“We went from a nation in which 9 percent of children were being raised without dads in the 1960s to today’s 28 percent, or more than 20 million kids.”
Two Fathers & Families supporters, Peter G. Hill and Bill DeTucci Sr., recently had letters published in the Boston Globe and the Salem News respectively.
In Panel on men’s issues is as urgent as one for women (Boston Globe, 3/19/09), Peter G. Hill writes:
I do not have a problem with President Obama’s creating a panel for women’s issues, as detailed in the Globe (Political Notebook, March 12). What I do take exception to is that he did not create a panel for men’s issues at the same time.
Are we forgetting that men do matter in all of our lives, and, most especially, in the lives of children? We went from a nation in which 9 percent of children were being raised without dads in the 1960s to today’s 28 percent, or more than 20 million kids.
Much of this increase can be traced to well-meaning federal programs with unintended consequences. We have seen higher rates among teens of suicide, pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse, and violence. Men commit suicide in far greater numbers than women, and many of these are fathers who have been torn or alienated from their children as a result of separation and divorce. In addition, many men are victims of domestic violence and are subject to false accusations.
If we avoid men’s issues, we do so only at peril to our great nation and our nation’s children.
In New court guidelines favor one parent over the other (Salem News, 3/20/09), Bill DeTucci Sr. writes:
I recently attended a conference held at the Hilton Hotel in Waltham hosted by Fathers and Families.
The topic revolved around the sad fact that in Massachusetts and most states today, most fathers are denied their right to be actively involved in their children’s lives. Not to mention the abuse of the courts and false accusations of the other parent in restraining or not being willing to foster a good and healthy relationship with father and child.
The conference also focused on the “New Child Support Guidelines” that Judge Robert A. Mulligan issued on his own authority without legislative-branch approval, which is a violation of the Massachusetts Constitution (Art. 30).
This so-called “New Guideline,” makes it financially strenuous on fathers in regard to child support. Attorney Gregory A. Hession of Springfield, who was present at the conference, is filing a lawsuit aimed at overturning it.
Oddly, I thought discrimination was at odds with equality and justice. Or do the judges think they can act without morality and in an unfair manner?
Fathers are people, too! They love and care for their children and have been treated harshly and at times unjustly either morally or financially, by the liberal court system or by feminists who do not care to foster equal involvement by parents with their children. Sadly, the children suffer the most…