America's Fathering Crisis

On MLK Day, I find myself reflecting on my father-in-law’s story. I am also reminded that Dr. King’s famous “I have a dream” speech was about being a father. It was about envisioning the future he wanted for his children, and then working to make that dream a reality.

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” he said.

We can all learn something from Dr. King, Dr. Little, and Championship Fathers across the globe …

More important than a man’s circumstances—his race, his socioeconomic status, his custodial or marital situation—is the way in which he handles his circumstances and envisions the future.

English: Dr. Martin Luther King giving his "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington in Washington, D.C., on 28 August 1963. Español: Dr. Martin Luther King dando su discurso "Yo tengo un sueño" durante la Marcha sobre Washington por el trabajo y la libertad en Washington, D.C., 28 de agosto de 1963. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Do you model self-control? Do you remain calm and rational, even when others are becoming bitter … perhaps even violent? Can you hold your head high because you know you are acting like the dignified man you want your children to see?

English: Attorney General Kennedy and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 22 June 1963, Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A Year Without My Daughter...here's to you Judge Valerie Manno-Schurr.

Hello David ,

I never thought that i would ever believe there were real fathers that really love their children because my parent inflicted so much pain ,abuse that it crippled us mentally I found help in therapy 16 year's of hard core therapy and after it all who won me" i did not stay crippled , what I am trying to say is i admire the fight fathers put up for their children. please keep it going i believe in good fathers now , please continue to give the little angel by your side lucky stars and when she grows up she will sparkle and and she will say my dad gave me so much love and i am going give lots of to my children some day. God Bless you and your children.

Great Job !!

Sincerely,

Marie.

Judge Manno-Schurr

My 8 year-old Family Court Case presiding Judge. The 5th Judge to preside over my simple case; an unwed…Read More

Do her mistakes qualify her for another six years on the bench? Or is it time that Miami-Dade voters look for someone who is more competent…Read More

Judge Manno-Schurr Reversed again for not knowing the law - United Auto Courts Reports

United Auto Courts Reports ~ Valerie Manno-Schurr has made a habit of being reversed in her first term as Miami-Dade circuit judge. The latest instance was on Feb. 29, when the Third District Court of Appeal determined that she erred in a dispute over a homeowner’s insurance claim. Judge Manno-Schurr has been reversed many times on cases taken to appeal. As of late 2011,…Read More

Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

The first case to recognize a non-custodial parent’s cause of action based on the tort of…Read More

This means Family Court discrimination against parents and children who suffer from PTSD legal trauma!

Sanders: End Discrimination Against People with Disabilities -- Sen. Bernie Sanders called for an end to all forms of discrimination including against people who may have a disability.  THERESPECTABILITYREPORT.ORG

"Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never in nothing, great or small, large or petty never give in, except to…Read More

The rights that children have to free and equal association with both fit parents...

...that should not be invaded by the State or infringed upon by another parent.

NO...STILL DON'T SEE THE PROBLEM? 

THINK THIS IS NOT TRUE?

WATCH THIS VIDEO ABOUT HOW FATHERS IN MIAMI-DADE COUNTY'S 11TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT FAMILY COURT, IN FLORIDA,  HAVE TO "UNJUSTIFIABLY" PROVE "PARENTAL FITNESS"

The CEO of The Fatherhood Taskforce speaking before the Florida Supreme Court Committee on the Future of Florida's Courts.

How Divorced Parents and Children Lose Their Rights

Emery makes many good suggestions in his article called............ “How Divorced Parents Lost Their Rights” and has a good grasp on the process from a psychology perspective. We are, of course constitutional scholars and would like to offer a perspective that hopefully integrates and supports most but not all of what Emery says.

For instance Emery suggests that courts do not involve themselves with parenting disagreements between married parents because judges would make things a mess. They would of course  but that is NOT the legal reason that they stay out of it. The legal reason is that people have the right to make decisions free from government interference. These rights are called privacy rights. Parents have privacy rights to make decisions for their children and the State may not interfere unless the state can show a clear and present danger to the child from these decisions.

Why do family law courts treat married and divorced parents differently? Many people do not realize that parental rights do not depend on marriage and in fact cannot depend on marital status in any way. A hundred years ago this wasn’t so and our family law codes have not caught up with this concept. Up until the early 1970s some states still had bastardy laws on their books that tied the rights of parents and children to the marital status of the child’s parents. In a series of landmark decisions, the US Supreme Court stated very clearly that states may not create second-class parents or second-class children based on nothing more than the marital status of the child’s parents.

Family law has not caught up to this idea because of religious and cultural preconditioning. In other words our society builds into us a series of biases and prejudices against single and divorced parents that is so deep most people don’t even realize it is driving their behavior. Most people believe that it is completely legitimate to invade the privacy of single/divorced parents even where they believe that the privacy of married parents must be preserved. Constitutionally, this is a completely bankrupt idea. Unfortunately, judges, attorneys, and mental health professionals are almost universally so caught up in these biases they refuse to acknowledge their professional training and simply default to bigoted behaviors without even realizing that is what they are doing. (It’s easy to fall into following statistics to guide decisions. Individuals can choose to follow these as their guide. It is not how the law should be deciding individual rights.)

- See more at: http://www.fixfamilycourts.com/how-divorced-parents-and-children-lose-their-rights/#sthash.LeijUpEd.dpuf

Are you sick, tired, broke and frustrated with the difficulty of trying to get the courts to admit you have equal rights...
Posted by Protecting Parent Child Bonds 28th Amendment on Saturday, June 27, 2015

When this Amendment is passed parents will not have to reference countless Supreme Court opinions, they will only have to say I have 28th Amendment rights to be a parent and no Divorce Court can ever deprive me of those rights so long as I am a fit parent.This book is intended to be a tool for citizen activists who want change to the system but who may struggle with all of the technical arguments. Now all you have to do to support change is hand this book to your politician of choice and say, “I want this, make it happen.””

Post by parentalrights.org.

An independent and honorable judiciary is indispensable to justice in our society

Code of Conduct for United States Judges

The Code of Conduct for United States Judges includes the ethical canons that apply to federal judges and provides guidance on their performance of official duties and engagement in a variety of outside activities.

Introduction
Canon 1: A Judge Should Uphold the Integrity and Independence of the Judiciary
Canon 2: A Judge Should Avoid Impropriety and the Appearance of Impropriety in All Activities
Canon 3: A Judge Should Perform the Duties of the Office Fairly, Impartially and Diligently
Canon 4: A Judge May Engage in Extrajudicial Activities That are Consistent With the Obligations of Judicial Office
Canon 5: A Judge Should Refrain From Political Activity
Compliance with the Code of Conduct
Applicable Date of Compliance

Just a Thought

It is vital to prepare yourself before you enter the Courtroom DoorsThere a legal "biases" in our courts. However, if you are aware of them you will have a better chance defending yourself."KNOWLEDGE is Power"

Judge Leonard Edwards wrote an article for the Judges Page on the National CASA website where he says that judges need to stop rubber stamping these cases and enforce the "Reasonable Efforts"  requirement, but they are afraid a "No Reasonable Efforts" ruling could cost their state millions of dollars.  There is also at least one Judges Bench Book (California) that is referred to as "The Smoking Gun" >>>  because it very clearly states that the courts MUST rule during the initial  hearing (after removal) that it is contrary to the best interest of the child to be returned home, otherwise the state is NEVER eligible for federal funding.   You can see it for yourself at:  on  pages 2, 3 and 13.

To Index

Introductory Reading

• Reasonable Efforts Judges View

• Blinking On The Bench is a law paper that questions whether Judges use intuition and/or deliberation to decide their cases. (Original Location:http://abajournal.com/files/Blinking_on_the_Bench.pdf )

• Navigating Custody & Visitation Evaluations in Cases with Domestic Violence: A Judge's Guide: This PDF document was developed under grant number SJI-03-N103 from the State Justice Institute. The points of view expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the State Justice Institute. (Comment on this Guide: A Mixed & Dangerous Tool(Source:http://www.thelizlibrary.org/liz/dangerous-tool.html  Document File))

• Related Reading: Standards of Practice for Attorneys Representing Parents in Abuse and Neglect Cases - ABA- 2006 (Download pdf) This document out lines the many responsibilities of what lawyers are supposed to do when working with their client. May want to download and review this to document what your lawyer actually does, in your particular experiences. Sections include: 1) Summary of the Standards; 2) Basic Obligations of Parents' Attorneys; 3) Obligations of Attorney Manager; and 4) Role of the Court.. (Check out other Lawyer Related Information)

What are Judges Bench Books??

Simply put,  the best way to say it would be that Judges Bench Books are the instruction manuals on how a Judge can or should rule and/or preside over a case.   The biggest benefit to providing access to the Bench Books is it gives people a chance to have "inside information" to help them better anticipate what they're facing, and possibly help them defend themselves better.  It also shows/proves any incentive that the Judges may have for ruling a certain way. 

Code of Conduct for United States Federal Judges

Can't I See My Grandmother and Grandfather?

Do Grandparents Have the Rights They Should?

The experts report on the state of grandparent rights in the U.S. today

See state-by-state guide to grandparents' rights.

Coming Soon: As a service to our readers, Grandparents.com is establishing the American Grandparents Association^TM with the goal of becoming a key resource for grandparents who are physically removed from their grandchildren and would like to find a way to visit them.

Richard Kent, a family lawyer at Fairfield, Conn.-based Meyers Breiner & Kent, frequently goes to courtroom battle for grandparents seeking visitation with, or custody of, grandchildren.

"The state of grandparents' rights is terrible," says Kent. Under the current laws, if a couple's adult daughter dies, he says, those grandparents could be denied visitation with their grandchild by the child's father.

Even if they had what most people would consider a classic grandparent-grandchild relationship and, let's say, saw their grandchild every Sunday afternoon. But in the eyes of Connecticut law, says Kent, unless grandparents have functioned as de facto parents — meaning they lived with their grandchildren or took care of them while the parents were at work — they are treated no differently than strangers.

"I think it's absurd that a boy's father can legally keep his grandparents out of his life," says Kent, who wrote Solomon's Choice: A Guide to Custody for Ex-Husbands, Spurned Partners, & Forgotten Grandparents (Taylor Trade Publishing).

Families crumble for any number of reasons: divorce, the death of a parent, drug and alcohol abuse, incarceration. Grandparents in the U.S. do have rights and can seek visitation with grandchildren, but those rights vary from state to state. Understanding your basic rights can help ensure that your relationship with the grandchildren doesn't end should that with their parents. Of course, every case involves a unique set of facts and grandparents who find themselves suddenly cut off from grandchildren should consult a lawyer to discuss the course of action their specific situations require.

When Grandparents' Rights Changed

In June 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision on grandparents' visitation rights in the Troxel v. Granville case. This canceled out a Washington State law that permitted judges to grant visitation to any interested party so long as the visits were in the best interest of the child — even if the parents objected.

The Troxel v. Granville decision was ambiguous because while the majority of the justices agreed that Troxel should be decided a certain way, each had a different reason for doing so which resulted in six written opinions.

Grandparents4Justice Worldwide    parentalrights.org's photo —  Divorce & Corruption a Persistent Pursuit for Justice: Corrupt Lawyers and the Absurd Legal Decisions in the Fraternal Order of Matrimonial Law  Alienated Grandparents Anonymous, Inc. National Headquarters-FL.