WA Fathers Rights and Non-Custodial Shared Parenting

October 30th, 2012 by Michael Sherron
For those concerned about WA Fathers Rights and equal parentage and access to children by Non-Custodial Mothers, as well as the ability for extended family members in the Non-Custodial family to have an equal impact on kid’s lives, we want you to know that Fathers and Families is working daily to educate and build an organization of ALL Washington State Non-Custodial Families and Parents that help State Legislators and Judges educate themselves on the importance of equally shared parenting.
If you are a WA Non-Custodial Father or Mother, we think you already know the difficulties that exist in the family courts that marginalize you to that of a support provider that is kept at a distance rather than an equal parent.  Additionally, in addition to WA Non-Custodial Fathers and Mothers, our organization believes that those in our extended families get equally hurt in this system, and that they are equally important as the custodial family system. Fathers and Families understands that the majority of Non-Custodial parents are Fathers, and it is easy to think about this as a WA Fathers Rights issue, but we like to think of this issue from the rights of the child to have love, support, and guidance from BOTH parents without government or court interference. For far too long, many “Women’s Rights” groups have attempted to frame this as an issue as one that only affects women, and we feel that they have lost sight on what is really important, which is the children. Furthermore, we want to make it painfully obvious that many WOMEN in non-custodial paternal families get just as devastated in this process. Therefore, in this article, and from the standpoint of Fathers and Families, we substitute the phrase “WA Fathers Rights” for the right of children to have equal parents that share parentage.

Additionally, if the advancement of “Women’s Rights” has come at the expense of the Washington State Father, then we think that talking about the Rights of WA Fathers will have the same effect on Non-Custodial Mothers. If the divisive system is bad for Fathers, then it is equally bad for Mothers who are kept from their children by Judges and bad laws.

Factors influencing Non-Custodial WA Fathers Rights, Non-Custodial Mothers, and the ability for children to have two equal parents.

• Child Support Enforcement – While most Washington State residents think that child support enforcement is simply a federal program that ONLY has the duty to support children, there is a another side to this program that is generating money for WA State Welfare and Low Income Assistance Programs. Our organization believes this relationship NEEDS a marginalized parent to support children from afar via the federal government so that programs like TANF and WIC can continue to receive federal and state funding.
• Well established “Women’s Rights” groups that flourished in the 1960s and 70s, and who have tens of thousands of supporters that have the ear of Washington State Judges and Legislators. Typically, these groups oppose any type of “Fathers Rights” or Equally Shared Parenting. This is why Fathers and Families thinks that it is important that WOMEN in non-custodial families stand up to the notion that this only hurts women when they lose custody.
• The WA State Family Courts have become an industry where many people profit when two parents are fighting for 18 years. Clearly, WA State Family Law Attorneys benefit from this by charging excessive retainers many times a year for 18 years and therefore have an incentive for conflict.
• If you are a WA Father who is concerned about his right to have equal parentage and access to his children (or a Non-Custodial Mother), then you have likely heard a lot of Judges and Politicians talk about purposeful absent fathers. But what about the large numbers of Fathers who are forced into absence by Judges who only give 4 days a month visitation, or who allow custodial parents to move hundreds of miles away?
• As non-custodial step-parent, grandmother, or aunt, are you tired of watching the Non-Custodial Father or Mother go to jail when they have a hard time financially, while WA State Social Services programs provide expanding housing, educational, medical, food, and financial assistance to custodial parents make the same financial ends meet?
• As a Washington State Non-Custodial Father or Mother concerned about your rights in the family courts, have you ever wondered why the federal government provides the custodial parent with a free attorney to resolve child support issues while you are forced into bankruptcy in hiring a private attorney EACH time enforcement wants more money?

Clearly there is a lot of work to be done in Washington State when its comes to Fathers Rights and the Rights of Non-Custodial parents to have equal parentage and access to their children.

Fathers and Families believes that far greater resources, opportunities, emotional support, psychological support, financial support, and physical support for children is realized when both parents (and extended families) have equal access and parentage of their children, and that these are things that federal child support enforcement or social services agency can never deliver.
Fathers and Families believes that using WA non-custodial Fathers and Mothers child support efforts as a means to generate federal money for Welfare programs is misguided.

Fathers and Families has concerns that as more and more Welfare applications are received at WA Social Services Agencies and across the US, there will be even more aggressive child support enforcement tactics used in the future that is designed to secure federal money from Title IV-D legislation to pay for these programs. And given the level of immunity that social services agencies have, we believe that a very wide open door exists for abuse and bias on non-custodial Fathers, Mothers, and children.

In an effort to help Fathers and Families educate WA Legislators, Judges, and other groups, we hope that you will join our organization, as well as getting involved with others across this great nation using our social media sites like Facebook where you will have the opportunity to collaborate with us and others who are also in the child support enforcement system. Additionally, we ask that you extensively share this article with others via email and other social networking sites to help bring about greater awareness of the new WA Fathers Rights and Non-Custodial movement called equally shared parenting.