Fathers and Families has the best record of legislative success of any family court reform organization. Fathers and Families’ lobbying accomplishments include:
- Helping to pass five Family Court Reform Bills in California in 2010, including child custody reform (AB 2416 and SB1188), child support reform (SB 580 and SB 1355), and alimony reform (SB 1482)
- Helping lead successful campaigns in 2004 and 2006 to defeat California “move-away” bills which would have made it too easy for custodial parents to move children to other states without regard for children”s best interests
- Reducing excessive child support by over $1 billion from 2001 through 2008 in Massachusetts
- Helping to defeat two 2010 California legislative attempts (AB 612 and AB 2475) to prohibit or limit family courts’ ability to recognize and properly deal with Parental Alienation
- Helping to pass California SB 1082 to protect military parents” rights in family court
- Working with legislators and staffers in other states on military parent legislation, leading three dozen states to pass bills modeled in part on our SB 1082
- Enlisting over one-quarter of the Massachusetts Legislature as co-sponsors of our shared parenting bill
- Working on the 2009 National Defense Reauthorization Act (HR 2647) to include a mandate that the U.S. Secretary of Defense produce a report on child custody litigation involving members of the Armed Forces, as well as international intrafamilial abductions of servicemembers’ children
- Helping to pass paternity fraud legislation (AB 252 and SB 1333) which allows California child support obligors to use DNA evidence to set aside false paternity judgments and the concomitant child support orders
- Being instrumental in passing a law opening up access to report cards and school records to non-custodial parents in Massachusetts
- Helping to create California’s COAP program, which allows parents who are unfairly saddled with inflated, unpayable child support arrearages to settle them for modest cash payments
- Working with Texas Senator Jane Nelson to pass SB 279, a bill to protect military parents’ custody rights, which was signed by Texas Governor Rick Perry in 2009
- Helping to pass California SB 285 to protect disabled veterans. The bill prohibits courts from illegally garnishing disability compensation for child support. It also prohibits courts from calculating veterans” disability compensation into divorce settlements as income or as a divisible asset.
- Helping to defeat an amendment to California AB 164 which would have prevented fit noncustodial parents from gaining access to school and other records
- Helping to defeat over 100 bills in the Massachusetts Legislature through testimony and activism
- Persuading the Massachusetts Medical Society to formally endorse its legislative bill on paternity fraud for medical reasons
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