Category: NPO in the media

In 1910, Father’s Day was created as the complement to the newly founded Mother’s Day. The role of the father has grown by leaps and bounds since then, and even more since the holiday was made permanent in 1972.

Working dads who live with their kids now spend an average of three hours a day with them, and virtually all bathe, change, eat with and play with their kids every day — or at least several times a week. Altogether, fathers have more than doubled the time they spend doing chores at home and nearly tripled the time they spend with their kids, while women have increased their time spent doing paid work. Significant gender gaps remain, but when you combine paid work with household chores and child care, moms and dads put in roughly the same amount of time for their families.

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In Texas, the lead-up to Father’s Day has been filled with bad news out of the Department of Family and Protective Services. The DFPS oversees Child Protective Services, which is charged with protecting Texas’ children at risk for abuse or neglect. And CPS is an agency in crisis.

Two years ago, an independent audit by the Stephen Group found a whopping turnover rate of CPS caseworkers of 25.5 percent per year and caseworkers so burdened by paperwork that they spend barely one-fourth of their time with the kids they’re supposed to be protecting. Texas pays starting caseworkers rock-bottom rates and buries them with caseloads exceeding twice the industry standards. No wonder so many leave.

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This Father’s Day, National Parents Organization recognizes all dads, but in particular the forgotten single dad by advocating for shared parenting as the norm, rather than the exception, when parents divorce or separate.

“Single fathers are noticed very little even though they are big — about 25% to 35% of all fathers are non-custodial, or single, dads, and a tiny percentage are sole-custody parents. Even on Father’s Day, we typically imagine the standard two-parent family,” Dr. Ned Holstein, M.D., Founder and Board Chair ofNational Parents Organization, said. “If we want a better life for families, lawmakers in every state must reform the family courts in ways that embrace the two-parent solution of shared parenting when parents have separated. And we must take anti-father gender bias out of the courts as well.”

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Ned Holstein, founder and chairman of NPO, says the standard custody agreement is out of touch with how families have changed. Increasingly, both parents work in the paid labor force. Fathers today are more involved in daily child care than previous generations. In the past legislative session, about 20 states considered some form of shared parenting legislation, Holstein said. The issue is picking up steam in the media and state houses.

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For well over half of American families this seemingly simple decision requires more planning than one might imagine – all because the divorce court status quo results in rigid, unequal parenting arrangements.

With America’s family courts consistently ordering “primary custody” arrangements, events like “Take Your Child to Work Day” do not often make the list of things thought out ahead of time.  More than 80% of split families are ordered into primary custody arrangements – and only 30% of those have the father as primary custodian. More and more data supports the fact that shared parenting after divorce or separation benefits children the most, plus, in the past couple of years, states including South Dakota, Utah and Minnesota have joined the handful of states with laws supportive of shared parenting after divorce or separation – and numerous states have recently considered similar legislation. As a result, we must ask ourselves: What is taking the family courts in Virginia and most other states so long to catch up to modern research?

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At its core, the shared parenting bill that overwhelmingly passed the Missouri Legislature and heads to Gov. Jay Nixon is common sense: Children need two parents, not just one, especially in instances of divorce.

What’s more, HB 1550 doesn’t stop at common sense. It’s based on a growing body of evidence showing that children desperately want and need shared parenting, not the current status quo of sole custody, when their parents divorce.

Plus, this bill represents a solution for all. It doesn’t favor women. It isn’t partial to men. Instead, it’s family-friendly and encourages judges to give children what they most want and need — shared parenting. With shared parenting, the roles that mothers and fathers both play in their children’s lives receive equal respect, and rightfully so.

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Speaking of shared parenting bills and laws, Missouri is reportedly urging its governor, Jay Nixon, to sign the shared parenting bill known as, House Bill 1550, which was placed on his desk on May 25. According to Missourian, the bill aims to end the pain that Missouri’s family court systems bring on broken families.

National Parents Organization member Linda Reutzel also wrote that shared parenting is not only a solution for 21^st century families. She said it is also a “common sense solution” that will resolve the issues of all involved individuals such as parents and judges.

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As a mother and grandmother, I’d like to thank Rep. Jim Neely (R-Cameron) for standing up for Missouri’s children by sponsoring the shared parenting bill, and now that the state legislature has backed his proposal, it’s time for Gov. Nixon to follow suit.

I feel so strongly about this legislation, HB 1550, because I’ve felt the pain Missouri’s broken family court system inflicts on families. Children are hurting. Parents are hurting. Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents – everyone’s hurting. This unfortunate reality occurs because our courts continue rubber stamping the outdated primary residential custody parenting model after divorce or separation, despite an overwhelming amount of research showing children need and want equal access to both parents.

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As a mother and grandmother, I ask our governor to waste no time in standing up for Missouri children whose parents are divorced or separated by signing the shared parenting bill that overwhelmingly passed the Missouri legislature and arrived on his desk May 25.

I feel so strongly about this legislation, House Bill 1550, because I’ve felt the pain Missouri’s broken family court system inflicts on families. Children are hurting. Parents are hurting. Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents — everyone’s hurting.

This unfortunate reality occurs because our courts continue rubber-stamping the outdated primary residential custody parenting model after divorce or separation, despite an overwhelming amount of research showing children need and want equal access to both parents.

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With a bill encouraging shared parenting and parental equality after divorce arriving on Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon’s desk yesterday — Wednesday, May 25 — National Parents Organization urges the Governor to waste no time in signing the bill into law. If the Governor signs the bill, HB 1550, Missouri will join the list of states with child custody laws supportive of children experiencing the continued love and support of not just one, but both, of their parents after divorce or separation.

“Thank you, Missouri legislators, for voting to bring state child custody laws in line with the overwhelming body of research showing that most children desperately want and need shared parenting after divorce or separation,” Dr. Ned Holstein, Founder and Board Chair of National Parents Organization, said. “Too many families have suffered from the family courts’ outdated preference for giving sole custody to one parent. I urge Gov. Nixon to act on his historic opportunity to sign HB 1550 into law. Instead of setting up parents for a bitter and unnecessary custody battle, HB 1550 will allow families to heal from the pain of divorce and separation from a position of equality and co-parenting.”

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