Please call Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s office (617-722-2500) and Senate President Therese Murray’s office (617-722-1500) and ask them to grant HB 1400, F & F”s Shared Parenting Bill, another extension. From various indications, it is clear that DeLeo and Murray are seeing that there is considerable support behind HB 1400—we want to make that message even more clear. Please be polite and stay on message.
To learn more about the bill, click here.
We have been successful in getting HB 1400 extended, while many other bills have died. We have also been getting major and often favorable media coverage on HB 1400. Examples include:
Last week the Boston Globe published a detailed and favorable news story about the bill.
The week before that, ABC’s Boston affiliate, WCVB, did a sympathetic piece on the bill–to watch, click here.
The week before that, Ned Holstein, M.D., M.S., Chair of the Board of Fathers and Families, debated the bill on NPR’s Boston affiliate, WBUR–to listen to that debate, click here.
Over the past two months both the Boston Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Massachusetts’ 3rd largest newspaper, have published editorials on HB 1400.
In April, Holstein’s newspaper column, Time for shared parenting, appeared in the Telegram.
Through Fathers and Families” efforts, over one-quarter of the Massachusetts Legislature has expressed clear, public support for our shared parenting bill, many of them signing on as co-sponsors. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick told the Legislature that if they pass our shared parenting bill, he will sign it, and F & F has met with Patrick. We gathered thousands of signatures to place shared parenting on the 2004 Massachusetts ballot and led a successful campaign for its passage, winning 86% of the vote.
It is late in the legislative session and progress will be difficult, but if the leadership grants an extension then it will still be possible to have a vote on Shared Parenting this year. We urge you to let the leadership of the Massachusetts legislature know that there is considerable support for HB 1400/Shared Parenting. Please call:
House Speaker DeLeo’s office. 617-722-2500
Senate President Murray’s office. 617-722-1500
Together with you in the love of our children,
Glenn Sacks, MA
Executive Director
Ned Holstein, M.D., M.S.
Chair of the Board