Category: Blog

February 21, 2018 by Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors, National Parents Organization

The Texas Tribune is a publication with impeccable liberal credentials, but if this disgraceful article is any indication, liberalism has changed (Texas Tribune, 2/13/18). There was a time when liberals were the friends of the poor and downtrodden, the victims of pitiless judicial and criminal processes. If the linked-to article is any indication, and I hope it’s not, that’s no longer the case.

Steve Fischer is a Texas attorney. He took time out of his busy day to hang out in child support court and let us know his observations. They are neither informed nor in any way compassionate toward the parents hauled into those courts. Fischer, whether politically liberal or not, should be ashamed.

I watch people fill the Aransas County Courtroom, and know I will be entertained, albeit in a cynical sort of way.  

How nice that Fischer finds the plight of the poor so entertaining. I’m sure Victor Hugo would be impressed.

Today is Deadbeat Spouses Day, or to be more accurate and less politically correct, Deadbeat Dads Day.

Had Fischer opened his laptop or iPhone instead of smirking at those less fortunate than he, he could have checked with the Census Bureau to see who does and who doesn’t pay child support. Had he done so he’s have learned that the overwhelming number of non-custodial mothers aren’t even ordered to pay and those who are pay less on average than do non-custodial dads. But conveying, or even having, accurate information isn’t Fischer’s long suit. He’s not here to inform; he’s here to be entertained.

And it’s the poor who entertain him most. Does Fischer know that, according to the Office of Child Support Enforcement, some 63% of parents behind on their child support payments report earnings of under $10,000 per year? Does he know that, in the past, the OCSE has begged family court judges to start setting child support orders at levels the parents can actually pay? Does he know that, until fairly recently, child support indebtedness bore interest rates as high as 12% per annum? That was at a time when the U.S. government was paying about 1/10th that on Treasury bonds. But no problem; states figured poor parents could somehow pay what even junk bonds didn’t even approach.

No, Fischer has no such information. He’s too busy being entertained by long strings of poor, and poorly educated men in chains, without legal representation or a clue about their legal rights, file by on their way to jail. That’s quite a sense of humor Fischer’s got.

But one thing we might expect him to know is something about the law. Maybe he does, but if so, he doesn’t let on.

He’s there in “child support” court, observing the goings on. That means he was there during “hearings” on whether these men could pay. Now, attorneys who actually care about the problems poor parents face in child support cases, attorneys like Sarah Geraghty of the Southern Center for Human Rights, tell us that those “hearings” tend to last between a few seconds and five minutes. During that time, poor, uneducated defendants are supposed to convince hostile judges of their inability to pay, and do so unassisted by legal representation that the U.S. Supreme Court says they’re mostly not entitled to.

Did Fischer notice? I suppose not.

So he doesn’t know the basic facts about child support, who pays it, who owes it and who falls behind. Nor does he notice that the poor parents in court in front of his very eyes have essentially no time to make their case and no information about what they need to show a judge to do so. They’re helpless before the power of the state. What could be more entertaining?

Well then, has he read a newspaper recently? If he has, he’s probably read about the case of Gabriel Cornejo. Cornejo’s a Texas man and the furthest thing from a deadbeat, being gainfully employed and the reliable supporter of his kids. What he’s not is the father of a child for whom the State of Texas demands he pay some $65,000 in support.

I guess Fischer doesn’t know about that either. He’s happy to praise the attorneys for the Texas Attorney General’s Office who are in charge of dunning and jailing poor fathers. But he never questions why those super lawyers are trying to put Cornejo in jail for refusing to support a child everyone knows isn’t his. Yes, they could simply dismiss the case against Cornejo and seek support from the child’s actual dad, but no. They’ve got a fish on their line and they’re not about to let him go, regardless of facts, regardless of fairness and regardless of one of the purposes of paternity establishment and child support – to hold responsible for support the adults who bring a child into the world.

Needless to say, with someone like Fisher who’s long on opinions and short on facts, he’s also not heard of Sundhe Moses about whom I wrote just two days ago. Moses was incarcerated by the State of New York for a crime he didn’t commit and, during his 18 + years inside, ran up a hefty child support bill he of course couldn’t pay. But now that he’s out, the state wants to put him back behind bars due to the debt it wrongly forced on him.

Come to think of it, maybe I should contact Fischer and let him know about Moses and his plight. I’m sure he’d get a big kick out of it. After all, Moses is exactly the type of man Fischer loves to sneer at – poor and poorly educated.

Not exactly your parent’s liberalism.

 

Donate

 

National Parents Organization is a Shared Parenting Organization

National Parents Organization is a non-profit that educates the public, families, educators, and legislators about the importance of shared parenting and how it can reduce conflict in children, parents, and extended families. Along with Shared Parenting we advocate for fair Child Support and Alimony Legislation. Want to get involved?  Here’s how:

• Become an official member of the National Parents Organization team.
• Join our Facebook Page.

Together, we can drive home the family, child development, social and national benefits of shared parenting, and fair child support and alimony. Thank you for your activism.

#childsupport, #liberalism, #TexasTribune

A Personal Message from Ned Holstein

National Parents Organization has launched a nationwide search for a new, full time, professional Executive Director! Having an experienced, accomplished, full time, well-paid Executive Director will vastly improve our strength and effectiveness. If you like NPO now, wait til you see 2018!

At considerable expense, we have contracted with a major national executive search firm in New York City that specializes in non-profits. Known as DRG, they have successfully placed high executives ranging from non-profits smaller than ours to behemoths. DRG has thousands of nationwide contacts they can tap to locate good candidates. And they are experienced in how to use social media for maximum effectiveness in recruiting.

We hope to have chosen a candidate and reached an agreement with her/him by the end of January, 2018. We are excited that the Search Consultant we will work with at DRG already understands the family law issues and does not need an education in these matters.

We will be offering a substantial salary, because NPO’s success will hinge on the quality of the Executive Director we are able to attract. Candidates will be able to stay where they currently live, if they so desire. Our key people are already distributed around the country, and we work from a “virtual office.” With growth, we may need to establish a central office, but that is for the future.

Since I work without compensation, this change will cause a substantial increase in our expenses. So we do need you to continue and to even increase the gifts you have made to support this organization.

Imagine: many more media appearances; much more social media action; many more interactions with thought leaders in the areas of family court, child development and justice; much more lobbying; many more online and in-person campaigns; many more state affiliates getting much more support from the national organization; many more meetings and rallies; in short, much more of everything!

That is, much more of everything if you support us, which you can do by clicking here.

If you are interested to learn about this position, click here to see the job posting that has already gone out through multiple platforms. If you are personally interested in the position, please note that you should reply to our Search Consultant, Sara Lundberg, not to me.

Which brings up a personal note. I have been running National Parents Organization off and on since 1998 — with lots of help from many others. During these years, we have also had Dan Hogan, Glenn Sacks and Rita Fuerst Adams as Executive Directors for many of those years. Now we are taking a major step upwards towards more highly paid, experienced and professional non-profit leadership. The time is ripe for renewal, new blood, and change.

I will continue on the Board of Directors for at least one year, to ensure continuity and success with our new Executive Director. I will also lead a few specific projects, with the agreement of the new leader. So you can be sure there will be continuity, effectiveness and dynamism at the top.

We ain’t seen nothing yet!

Looking forward with excitement to the next chapter…

Together with you in the love of our children,

Ned Holstein

February 19, 2018 by Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors, National Parents Organization

In 1995, Sundhe Moses, then 19, went to prison for a drive-by shooting that killed a four-year-old child and wounded others (New York Daily News, 2/12/18). Moses was innocent. His wrongful conviction appears to be the handiwork of now-retired New York Police Department detective Louis Scarcella. So far, a dozen people, originally imprisoned following Scarcella’s investigations, have been released from prison due to findings of actual innocence. As is so often the case, Moses was young, poor and not well educated, i.e. an easy target for a criminal justice system that often seems more intent on moving files than determining the truth.

Moses was paroled in 2013 after more than 18 years inside. He spent the next four years trying to prove his innocence. This past January, he succeeded. But that wasn’t the end of Moses’ problems, not by a long chalk. Indeed, it looks like the State of New York wants to incarcerate him again. Why? Moses has a child, Shaquille, who was just eight months old when he went to prison. He’s now in his early 20s and serving in the U.S. Army. And of course, Moses owes child support – to the tune of almost $40,000 for all the time he was in prison. About $10,000 is owed to the state to reimburse it for welfare benefits paid to Shaquille’s mother, Kawana Harper.

Moses is no wealthier now than when he was arrested. He can’t afford a lawyer and his first priority on being released was to vacate his conviction. He has a job, but it only pays him $380 per week. The state’s been garnishing $160 of that to reduce his child support debt, leaving Moses less than enough to live on. Needless to say, he can’t afford to hire a lawyer, so he’s trying to convince the family court to rescind his child support indebtedness.

My guess is that won’t work. The Bradley Amendment says that there can be no retroactive modification of a child support order, and, in effect, that’s what Moses is asking the court to do.

Moses can’t pay, his bank account has been frozen by state child support enforcement officials and that means he’s looking at going to jail.

“The reason that my arrears are the amount they are is because it accrued over a period of 18 1/2 years. During that time, I was incarcerated for a crime I did not commit and therefore was unable to pay,” Moses said in court documents.

But of course the state, that wrongfully sent him to prison in the first place, doesn’t care that he was obviously unable to pay while incarcerated. To New York’s legion of child support lawyers, it’s just another debt and Moses is just another deadbeat dad. Fairness and justice aren’t part of their job descriptions.

One legal absurdity states routinely engage in is the presumption that, if a parent owing child support is imprisoned for some criminal offense, he/she does so voluntarily and therefore can’t be relieved of paying support. As for me, I’ve never met a person, criminal or otherwise, who voluntarily went to prison. It just doesn’t happen. But surely, in Moses’ case, the fact that he didn’t commit the offense for which he went to prison undercuts the state’s already specious argument. I suppose we’ll see.

But I would urge one thing. As California courts have pointed out, child support is a matter for the court’s equity jurisdiction. And those who come into a court of equity asking for relief must do so with “clean hands,” i.e. they can’t have a legal blemish on their case. Moses owes the state, not Harper, about $10,000, and it was the state that wrongfully convicted and incarcerated him. Therefore, its attempt to collect that $10,000 is tarnished by its original wrongdoing toward Moses. A court of equity would be well within its power to erase the debt he owes it.

The only good news in all this is that, because he’s factually innocent, the State of New York will likely pay Moses for his time in prison. Unlike many states, New York requires exonerees to file suit in order to recover damages and, without the money to hire a lawyer, Moses may have a difficult time doing that on his own. Still, my guess is that there are lawyers in New York willing to help him recover what the state so clearly owes him.

“When a conviction is vacated in criminal court everything that happened reverses and you start over. I’m asking for family court to do the same thing and put me in the same position where I wouldn’t owe anything," Moses told the Daily News.

Yes, but as we’ve seen before, criminal courts aren’t nearly as disdainful of the defendants who come before them as are family courts.

We’ll see what happens with Sundhe Moses.

 

Donate

 

National Parents Organization is a Shared Parenting Organization

National Parents Organization is a non-profit that educates the public, families, educators, and legislators about the importance of shared parenting and how it can reduce conflict in children, parents, and extended families. Along with Shared Parenting we advocate for fair Child Support and Alimony Legislation. Want to get involved?  Here’s how:

• Become an official member of the National Parents Organization team.
• Join our Facebook Page.

Together, we can drive home the family, child development, social and national benefits of shared parenting, and fair child support and alimony. Thank you for your activism.

#childsupport

A Personal Message from Ned Holstein

National Parents Organization has launched a nationwide search for a new, full time, professional Executive Director! Having an experienced, accomplished, full time, well-paid Executive Director will vastly improve our strength and effectiveness. If you like NPO now, wait til you see 2018!

At considerable expense, we have contracted with a major national executive search firm in New York City that specializes in non-profits. Known as DRG, they have successfully placed high executives ranging from non-profits smaller than ours to behemoths. DRG has thousands of nationwide contacts they can tap to locate good candidates. And they are experienced in how to use social media for maximum effectiveness in recruiting.

We hope to have chosen a candidate and reached an agreement with her/him by the end of January, 2018. We are excited that the Search Consultant we will work with at DRG already understands the family law issues and does not need an education in these matters.

We will be offering a substantial salary, because NPO’s success will hinge on the quality of the Executive Director we are able to attract. Candidates will be able to stay where they currently live, if they so desire. Our key people are already distributed around the country, and we work from a “virtual office.” With growth, we may need to establish a central office, but that is for the future.

Since I work without compensation, this change will cause a substantial increase in our expenses. So we do need you to continue and to even increase the gifts you have made to support this organization.

Imagine: many more media appearances; much more social media action; many more interactions with thought leaders in the areas of family court, child development and justice; much more lobbying; many more online and in-person campaigns; many more state affiliates getting much more support from the national organization; many more meetings and rallies; in short, much more of everything!

That is, much more of everything if you support us, which you can do by clicking here.

If you are interested to learn about this position, click here to see the job posting that has already gone out through multiple platforms. If you are personally interested in the position, please note that you should reply to our Search Consultant, Sara Lundberg, not to me.

Which brings up a personal note. I have been running National Parents Organization off and on since 1998 — with lots of help from many others. During these years, we have also had Dan Hogan, Glenn Sacks and Rita Fuerst Adams as Executive Directors for many of those years. Now we are taking a major step upwards towards more highly paid, experienced and professional non-profit leadership. The time is ripe for renewal, new blood, and change.

I will continue on the Board of Directors for at least one year, to ensure continuity and success with our new Executive Director. I will also lead a few specific projects, with the agreement of the new leader. So you can be sure there will be continuity, effectiveness and dynamism at the top.

We ain’t seen nothing yet!

Looking forward with excitement to the next chapter…

Together with you in the love of our children,

Ned Holstein

February 18, 2018 by Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors, National Parents Organization

Nebraska’s lawyers, including the state’s judges, continue to resist letting Nebraskans know what family courts are doing (Omaha World-Herald, 2/2/18). That actually overstates the matter somewhat. They’re actually uncomfortable with an informed public only in a couple of very specific areas. And how informative those two areas are!

Readers of this blog will remember the fight family court reform advocate Dr. Les Veskrna was put through by the Administrator for State Courts when he tried to find out how family court judges are trained regarding child custody and parenting time. Never mind that Nebraska’s law on public records is about as broad as it can be and clearly encompasses such non-controversial documents as the ones Veskrna sought. The Administrator fought his losing battle all the way to the state Supreme Court where he was unceremoniously “poured out.”

When the training materials were finally produced, sure enough, they revealed that judges were being given false information about overnights for toddlers and about the science on shared parenting. Perhaps more embarrassing was the fact that the Administrator had gone so far as to lie to Dr. Linda Nielsen, telling her the state couldn’t afford for her to travel there to give a workshop to the judiciary. He did so despite Nielsen’s voluntarily waiving her customary fee while paying anti-father advocate Robert Emery to go to Nebraska to discourage meaningful relationships between children and fathers post-divorce.

In the linked-to piece, Veskrna tells us that the judiciary, despite the Supreme Court ruling, still wants to keep its training materials secret from the public.

Unfortunately, it appears the judicial branch’s zeal for secrecy continues. The Nebraska Supreme Court just proposed a rule that would allow it to keep judicial training materials secret notwithstanding the outcome of the earlier case.

That’s Specific Item No. 1. Against the backdrop of a public records act and legislative history that leaves no doubt about the Legislature’s intention to keep citizens informed about the doings of state government, the Supreme Court wants to carve out an exception strictly for judges’ training materials. Not those of doctors, CPAs, architects or even lawyers, just judges.

And of course that issue only arose with the publication of training materials aimed at one narrow area of interest – child custody and parenting time. Significantly, the issue never came up before.

But the judiciary isn’t done announcing its disdain for an informed public. It also opposes Legislative Bill 879.

Legislative Bill 879, introduced this session, would provide more transparency about child custody cases by collecting parenting time and domestic violence data about every child custody case.

If passed, the bill would add one item to a questionnaire that divorcing couples already fill out now and since 2003. One item. According to the judges and the state bar association, that one additional item is excessive. The existing form is fine, but apparently that one additional question is the proverbial straw that would break the camel’s back.

Dr. Veskrna doesn’t buy it.

The judges argued the data might not be accurate since they would be provided by the parties to the case and not verified by court staff. This argument seems disingenuous since the judges opposed a similar bill several years ago because it would have required involvement by court staff.

In short, the judges oppose gathering the data if it’s provided by the parties to a case and they also oppose it if court personnel provide it. Say, it’s almost as if they simply oppose letting Nebraskans know what judges are doing about custody and parenting time. That conclusion is only made clearer by this:

The judges also argued the data collected shouldn’t be reported by individual judges since it might subject judges to “targeting.” This argument seems disingenuous since the Nebraska State Bar Association itself collects and publishes feedback from lawyers about individual judges every two years before Election Day.

Yes, we can’t have an electorate that’s informed about judges’ behavior when voting on whether or not to retain those very judges. Do the judges realize that that is precisely what they’re arguing for – an uninformed public?

Plus, Veskrna doesn’t allow readers to forget what they judges are arguing against.

Collecting these data is critically important because research shows that children who spend less than 35 percent of their time with either parent have significantly higher risk of poor outcomes, including early mortality, lower educational attainment, teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol use and juvenile delinquency. Every year, defective child custody decisions hurt thousands of Nebraska children. Based on DHHS data, we estimate these decisions cost Nebraska taxpayers more than $500 million every year.

In light of the importance of these data, then-State Sen. Brad Ashford asked the Nebraska Supreme Court to perform a comprehensive study of child custody awards from 2002 to 2012. This study found that mothers were awarded custody in 72 percent of cases, while fathers were awarded custody in 13.8 percent. Joint custody with shared residence was awarded in only 12.3 percent of cases. The average parenting time for noncustodial parents was about 17 percent, which is only half the minimum parenting time recommended by mental health research.

That’s Specific Item No. 2. Judges oppose allowing the public to know what judges are doing.

It’s not a pretty picture. At every turn the judges have opposed the good and promoted the bad, the destructive, the dysfunctional. They want to hide the content of their training and the results of their rulings. But if they were trained better, they’d make better decisions and not have to fear the public’s knowledge. And of course they’d contribute mightily to children’s well-being, the very thing they claim to do in every order of custody and parenting time they issue.

 

Donate

 

National Parents Organization is a Shared Parenting Organization

National Parents Organization is a non-profit that educates the public, families, educators, and legislators about the importance of shared parenting and how it can reduce conflict in children, parents, and extended families. Along with Shared Parenting we advocate for fair Child Support and Alimony Legislation. Want to get involved?  Here’s how:

• Become an official member of the National Parents Organization team.
• Join our Facebook Page.

Together, we can drive home the family, child development, social and national benefits of shared parenting, and fair child support and alimony. Thank you for your activism.

#childcustody, #parentingtime, #judicialeducation, #public’srighttoknow, #Nebraska

A Personal Message from Ned Holstein

National Parents Organization has launched a nationwide search for a new, full time, professional Executive Director! Having an experienced, accomplished, full time, well-paid Executive Director will vastly improve our strength and effectiveness. If you like NPO now, wait til you see 2018!

At considerable expense, we have contracted with a major national executive search firm in New York City that specializes in non-profits. Known as DRG, they have successfully placed high executives ranging from non-profits smaller than ours to behemoths. DRG has thousands of nationwide contacts they can tap to locate good candidates. And they are experienced in how to use social media for maximum effectiveness in recruiting.

We hope to have chosen a candidate and reached an agreement with her/him by the end of January, 2018. We are excited that the Search Consultant we will work with at DRG already understands the family law issues and does not need an education in these matters.

We will be offering a substantial salary, because NPO’s success will hinge on the quality of the Executive Director we are able to attract. Candidates will be able to stay where they currently live, if they so desire. Our key people are already distributed around the country, and we work from a “virtual office.” With growth, we may need to establish a central office, but that is for the future.

Since I work without compensation, this change will cause a substantial increase in our expenses. So we do need you to continue and to even increase the gifts you have made to support this organization.

Imagine: many more media appearances; much more social media action; many more interactions with thought leaders in the areas of family court, child development and justice; much more lobbying; many more online and in-person campaigns; many more state affiliates getting much more support from the national organization; many more meetings and rallies; in short, much more of everything!

That is, much more of everything if you support us, which you can do by clicking here.

If you are interested to learn about this position, click here to see the job posting that has already gone out through multiple platforms. If you are personally interested in the position, please note that you should reply to our Search Consultant, Sara Lundberg, not to me.

Which brings up a personal note. I have been running National Parents Organization off and on since 1998 — with lots of help from many others. During these years, we have also had Dan Hogan, Glenn Sacks and Rita Fuerst Adams as Executive Directors for many of those years. Now we are taking a major step upwards towards more highly paid, experienced and professional non-profit leadership. The time is ripe for renewal, new blood, and change.

I will continue on the Board of Directors for at least one year, to ensure continuity and success with our new Executive Director. I will also lead a few specific projects, with the agreement of the new leader. So you can be sure there will be continuity, effectiveness and dynamism at the top.

We ain’t seen nothing yet!

Looking forward with excitement to the next chapter…

Together with you in the love of our children,

Ned Holstein

A Personal Message from Ned Holstein

National Parents Organization has launched a nationwide search for a new, full time, professional Executive Director! Having an experienced, accomplished, full time, well-paid Executive Director will vastly improve our strength and effectiveness. If you like NPO now, wait til you see 2018!

At considerable expense, we have contracted with a major national executive search firm in New York City that specializes in non-profits. Known as DRG, they have successfully placed high executives ranging from non-profits smaller than ours to behemoths. DRG has thousands of nationwide contacts they can tap to locate good candidates. And they are experienced in how to use social media for maximum effectiveness in recruiting.

We hope to have chosen a candidate and reached an agreement with her/him by the end of January, 2018. We are excited that the Search Consultant we will work with at DRG already understands the family law issues and does not need an education in these matters.

We will be offering a substantial salary, because NPO’s success will hinge on the quality of the Executive Director we are able to attract. Candidates will be able to stay where they currently live, if they so desire. Our key people are already distributed around the country, and we work from a “virtual office.” With growth, we may need to establish a central office, but that is for the future.

Since I work without compensation, this change will cause a substantial increase in our expenses. So we do need you to continue and to even increase the gifts you have made to support this organization.

Imagine: many more media appearances; much more social media action; many more interactions with thought leaders in the areas of family court, child development and justice; much more lobbying; many more online and in-person campaigns; many more state affiliates getting much more support from the national organization; many more meetings and rallies; in short, much more of everything!

That is, much more of everything if you support us, which you can do by clicking here.

If you are interested to learn about this position, click here to see the job posting that has already gone out through multiple platforms. If you are personally interested in the position, please note that you should reply to our Search Consultant, Sara Lundberg, not to me.

Which brings up a personal note. I have been running National Parents Organization off and on since 1998 — with lots of help from many others. During these years, we have also had Dan Hogan, Glenn Sacks and Rita Fuerst Adams as Executive Directors for many of those years. Now we are taking a major step upwards towards more highly paid, experienced and professional non-profit leadership. The time is ripe for renewal, new blood, and change.

I will continue on the Board of Directors for at least one year, to ensure continuity and success with our new Executive Director. I will also lead a few specific projects, with the agreement of the new leader. So you can be sure there will be continuity, effectiveness and dynamism at the top.

We ain’t seen nothing yet!

Looking forward with excitement to the next chapter…

Together with you in the love of our children,

Ned Holstein

February 16, 2018 by Don Hubin, PhD, Chair, Executive Committee, National Parents Organization of Ohio

How many times have we heard this in response to our efforts to establish a presumption of equal parenting when parents separate as misguided: “Every case is different; you can’t use a cookie-cutter approach”?

In my more than 25 years of working to promote shared parenting, I’ve heard judges, attorneys, and legislators say this more times than I can remember. Most recently, in two settings. When I presented National Parents Organization’s proposed legislation for a presumption of equal parenting during temporary orders, representatives from the Ohio Bar Association challenged the proposal because … “every case is different” and “you can’t use a cookie-cutter approach.” A couple of weeks later, when I met with two leaders of the Ohio Domestic Relations Judges Association to discuss this proposed legislation, I was told, again … “every case is different” and “you can’t use a cookie-cutter approach.”

It sounds reasonable, of course. Every case is different. But it’s a hollow argument.

Courts already use a cookie cutter—an incredibly detailed cookie cutter. These cookie cutters typically specify not only the amount of time that the children will spend with each parent, but the exact days and the times of the exchanges: Wednesdays from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm and every other weekend from 6:00 pm on Friday until 6:00 pm on Sunday, for example.

And this highly specific schedule is used as a default, for “when parents can’t agree otherwise.”

Knowing this, and pointing it out, is one thing. Proving it based on careful research is quite another.

Ohio NPO is undertaking a review of the cookie cutters used by Ohio domestic relations courts to determine parenting time. In our state, each of the 88 counties set its own “standard parenting time rule” for separated and divorced parents. NPO member Frank Glandorf and I are reviewing every one of these schedules and evaluating them on the degree to which they promote children’s best interest by setting defaults that protect the child’s relationship with both parents.

The goal is to produce a report card for each county, similar to the 2014 NPO Grade Card Report that evaluated all 50 states’ custody laws. It’s a complex task because, as you might expect, there’s wide variation in the approaches used by Ohio courts. Some local rules are age specific, some are not; some have multiple schedules for children of the same age group; others do not; some have very complex schedules; others are very simple.

To make the task manageable, for this report, we’ll be focusing only on how the various courts address “normal time” with the children—time that doesn’t include holidays and summer vacations. And we’ll focus only on the rules concerning parents who live in reasonably close proximity.

Preliminary findings are not surprising. The vast majority of Ohio counties have parenting time rules of the every-other-weekend-and-one-evening-a-week variety, or less. And they explicitly say that this schedule applies when the parents can’t agree to anything else.

This is not news to anyone involved in the custody reform movement. But we’re working on developing the data to back up our claims that, not only do Ohio courts already use a cookie-cutter approach, but the cookie cutter they use is a terrible one—harmful to children and parents.

This will be a powerful tool to use with judges, attorneys, legislators, and the media. In addition to issuing a grade card report, we will be writing op-eds to be published in the local newspapers praising those courts that do it right and calling out those who are woefully behind the times.

 

Donate

 

National Parents Organization is a Shared Parenting Organization

National Parents Organization is a non-profit that educates the public, families, educators, and legislators about the importance of shared parenting and how it can reduce conflict in children, parents, and extended families. Along with Shared Parenting we advocate for fair Child Support and Alimony Legislation. Want to get involved?  Here’s how:

• Become an official member of the National Parents Organization team.
• Join our Facebook Page.

Together, we can drive home the family, child development, social and national benefits of shared parenting, and fair child support and alimony. Thank you for your activism.

#childsupport, #Ohio, #NationalParentsOrganization

February 15, 2018 by Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors, National Parents Organization

The case of Kaylene Bowen, Ryan Crawford and their son Christopher raises the issue of medical child abuse (Fort Worth Star Telegram, 12/8/17). Medical child abuse is rarely or never the wrongdoing of a single person. It is a systemic problem. Crawford, having seen his son undergo 323 doctor visits and 13 major surgeries in his first seven years of life and himself sidelined by a family court judge and child protective services when he tried to sound the alarm, gets that all too well.

 “It’s horrible for my son, or any kid because obviously my son is not the only one that has had to go through this type of torture,” Crawford said. “The system has to be exposed — all the weaknesses that are in the system — because the kids don’t deserve that.”

As I reported yesterday, Family Court Judge Lori Hockett simply ignored Crawford’s attempt to show her medical records that contradicted Bowen’s claims that Christopher had variously, a rare genetic disorder, cancer, a heart attack, was comatose, etc. But Hockett wasn’t the only one to kick a protective father to the curb because he didn’t believe his son was gravely ill. Dallas Child Protective Services got in on the act too.

Crawford said he had notified Child Protective Services about his concerns with Bowen in late 2010 or early 2011, and again in 2012. He said he believed investigators looked into it but ultimately did nothing and closed the case.

But the CPS petition to remove Christopher and his half-siblings only mentions a previous 2015 CPS report made by doctors.

Marissa Gonzales, a CPS spokesman, said she could find no records of earlier investigations or reports, though acknowledged that some records may have since been expunged.

Excuse me? A father reports possible abuse of his son and CPS has no record of it because, in an ongoing case, the records “may since have been expunged?” Is that a habit of CPS? My guess is that it’s some form of criminal wrongdoing, but I can’t be sure. Whatever the case, destroying allegations of child abuse for a boy who’s still a child and therefore potentially the subject of a CPS investigation is beyond outrageous. It all but guarantees future negligence by the agency should additional claims of abuse be made.

Still, CPS eventually looked into the matter of Kaylene Bowen and her son.

In the November 2015 report, a care provider for the boy reported to CPS that they feared Bowen and the child’s stepfather at the time were medically neglecting Christopher.

The concerns included that Christopher would lose weight while at home, but gained it back at the hospital, and that the mother had reported a multitude of symptoms involving various organs, leading to tests and invasive procedures, yet nothing wrong was found.

The doctor also suggested the mother might be seeking medical care elsewhere to keep the boy in the “sick role.”

“There has been a long-standing concern for possible medical child abuse by many providers; however, as in the case, this type of abuse is insidious and hard to pinpoint,” a Dallas doctor wrote in a 2015 letter referenced in the CPS petition.

Stated another way, CPS did little or nothing when Crawford complained, but when a doctor did, caseworkers investigated and – lo and behold! – found evidence of serious child abuse by Bowen. Needless to say, if they’d done that earlier they’d have found much the same thing and Christopher would have been spared years of suffering.

But, as is so often the case with state child protective agencies, Dallas CPS isn’t done yet. It’s still treating Christopher’s father like a persona non grata.

More than three years later and even after Bowen’s arrest, Crawford is still fighting — this time trying to get Christopher out of foster care and home with him.

So, when Bowen was arrested, why wasn’t Christopher turned over to his father? Has anyone claimed Bowen is abusive or neglectful, unfit or incapable? No. He’s none of those things, but CPS still hasn’t allowed him to have custody of his son.

He said CPS has expressed reservations about moving the boy out of foster care because Christopher doesn’t know his father very well. Never mind, Crawford points out, that Christopher doesn’t know his foster family well either.

“That’s taxpayer money. Why spend all that extra money when he has a father that has been there from day one, that’s been fighting for this?” Crawford said.

His workplace has since started a Gofundme page to help raise money for Crawford’s ongoing legal battle.

Yes, CPS created a fait accompli. First it refused to investigate Crawford’s well-founded suspicions of abuse. Then, when they were proven true, instead of handing the child to him, caseworkers placed Christopher with strangers. Having done so, they now resist Crawford’s parental claims by saying the boy doesn’t know him well enough. Gee, I wonder how that happened.

And of course Crawford’s right about CPS’s use of our tax dollars. Texas taxpayers wouldn’t have to pay Crawford a cent for caring for his own son, but they do pay his foster family.

It takes a village, you know. To medically abuse a small boy took more than the abuse by his mother. It also took the blind participation of at least two judges and several CPS caseworkers and managers to ensure that one kid spent the first seven years of his life seeing little but doctors’ offices, hospitals and operating rooms. And it took all of them to deny him the one person in the world who had his best interests at heart – his father, Ryan Crawford.

 

Donate

 

National Parents Organization is a Shared Parenting Organization

National Parents Organization is a non-profit that educates the public, families, educators, and legislators about the importance of shared parenting and how it can reduce conflict in children, parents, and extended families. Along with Shared Parenting we advocate for fair Child Support and Alimony Legislation. Want to get involved?  Here’s how:

• Become an official member of the National Parents Organization team.
• Join our Facebook Page.

Together, we can drive home the family, child development, social and national benefits of shared parenting, and fair child support and alimony. Thank you for your activism.

#medicalchildabuse, #protectivefather, #childprotectiveservices, #bestinterestsofthechild

A Personal Message from Ned Holstein

National Parents Organization has launched a nationwide search for a new, full time, professional Executive Director! Having an experienced, accomplished, full time, well-paid Executive Director will vastly improve our strength and effectiveness. If you like NPO now, wait til you see 2018!

At considerable expense, we have contracted with a major national executive search firm in New York City that specializes in non-profits. Known as DRG, they have successfully placed high executives ranging from non-profits smaller than ours to behemoths. DRG has thousands of nationwide contacts they can tap to locate good candidates. And they are experienced in how to use social media for maximum effectiveness in recruiting.

We hope to have chosen a candidate and reached an agreement with her/him by the end of January, 2018. We are excited that the Search Consultant we will work with at DRG already understands the family law issues and does not need an education in these matters.

We will be offering a substantial salary, because NPO’s success will hinge on the quality of the Executive Director we are able to attract. Candidates will be able to stay where they currently live, if they so desire. Our key people are already distributed around the country, and we work from a “virtual office.” With growth, we may need to establish a central office, but that is for the future.

Since I work without compensation, this change will cause a substantial increase in our expenses. So we do need you to continue and to even increase the gifts you have made to support this organization.

Imagine: many more media appearances; much more social media action; many more interactions with thought leaders in the areas of family court, child development and justice; much more lobbying; many more online and in-person campaigns; many more state affiliates getting much more support from the national organization; many more meetings and rallies; in short, much more of everything!

That is, much more of everything if you support us, which you can do by clicking here.

If you are interested to learn about this position, click here to see the job posting that has already gone out through multiple platforms. If you are personally interested in the position, please note that you should reply to our Search Consultant, Sara Lundberg, not to me.

Which brings up a personal note. I have been running National Parents Organization off and on since 1998 — with lots of help from many others. During these years, we have also had Dan Hogan, Glenn Sacks and Rita Fuerst Adams as Executive Directors for many of those years. Now we are taking a major step upwards towards more highly paid, experienced and professional non-profit leadership. The time is ripe for renewal, new blood, and change.

I will continue on the Board of Directors for at least one year, to ensure continuity and success with our new Executive Director. I will also lead a few specific projects, with the agreement of the new leader. So you can be sure there will be continuity, effectiveness and dynamism at the top.

We ain’t seen nothing yet!

Looking forward with excitement to the next chapter…

Together with you in the love of our children,

Ned Holstein