, but always done by a woman.  Usually she tells a guy - or allows her husband to believe - that the child is his, when it's not.  That way, she gets to choose who she wants to be the dad.  If she prefers Tom to Harry, she tells Tom the baby's his whether it is or not. . . . The other way a woman commits paternity fraud is to disappear from the man's life once she's pregnant.  Or, if he asks her whose it is, she tells him it's someone else's. . . . However it's done, I have only seen two cases in which a woman paid any type of price for her deceit.  Back in 1990, a West Virginia woman, Anne Conaty, became pregnant with her boyfriend's (John Kessel's) child.  He made it clear to her that he wanted to be a hands-on father, but she had other ideas.  She fled to California and placed the child for adoption in Canada, fully aware that Kessel had gotten a temporary injunction against the adoption.  The adoption was completed, but Kessel successfully sued Conaty, winning a judgment for $7.85 million against her and her California attorney. . . . In one other case, a Georgia man successfully got a judgment for return of child support he had paid for a child who was not his and about whom the mother had lied.

OHIO

Child support law enforced equally, area officials say
By Ryan Carter, Herald Record Staff Writer

6-15-09 -- "Why don't women who owe child support go to jail?" . . . Two local men who pay child support recently made claims that the mothers of their children (who both have been ordered to pay child support) are treated with more leniency when they fail to make their child support payments. . . . "My ex-wife is supposed to be paying child support on three of my kids," said a Fayette County man who requested anonymity. "I've been paying child support to her mother who has custody of the kids. I've already been locked up a couple of times for not paying." . . . The man also claims that his ex-wife hasn't paid any child support since 2003. . . . "She lives in (another state) and when I ask the child support agency why she can't be arrested, they tell me it's hard to enforce it when she's out of state," he said. "I just don't think it's right that they don't arrest her. I'm taking care of my business now and she isn't. It's not right." . . . Another local man who has custody of his youngest child said his ex-girlfriend is also chronically late on child support payments, yet nothing has been done. "I'm perfectly fine taking care of my child and I like this setup," he said. "But if the shoe was on the other foot, I would most likely be in trouble. If you have a court order to do something, and in this case it's to pay child support, you should have to do it or pay the consequences." . . . However, a look at the records in Fayette County Common Pleas Court shows that women who are charged with felonies for non-support are punished with the same severity as men. Just last week, Judge Steven Beathard sent a Fayette County woman, Tina Snyder, to prison for six months for non-support after she violated her community control. . . . A comparison of men and women who have the same amount of non-support violations showed that they were treated by the courts nearly identically.

Men In Power

By: Dean Tong, NewsWithViews.com

6-6-09 -- We have seen literally scores of men's rights groups pop up globally over the past 40 years. From MEN International to the National Organization for Men to the National Coalition for Free Men, most of these well-intentioned and well-meaning groups were not organized, funded well enough, or politically backed to compete with the rise of the feminists and the National Organization for Women. That said, it is important for everyone - men, women, and children - to ascertain the significance of The Men's Movement and that men are not just "paychecks and biological necessities." . . . We have heard of The Promise Keepers and of the 1995 Million Man March. Even Mel Feit from the National Center for Men recently appeared against feminist love Gloria Allred on Dr. Phil. Now, a brand new college born group from the University of Chicago called Men in Power has surfaced. And the president of the advocacy group, Steve Saltarelli, has just been interviewed on National Public Radio. . . . Saltarelli's group is the first men's group at the University of Chicago compared with nine women's advocacy groups at the same. Men in Power was started to raise awareness of men, professionally speaking. Saltarelli, who desires to become an attorney, believes men need help with respect to the fields of medicine, law and business. He wants to bring in speakers to address these issues and garner media attention, too. According to Mark Perry, an economist at the University of Michigan in Flint, in April, the national unemployment rate for men was 10 percent compared 7.6 percent for women. In addition, he said women hold three out of every four jobs in health care and education. As a still licensed laboratory medical technologist who worked in hospitals for twenty-odd years, I can tell you firsthand women outnumbered men in the labs big time. And Perry said future employment for men is an issue, too, because since 1981 women hold more bachelor's and master's degrees than men do.

NEW JERSEY

Brazilian judge suspends order to reunite boy, American father

CNN

6-2-09 -- A Brazilian supreme court judge on Tuesday suspended a lower court's order that would have given custody of a 9-year-old boy to the U.S. Consulate in Rio de Janeiro, where he was to be reunited with his American father. . . . Judge Marco Aurelio argued against taking Sean Richard Goldman from what has been his home for almost five years to the United States "in an abrupt manner." . . . Doing so, he wrote in his order published on the court's Web site, could subject the boy to psychological harm. . . . The decision, which means the entire Brazilian supreme court will take up the case, comes a day after a superior court justice ordered Sean taken Wednesday to the U.S. Consulate in Rio and handed over to his father, David Goldman, who arrived Tuesday from New Jersey to pick up his son.

Lawyer: NJ man wins custody of son taken to Brazil

By Bill Newill • The Associated Press

6-1-09 -- A federal court in Brazil has ruled that a New Jersey father should get custody of his 8-year-old son, whose mother took him to the South American nation after their divorce and died there, the man's lawyer said Monday. . . . Attorney Patricia Apy, who represents David Goldman, said she was notified of the decision Monday afternoon. The ruling calls for the boy to be turned over to his father on Wednesday, Apy said. . . . The boy's Brazilian mother took him to Brazil in 2004. She remarried and never returned to the United States. She died last year of complications from the birth of another child. . . . Eight-year-old Sean Goldman was being raised by his stepfather. . . . A Brazilian lawyer for the mother's family said he will appeal the decision to return the boy. . . . "Many times the boy has expressed his desire to stay in Brazil," attorney Sergio Tostes told local Globo TV. "We are doing everything we can to see justice prevail." . . . A telephone for David Goldman, of Tinton Falls, rang unanswered Monday night. . . . U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, intervened in Goldman's case in February and traveled to Brazil with him. While Smith was there, Goldman was able to meet with his son for the first time in nearly five years.

May 2009

TEXAS

Child support: Texas fathers with sole custody of children growing in numbers

Chris Taylor, Star-Telegram Editorial

5-31-09 -- The Texas attorney general’s office recently released its list of top child-support evaders, and there was something notable that was never mentioned. . . . It’s not called the list of deadbeat dads anymore. Of the top five worst evaders, two were women. Did you read any news stories on this? . . . I know I didn’t. . . . Granted, I’m more sensitive to this matter. . . . Until a few months ago, I was a single father with full custody of my son. . . . While this often made me an anomaly at school functions, soccer games and child birthday parties, it gave me a unique perspective on how this world treats men who want to be involved in their children’s lives. . . . Let’s just say it is not very positive. . . . When my son was taken from me across state lines, there was no help; certainly not from the law. . . . In the tradition of the American and Texan spirit, I went and got him on my own. . . . After we returned, I sought some assistance to get him in day care and make sure he had food. . . . Imagine my shock when a state-appointed worker told me that she would not help me with my child, but if the mother came in they would help her.

'Deadbeat Dads' an insult to reality

By Fatimah Ali , Philadelphia Daily News

5-26-09 -- JUST WHEN I thought TV couldn't sink any lower with some of its toxic programming, yet another new reality show is poised to hit the lineup - "Deadbeat Dads" on Lifetime. . . . The show targets fathers who refuse to pay child support, and features businessman Jim Durham's collection agency, called National Child Support. . . . My first "primal thought" was darn, they got here 15 years too late to help me. But my more spiritually evolved side knows better, and I realize those evil thoughts are just wrong. Durham and the Lifetime producers who created the show are the ones who should be flogged - for using the woes of single mothers and their children to boost ratings. . . . Unfortunately, my evil twin rears her ugly head from time to time, and recaps the unpleasant memories of what it was like not getting child support from my ex-husband. When I was a single mother, he accrued more than $150,000 in unpaid court-ordered child support, which kept me in a tizzy for years. . . . He made enough money, yet he neglected his obligations because he was angry at me, not because he didn't love our kids. . . . Despite the fact that I worked two jobs, my children and I were always struggling without his contribution. But I was a wimp and never petitioned the courts to issue an arrest warrant for his blatant disregard of our children's needs. His sudden demise made the judge's order moot. It can be almost impossible to collect back support from a dead man with a tangled-up life.

Editorial: Anti-Dad bias

Why is the father always the villain on American TV?

By The Washington Times 

5-18-09 -- Strong families need strong fathers, but American television has come a long way from the 1950s series "Father Knows Best." . . . Now Lifetime TV, a network known for its movies about women being endangered by men, has sunk to a new low - a reality program called "Deadbeat Dads." . . . In the beginning of gotcha TV, viewers enjoyed watching the police bust down a door and haul away the bad guy on a show like "Cops." That same format migrated over to Animal Planet, where the cops bust down the door and arrest the man who has been starving his dogs or kicking his cats. Now Lifetime is doing the same thing to divorced fathers. . . . Lifetime TV's new reality show, "Deadbeat Dads," centers around National Child Support founder Jim Durham, who finds and confronts dads who do not pay their child support. Reuters news agency reports that Mr. Durham "functions as sort of a 'Dog the Bounty Hunter' for tracking deadbeats ... it's ambush reality TV." However, the reality show, originally developed at Fox as "Bad Dads" and later dropped, is Lifetime's attempt to take cheap shots at men while ignoring the damage the show can cause children, wives and other family members. . . . The Lifetime TV program ignores the numbers. More than 90 percent of fathers with joint custody paid the support due, according to a Census Bureau report (Series P-23, No. 173). So deadbeats are in the minority. Also, most so-called deadbeat dads actually are dead broke. Two-thirds of men who fail to make child-support payments earn poverty-level wages, according to the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement. Most of the others are unemployed.

TEXAS  

Whistleblower claims Texas unfairly targeted judges who defend fathers' rights

Barbara Thompson, Single Parenting Examiner, Examiner.com

5-25-09 -- Ginger Weatherspoon, a former Assistant Attorney General in Texas, has filed a lawsuit in Dallas County District Court claiming that she was fired for refusing to sign a false affidavit accusing Judge David Hanschen of wrongdoing. . . . Judge Hanschen has been at odds with the Texas Attorney General's office for several years over what he claims are unfair and deceptive practices used to award and collect child support.  Some staff in the Attorney General's office had been collecting affidavits accusing Judge Hanschen of threatening the AG's office or issuing prejudicial rulings against AAGs.  Presumably their intent was to file a complaint of judicial misconduct against Hanschen. . . . Several lawyers in the AG's office claim that they were encouraged or coerced into signing the affidavit's against their will, but Weatherspoon says that she was fired for refusing to cooperate. . . . Ongoing conflict between Judge Hanschen and the Texas Attorney General's Office. . . . The Texas Attorney General's office prides itself on its relentless pursuit of deadbeat parents and portrays itself as an advocate for children. The office's Child Support Division has been nationally recognized for leading the country in child support collections. Critics point out that since the office receives federal funds based on the amount of child support it collects, there is a financial incentive to close as many cases as possible without regard for the rights of the parties involved.

TENNESSEE  

Child custody case to study constitutional protections

Fathers frequently left without significant contact

By Bob Unruh, © 2009 WorldNetDaily

5-12-09 -- A court hearing is scheduled tomorrow on arguments that allege the basic child custody procedures used by judges in Bradley County, Tenn., are unconstitutionally biased in favor of one parent. . . . WND previously reported on the case stemming from a divorce dispute that attorney Stanley Charles Thorne believes could impact custody decisions nationwide, because it calls down the authority of the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause to help fathers who are good parents. . . . According to Thorne, the case before Circuit Judge J. Michael Sharp is testing the court procedures used in the child custody case of 3-year-old  Kate Hopkins, which began in 2007. . . . After more than two years in court and five different judges, the case is set for trial beginning May 27 in Sharp's courtroom. But Sharp is hearing the constitutional issues before the rest of the case is heard. . . . Attorney Jeffrey Miller will argue on behalf of fit Tennessee parents and their children, and an attorney from the Tennessee attorney general's office, Warren Jasper, is expected to argue on behalf of the standard procedures. . . . According to a statement from Thorne, one of the procedures that will be challenged is the "80-day rule" created by local judges. It automatically takes effect as soon as a child custody case is filed, allowing one parent only 80 days a year with the child while the other parent is allowed 285 days – regardless of circumstances. . . . The rule, Miller argues, discriminates against one parent, violating the principle of equal protection as well as due process, since it is imposed without a hearing. . . . Such procedures would be banned if Sharp rules the practices are unconstitutional, Thorne's statement said. . . . Hundreds of divorce cases are filed daily across the U.S., and according to the Children'sJustice.org website, custody dispute cases leave nearly 38 percent of the fathers with no access or visitation rights to their children. In addition, four in 10 mothers report they interfered with the father's visitation to punish him at least once, half the mothers see "no value" in the father's continued contact with his children and 70 percent of the fathers wanted more time with their kids. ******* Thorne questioned the legal system ordering a child taken from one parent "when the child is in no danger … and the child has never been abused, neglected, or harmed" and given to another parent absent a court order. . . . The 14th Amendment states: "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." . . . "This case affects not just the people of Tennessee," Thorne said. "This is huge." . . . Numerous organizations are working for the rights of fathers in disputes like the Tennessee case, including FathersCustody.org, LongDistanceParenting.org, Fathers False Charges Helpline, Fathers National Lawyers Referral, WinningCustody.com and FathersRights.org.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA   

Court Suspends License of D.C. Madam's Lawyer

Mike Scarcella, Legal Times

5-4-09 -- In a rare opinion addressing allegations of attorney misconduct, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Friday ordered the law license of Montgomery Blair Sibley, the civil attorney for the late D.C. Madam, suspended for three years. Sibley is vowing to fight on to clear his name. . . . The reciprocal discipline imposed by the appeals court stems from action in another jurisdiction. In 2008, the Supreme Court of Florida suspended Sibley from the practice of law for three years for contempt of court for failure to pay child support and for filing frivolous claims and appeals. . . . Sibley, a D.C. solo practitioner, failed to pay $4,000 a month to his ex-wife after he moved from South Florida in May 2000, court records show. Sibley challenged the sufficiency of the Florida proceedings and argued, among other things, that he was not given a proper chance to be heard. He also contends there was an insufficient record on which to base the allegations against him. He was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1987 and the D.C. Bar in 1999.

April 2009

NEW YORK

State program helps Onondaga County men become better fathers

by Delen Goldberg / The Post-Standard

4-15-09 -- Perry Rouse says he'd probably be in jail if not for the Parents Success Initiative of Onondaga County, a state pilot program aimed at making men better fathers. . . . Seven months ago, Rouse, a Desert Storm veteran, owed large amounts of child support for his two daughters but was unable to make payments. He had no job and no lawyer. . . . "I was sick. I was dejected. Then, I found a program to help me," said Rouse, 43, of Syracuse. . . . Today, Rouse is rebuilding his relationship with his 21-year-old and creating new bonds with his 3-year-old. . . . "I relate better to them, I call more often," Rouse said. "Every minute I have free, I'm with my 3-year-old. My 21-year-old, I was surprised she actually listens to what I say." . . . "I thought I was a good father at the time," Rouse continued, "but I took classes and learned it's more than just financial support. I need to be a hands-on dad."

INDIANA

Helman Sent Letter Day Before Shooting
Daniel Riordan, Times-Union Staff Writer

4-13-09 -- The Times-Union received a letter Wednesday morning from the Cromwell man who had a nine-hour standoff with police Thursday night. . . . Gary Helman, 50, was shot twice, once in the hip and once in the leg Thursday night after a standoff with Indiana State Police near his home in the Enchanted Hills Subdivision. . . . Helman allegedly refuse to accept warrants that ISP attempted to serve. . . . Two Whitley County warrants charge Helman with violation of a protective order. A third warrant from Kosciusko County charges him with pointing a firearm. . . . In the letter sent to the Times-Union, Helman claimed his rights had been violated by state police and that two state troopers attempted to murder him with a vehicle. . . . State police had been at Helman's property a month ago in an unsuccessful attempt to serve warrants. . . . Police said Helman reportedly has a history of anti-government, anti-law-enforcement behavior. Helman reportedly refused to accept warrants unless served federal officers, police said. ****** In another letter sent to the Times-Union, a man who identifies himself as Dr. Amir H. Sanjari, claims the issues with Helman result from a divorce and custody issue. . . . Sanjari also claims that Helman's mother was "roughed up" after her son was shot Thursday night. Sanjari quotes an unnamed source, who was allegedly at the scene of the accident. ****** The letter by Sanjari alleges wrongdoing by judges and prosecutors on both county and state levels. . . . Sanjari's letter states that "no doubt the local media will perform their long-standing rule of ignoring the facts regarding such corruption and crimes by the judges and their henchmen and duly ignore and/or cover up the fact and put on the official spin."

MICHIGAN

Girl, 4, may go from foster care to father

Supreme Court: Local court, DHS erred in terminating his parental rights

Patti Klevorn - Ludington Daily News Editor

4-6-09 -- A four-year-old Mason County girl — and just who should raise her — is at the heart of a Michigan State Supreme Court ruling filed in the Lansing court Thursday. . . . The girl has been living with a foster care family for three years, and now may begin the process of assimilating to life with her biological father — although she has not seen him since before she turned 2. She’s now nearing her fifth birthday. . . . The process has already begun to give the father, Darroll Rood, supervised visitation, then he anticipates non-supervised visitation and eventually getting custody of his daughter. The Supreme Court affirmed a Court of Appeals opinion: Mason County Trial Court was wrong in terminating Rood’s parental rights.

NEW YORK

New York State Fatherhood Program Highlighted at National Conference

Urban Institute Study of OTDA's Fatherhood Initiative Released

readMedia

4-6-09 -- The State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) today released the initial findings of the Urban Institute's study of New York State's "Strengthening Families Through Stronger Fathers" initiative, the most comprehensive study of fatherhood programs yet conducted. The study was presented as part of a panel discussion during the American Public Human Services Association Spring conference in Washington, D.C. Monday. Among the report's findings is that there is an overwhelming demand for services provided through the initiative - particularly among minority men with a criminal record. . . . "This analysis by the Urban Institute will help us to shape the future of fatherhood programs in New York State and across the country," said OTDA Commissioner David A. Hansell. "Fatherhood programs allow us to build on the success of welfare reform, whose primary beneficiaries have been single moms, to enhance the economic prospects of low-income men, and to increase their chances of achieving self-sufficiency for themselves and their children." . . . New York's fatherhood program, launched in 2006, funds five pilot programs to provide intensive employment services and other supportive services to low-income noncustodial parents, and provides a refundable tax credit for low-income noncustodial parents who remain current in paying child support. Pilot sites are located in Erie, Chautauqua and Onondaga counties and two are in New York City.

MICHIGAN

Girl, 4, may go from foster care to father

Supreme Court: Local court, DHS erred in terminating his parental rights

Patti Klevorn - Ludington Daily News Editor

4-6-09 -- A four-year-old Mason County girl — and just who should raise her — is at the heart of a Michigan State Supreme Court ruling filed in the Lansing court Thursday. . . . The girl has been living with a foster care family for three years, and now may begin the process of assimilating to life with her biological father — although she has not seen him since before she turned 2. She’s now nearing her fifth birthday. . . . The process has already begun to give the father, Darroll Rood, supervised visitation, then he anticipates non-supervised visitation and eventually getting custody of his daughter. The Supreme Court affirmed a Court of Appeals opinion: Mason County Trial Court was wrong in terminating Rood’s parental rights.

NEW YORK

New York State Fatherhood Program Highlighted at National Conference

Urban Institute Study of OTDA's Fatherhood Initiative Released

readMedia

4-6-09 -- The State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) today released the initial findings of the Urban Institute's study of New York State's "Strengthening Families Through Stronger Fathers" initiative, the most comprehensive study of fatherhood programs yet conducted. The study was presented as part of a panel discussion during the American Public Human Services Association Spring conference in Washington, D.C. Monday. Among the report's findings is that there is an overwhelming demand for services provided through the initiative - particularly among minority men with a criminal record. . . . "This analysis by the Urban Institute will help us to shape the future of fatherhood programs in New York State and across the country," said OTDA Commissioner David A. Hansell. "Fatherhood programs allow us to build on the success of welfare reform, whose primary beneficiaries have been single moms, to enhance the economic prospects of low-income men, and to increase their chances of achieving self-sufficiency for themselves and their children." . . . New York's fatherhood program, launched in 2006, funds five pilot programs to provide intensive employment services and other supportive services to low-income noncustodial parents, and provides a refundable tax credit for low-income noncustodial parents who remain current in paying child support. Pilot sites are located in Erie, Chautauqua and Onondaga counties and two are in New York City.

Sole custody harms kids: Report

Children "robbed of love" in divorce cases

Susan Pigg, Torstar News Service
4-3-09 -- Family court judges are misguidedly harming children by granting sole custody to one parent – usually the mother – in bitter divorce battles, says a comprehensive new report. . . . Too many children are being "robbed of the love of one parent" by a legal system that is out of touch with the needs of children and treats them like property to be won or lost, says Edward Kruk, an expert on child custody issues. . . . "The system is set up to polarize parents, to make them enemies, to set up fights over custody and exacerbate conflict rather than reduce it," says Kruk, an associate professor of social work at the University of British Columbia, whose three-year study is now in the hands of Canada's justice minister. . . . He calls what's happening in Canada's divorce courts "a national shame" that leaves families bankrupt from legal fees and pushing parents, especially fathers, to suicide. . . . Especially devastating are the long-term effects of court orders that essentially cut one parent out of children's lives – usually the dad – in a misguided effort to foster peace between warring parents, the report says.

March 2009

NEVADA  

Court tells Mack to pay divorce settlement

By Martha Bellisle • rgj.com

3-27-09 -- The Nevada Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling Thursday ordering Darren Mack, convicted of killing his estranged wife and shooting their divorce judge, to pay her estate almost $1 million under an agreement they had made verbally. . . . Before the May 2006 verbal order by Washoe District Family Court Judge Chuck Weller was drafted and signed, Mack fatally stabbed Charla Mack in the garage of his townhouse on June 12, 2006, and hours later shot Weller, who survived his injuries. . . . Mack, at the time a wealthy pawn broker, pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder charges and was sentenced in February 2008 to life in prison with parole possible after 36 years. . . . Mack has appealed, saying his guilty pleas were made under duress, and arguing that the stabbing was self-defense. . . . Egan Walker, who represented Charla Mack's estate on the appeal but now is a family court master, could not be reached for comment. . . . Mack's brother, Landon, said he wasn't surprised by the ruling and blasted Nevada judges, saying the family looks forward to pursuing this and other cases in federal court. / You can access ruling at this link.

VERMONT

Stay-at-home Dad Wins Online Education Scholarship from GetEducated.com for Unique "Humane Leadership" (Animal Welfare) Degree

A 41-year-old stay-at-home dad in Vermont wins Online Education Scholarship from GetEducated.com for a unique "humane leadership" online bachelor's degree, aimed at future animal welfare workers. Online education's growth and stability has allowed colleges to offer narrowly specialized, unusual degrees, providing flexibility for consumers seeking new or better careers, says GetEducated CEO Vicky Phillips.

(PRWEB)

3-19-09 -- You don't have to leave home to get a degree in animal welfare. Ask Paul Kopulos - a 41-year-old stay-at-home dad living in Vermont, who is finishing his bachelor's degree in humane leadership from Pittsburgh's Duquesne University. . . . Kopulos, like all other students in the unusual program (which is co-sponsored by the Humane Society of the U.S.), is earning his degree completely online, while caring for a two-month-old baby, a two-year-old toddler, and three shelter pets (two dogs and a cat). The degree is aimed at people who wish to work in animal welfare or advocacy positions. . . . GetEducated.com is rewarding Kopulos' efforts with a $1,000 Excellence in Online Education Scholarship. . . . For Kopulos, going to school online worked perfectly with his hectic lifestyle. . . . "With the kids and everything else going on in my life, I can do my school when I need to," says Kopulos. "I can take an exam at midnight or 1 a.m." . . . Online education is appealing to nontraditional, older students like Kopulos, who are turning to the Internet for maximum flexibility in training for new careers. Internet learning has broadened to include a variety of unique degrees. . . . Vicky Phillips, GetEducated's founder, says that "a decade ago, a narrowly specialized degree like this one -- leadership in the animal welfare sector -- would have been impossible to find. One physical college could not have found enough students within commute distance to sustain such a narrow career specialty."

GEORGIA

Student fought long for right to be a father

By Gracie Bonds Staples, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

3-18-09 -- You may or may not remember Rashad Head, the 17-year-old father who a few years ago was waging a fight to see his son. . . . It seemed a small thing to ask, but five months after his birth, the court was still siding with the infant’s mother even though Head had done everything the law required. **** Just days after Rashad’s ex-girlfriend gave birth, an adoption agency called Rashad’s father, Geoff Head, requesting consent to let his grandson be adopted. . . . Geoff Head refused. He wanted Rashad to do what he’d always tried to do, take care of his son. . . . Indeed, from the moment Rashad learned his girlfriend was pregnant, he had stood by her. When they told their parents, the Heads supported Rashad. . . . “What we did was a mistake, but I don’t look at my son as a mistake,” Rashad said then. “I don’t ever want him to feel he doesn’t have a real place in this world.” . . . The Heads decided to fight. Leslie Graham took their case pro bono and on Feb. 24, after almost three years of legal wrangling, got some good news. . . . Gwinnett Superior Court Judge George Hutchinson awarded Rashad joint legal custody of his son, three consecutive weeks of summer visitation plus every other weekend and the right to change the toddler’s name to Trey Rashad Head.

ILLINOIS

Father seeks custody of baby rescued from toilet; mother remains jailed

The father of an infant rescued from a toilet is seeking custody while the mother remains jailed in southwestern Illinois on attempted murder charges.

Seattle Times

3-18-09 -- The father of an infant rescued from a toilet is seeking custody while the mother remains jailed in southwestern Illinois on attempted murder charges. . . . Edward Goodrich of Belleville appeared with his attorney at a custody hearing Tuesday, but no action was taken and the child remains in a foster home. Another hearing is scheduled for April 7. . . . Authorities say 23-year-old Elyse Mamino (MAM'-ih-noh) delivered a baby girl in a Columbia home's bathroom during a family party in November and tried to drown her in the toilet. . . . After her arrest, authorities found the remains of an infant in Mamino's Belleville home. The cause of that infant's death remains unclear, and no charges have been filed in that case.

February 2009

Reporter Apologizes After Fathers & Families Bombards Sacramento Paper over Anti-Father Article

February 19th, 2009 by Glenn Sacks

In a Fathers & Families Action Alert last week, I explained that journalist R.V. Scheide of the Sacramento News & Review, a prominent California weekly, labeled Parental Alienation a “discredited, pseudoscientific malady” in his article Down by law (2/5/09). I wrote “The author of the article, R.V. Scheide, probably means well but…doesn’t know any better–write him (politely).” . . . Hundreds of you wrote Scheide and/or Letters to the Editor. Today, Scheide publicly apologized and wrote a (mostly) classy article in response. Below is his article in italics, interspersed with my comments –to read the full article without my commentary, click here.

Fathers' rights campaigner jailed for abusing young child

2-18-09 -- A FATHERS 4 Justice campaigner has been jailed for sexually abusing a young child. . . . Lee Doyle, from Sea Mills, was known for his involvement with the civil rights group and its protests calling for better rights for caring dads. . . . Having sexually abused the youngster, he denied any wrong-doing, leaving the child to face the traumatic consequences of giving evidence in court. . . . Doyle,  26, was convicted of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity as well as engaging in sexual activity. . . . Judge David Ticehurst imposed the maximum jail term of four years. . . . He told Doyle: “You were convicted on clear evidence and the aggravating feature is that your victim was very young. . . . “The child was forced to give evidence at a very young age. . . . “It’s abundantly clear having to give evidence has had a regrettable impact on the child. . . . “You continue to maintain your innocence when it’s abundantly clear you were guilty.” . . . The judge, who said he thought that potentially Doyle posed a serious risk of harm to young children, made him the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order keeping him away from youngsters for 10 years. . . . Doyle was ordered to register as a sex offender indefinitely.

NEW JERSEY

After bitter 4-year fight, he finally sees his son again

Dad has ‘beautiful’ reunion with boy whose mother abducted him to Brazil

By Mike Celizic TODAYShow.com contributor

2-10-09 -- Choking back tears that had been building up for more than four and a half years, a New Jersey father tried to describe the emotions he felt at finally being able to hold and hug his son and tell the boy how much he loved him. . . . “It was the most beautiful thing I’ve seen since his birth. It was incredible. Amazing. I got to see my son,” David Goldman told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira Tuesday by phone from Brazil. . . . The previous day, accompanied by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, Goldman had finally reached the end of a nightmare that began in June 2004 when his wife, Bruna, left with their son, Sean, for a two-week trip to visit family in her native Brazil. She never came back. . . . In all the years since, Goldman had traveled to Brazil numerous times hoping to see his son, but all the contact he was allowed to have consisted of a few brief phone calls. . . . International dispute / A New Jersey court ruled that Bruna had to return Sean to New Jersey for a custody hearing. But despite international law and treaties between the United States and Brazil that upheld the court ruling, Bruna refused to either return or to give up custody of the boy. Instead, she divorced Goldman in a legal proceeding that violated international law, and married an influential Brazilian attorney.

The War Against Fathers Continues

An article from the current issue of Touchstone Magazine: Divorced from Reality
"We’re from the Government, and We’re Here to End Your Marriage."
by Stephen Baskerville

2-8-09 -- The decline of the family has now reached critical and truly dangerous proportions. Family breakdown touches virtually every family and every American. It is not only the major source of social instability in the Western world today but also seriously threatens civic freedom and constitutional government. . . . G. K. Chesterton once observed that the family serves as the principal check on government power, and he suggested that someday the family and the state would confront one another. That day has arrived. . . . Chesterton was writing about divorce, and despite extensive public attention to almost every other threat to the family, divorce remains the most direct and serious. Michael McManus of Marriage Savers writes that "divorce is a far more grievous blow to marriage than today’s challenge by gays."

OHIO

Judge Browne Is Taking My Kidney

Commentary by Scott L. Hibbs -- posted in North Country Gazette

2-6-09 -- I have been involved in what I describe as a trip down Alice’s rabbit hole.  . . . More than two years ago I filed for divorce in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Domestic Relations Division in Ohio.  My case was assigned to Judge Kim A. Browne.  Judge Browne happens to be the lowest ranked judge in Franklin County, per a Columbus Bar Association poll.  It didn’t take long to discover why. . . . I require surgery to prevent my kidney from failing.  My ureter is blocked from inflammation caused by a kidney stone.  Judge Kim A. Browne holds the keys to my surgery and she’s not opening the door.  . . . My story follows;  Affidavits in my divorce were submitted by the parties in February 2007 and temporary orders were cut based on those affidavits.  At the beginning of my divorce my wife claimed domestic violence and obtained a temporary civil protection order.  I was not allowed to return to my home after Jan. 1, 2007.  I operated a home based business where all my personal and business financial documents were kept.  My wife has not permitted the retrieval of these said documents since New Year’s Day 2007.  [more]

January 2009

TENNESSEE

Divorced father seeks equal protection

Custody challenge cites discriminatory decisions

By Bob Unruh, © 2009 WorldNetDaily

1-28-09 -- A case is developing in a Tennessee divorce dispute that one attorney believes could impact custody decisions nationwide because it calls down the authority of the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause to help fathers who are good parents and want to remain involved in their children's lives. . . . The attorney, Stanley Charles Thorne, told WND the issue in the case at hand will be significant, since there are 3,000 divorce or custody cases in courts across the U.S. daily. . . . And according to the Children'sJustice.org website, those cases leave nearly 38 percent of the fathers with no access or visitation rights to their children. In addition, four in 10 mothers report they interfered with the father's visitation to punish him at least once, half the mothers see "no value" in the father's continued contact with his children and 70 percent of the fathers wanted more time with their kids. . . . Thorne told WND he is serving as a consultant in the case of Jeremy Hopkins, a successful lawyer, in his attempts to be treated the same as his daughter's mother, Elisabeth, also a successful lawyer, in their custody of Kate.

FLORIDA

Dad Accused Of Avoiding Child Support Faces Judge

By Mark Douglas

1-20-09 -- "OK" was all David William Earley said when he faced a judge in Pasco County dressed in jail stripes today, charged with violating his probation and failure to pay $165,000 in child support. . . . On the other hand, his wife and ex-wife have plenty to say about the consequences of his arrest, the reason for it and what it means to them. . . . Ex-wife Sharon Earley said she's been trying to collect child support for her four kids from Earley for the past 19 years. Three of them have reached adulthood, but Earley still owes child support. . . . "We've had to do without a lot of things," Sharon Earley said. . . . Earley's current wife Christina Earley disagrees. . . . "She [Sharon} lives in a nice house in Palm Harbor and has more jewelry than God," Christina Earley told News Channel 8 in a phone interview. "She's not suffering." . . . Christina Earley owns a hair salon and lives on an acre of land with Earley and their two daughters. A horse grazes in the pasture, but she said they bought the property with no money down and finances are tight because Earley can't find work as a tile installer. . . . "He's tried, he's looked around," Christina Earley said. . . . Sharon Earley said her ex-husband has voiced countless excuses over the years for not supporting the four children they had together, and judges have heard most of them.

ILLINOIS

Custody Awarded to Stepfather: 10 Month Old Child Now to Have Open-Heart Surgery

SOURCE Law Offices of Jeffery Leving,  PRNewswire/

1-13-09 -- -- In a groundbreaking case that could affect one-third of American families, Cook County Circuit Court Judge John Thomas Carr transferred custody of a 10 month old child with a severe heart condition to the child's stepfather from the mother. Judge Carr also gave the father custody of his 3 year old biological child by the same mother. This decision is highly unusual because most courts have not recognized stepfathers as having any rights whatsoever. . . . The temporary order of protection was in response to the alarmed stepfather's claims that the mother cancelled the 10 month old's life-saving open heart surgery and also beat the 3 year old child. . . . The court agreed with the stepfather's attorneys, Jeffery Leving and Maureen Gorman, who proved that custody of the stepchild should be placed with the stepfather when necessary to protect the child. A case status review is scheduled for Feb. 9, 2009.