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From www.helpstoppas.com: (Full text articles below
> links)
>
> Accountability - Bill pushes open hearings in
> custody cases
> http://www.helpstoppas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=261
>
> AL House Bill 650, the "shared parenting" bill
> http://www.helpstoppas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=262
>
> Nevada Shared Parenting Bill
> http://www.helpstoppas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=244
>
> Also, new PAS billboard in Dallas. Check out
> helpstoppas.com for pictures.
>
>
> Accountability - Bill pushes open hearings in
> custody cases
> Coghill pushes for clarity in child court cases
>
> By DANIEL RICE
>
> News-Miner Juneau Bureau
> JUNEAU--In his past experiences as a family
> counselor, House Majority Leader John Coghill,
> R-North Pole, says he's gone to court with families
> in child custody dispute cases and had to wait
> outside during the proceedings to comply with
> confidentiality requirements.
>
> While the closed proceedings might be well intended,
> he said, they make it difficult for the excluded
> parties to help with the situation when they don't
> know what's going on behind courtroom doors.
>
> "Sometimes grandparents haven't been able to be
> involved," Coghill said.
>
> Open court proceedings in custody and
> child-in-need-of-aid cases is one of the changes
> proposed by Coghill in a lengthy bill that would
> alter many of the procedures used by the Department
> of Health and Social Services and Office of
> Children's Services.
>
> Coghill has rolled several proposals on child
> custody procedure into a single bill that he has
> branded the Family Rights Act. He held a press
> conference on the bill Tuesday along with DHSS and
> OCS representatives and Rep. Norm Rokeberg,
> R-Anchorage, who had his ideas incorporated into the
> proposal.
>
> One of the guiding principles behind the bill is a
> call for more transparency in the process used to
> determine who receives custody of a child and when
> parental rights can be terminated.
>
> Coghill said the court proceedings in which these
> matters are decided should be open to the public to
> allow more scrutiny.
>
> "We want them out in the open," he said. "We want
> them accountable."
>
> The proposal, House Bill 53, would allow a judge
> discretion to close court hearings to the public in
> cases when the judge determines that an open hearing
> might be detrimental to the participants.
>
> Health and Social Services Commissioner Joel
> Gilbertson said his department would welcome putting
> more of its decisions in the open. In particular, he
> cited one aspect of the bill that would allow the
> DHSS representatives to publicly respond to
> questions about its involvement in child abuse or
> neglect cases.
>
> Current confidentiality restrictions, Gilbertson
> said, barred the department from making any
> statements about its role in the high-profile case
> of Sherry and Patrick Kelley, the Matanuska-Susitna
> Valley couple indicted last year on multiple counts
> of severely abusing five of their adopted children.
>
> Coghill is also pushing for trials in front of a
> six-member jury to determine if someone's parental
> rights should be terminated rather than the current
> process of having a judge make the decision.
>
> With so many attorneys, social service workers and
> state officials involved in a child custody
> case--all of them communicating in legal
> jargon--families can often get lost in the process,
> Coghill said. Having a jury watch over the
> proceedings could prove valuable, he said.
>
> Gilbertson said the DHSS has not signed on to the
> jury trial concept. Turning over matters to a jury
> could take away the benefit of having a judge who is
> familiar with the participants in the case and its
> history make the decisions, he said.
>
> "This legislation I think can most fairly be
> described as an initial proposal," Gilbertson said.
>
> Another theme in the bill is an attempt to ensure
> that all attempts are made to place children with
> family members instead of nonrelatives.
>
> Proposals behind this include giving adoption
> preference to a family member who has cared for a
> child for 12 consecutive months, instructing the OCS
> that the Legislature wants everything possible done
> to ensure parental and family visitation in custody
> cases and requiring that the OCS must attempt to
> locate all living adult family members before
> approving adoption of a child.
>
> Coghill said he's not wedded to all of the ideas
> contained in the bill, especially those involving
> court rules and procedures. Many of those ideas will
> receive a full vetting when the bill is considered
> by the House Judiciary Committee. No hearings have
> been scheduled in the committee.
>
> Reporter Daniel Rice can be reached at
> drice@...
>
>
> http://www.helpstoppas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=262
>
> Public hearing set for child custody legislation
>
> Montgomery Advertiser
>
>
> The Alabama House Judiciary Committee will hold a
> public hearing on April 13 at the State House in
> Montgomery concerning House Bill 650, also known as
> the "shared parenting" bill.
>
> This bill will create a legal presumption of a
> shared-parenting custody arrangement after the
> dissolution of marriage or separation of biological
> parents, said Alan Rusmisel, vice president of the
> Alabama Coalition for Fathers and Children.
>
> "This is the most comprehensive family law
> legislation that Alabama has seen," he said this
> week. "HB 650 will restore equality and neutralize
> the winner-take-all environment that presently
> exists in domestic court proceedings. The bill
> encourages parents who have decided to divorce to
> work together for the benefit of their children. It
> would also replace old, antiquated joint custody
> statutes from Alabama divorce law."
>
>
> Nevada Shared Parenting Bill
>
> http://www.helpstoppas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=244
>
> Family matters
>
> Senate bill seeks to give divorced parents equal
> time with their children
>
> BY RYAN SLATTERY
>
> "I was a father of a 9-year-old little girl, but now
> I'm just a visitor once a month and a financial
> resource for the child's mother," explains Sean
> Crawford. "It's one thing if a parent doesn't want
> to be part of a child's life, but what about those
> of us who do want to be in our children's lives?"
> State Sen. Maurice Washington
>
> Crawford's comments sum up the frustration faced by
> thousands of men, and to a lesser extent women, who
> say Nevada's family court system has stripped them
> of their parental rights. Crawford says the court's
> handling of child custody cases is creating
> "dysfunction" and tearing families apart.
>
> That's why the 36-year-old Las Vegan and dozens of
> others are speaking out in support of Senate Bill
> 109 -- legislation proposed by Sen. Maurice
> Washington (R-Sparks), which would alter the state's
> child custody laws and seek to award parents joint
> custody and equal time with their children.
>
> "Children need both parents," says Crawford. "What
> if the courts told you when you were growing up that
> you could only basically have one parent? What kind
> of person would you be today? We are not asking for
> power or millions of dollars. We just want what we
> set out to be: parents involved in our children's
> lives. This is not rocket science."
>
> When Crawford's marriage ended, basically so did his
> relationship with his daughter. Visitation was
> difficult. And in 2003, a judge did the unthinkable,
> in Crawford's eyes, and allowed his ex-wife to move
> to Reno with his daughter, who had no family members
> living there. In Las Vegas, the girl was surrounded
> by family, enrolled in a magnet school and
> participated in horseback competitions, Crawford
> says.
>
> There she had nothing.
>
> Crawford's story is just one of many -- and it's the
> reason Washington has taken up the cause. He's been
> hearing a lot from fathers fed up with not being
> allowed to see their children.
>
> Washington's bill would establish that joint custody
> is in the best interest of a child -- even when both
> parents don't agree to joint custody. The law would
> not be applied if a parent has been convicted of
> certain crimes, committed acts of domestic violence
> or it's determined through an investigation that the
> parent is dependent on alcohol or drugs and unfit to
> care for the child.
>
> "This is a step in the right direction," says Alan
> DiCicco, president and founder of the Coalition for
> Family Court Reform. "These are fathers that want to
> be there. We want to put everyone on equal ground."
>
> Opponents of SB109 could not be reached for comment
> prior to deadline.
>
> Garret Idle, a Reno real estate agent, has filed for
> full custody of his two children, ages 10 and 12. He
> recently testified before the Senate Judiciary
> Committee in Carson City and feels current law
> favors mothers and turns fathers into "financial
> slaves."
>
> Maureen Denman and her husband divorced after 21
> years of marriage. The couple was awarded joint
> custody -- but their two children, then 13 and 15,
> lived with her husband.
>
> Denman, like many others who testified, says
> one-sided custody -- whether in favor of the husband
> or the wife -- is wrong and hurts a child's
> emotional development. Studies show this to be true.
>
>
> "Both parents need equal time," says Denman,
> explaining how being away from a child can wear on a
> parent. "It takes years to rebuild relationships
> with your children and it's time you can't replace."
>
>
> The flaws are in the system, according to Brent
> Howard, a divorced father of two. He says changing
> the law would ease tension in broken families and
> remove the "chess match" strategy employed in the
> court room.
>
> "Children are made out to be pawns in the fight,"
> Howard says in frustration. "This law would change
> that. Kids should have both a mother and father's
> influence on their lives. Why doesn't the court see
> this?"
>
> Perhaps, says Juli Star-Alexander of the court
> monitoring group Redress Incorporated, it's because
> family law attorneys are making a good living
> arguing child custody cases -- and making sure, she
> says, they linger on.
>
> "Family court is a cash cow," Star-Alexander says.
> "It's not set up for conflict resolution. It's an
> unbalanced system because everyone has an agenda."
>
> Nationally, since September 2004, the Indiana Civil
> Rights Council has filed class-action lawsuits in 45
> states, including Nevada, insisting that states have
> been wrongfully handling custody cases for years.
> Says Torm L. Howse, president of the council: "Every
> parent has a fundamental right to see their
> children. It's a misnomer to award, or give, a child
> to one parent or the other without cause to do so.
>
> "Most custody decisions are unlawful. We're trying
> to protect the right of all fit parents to share
> equally in the custody and care of their children.
>
> "The time has come for a drastic reform of
> government practices that harm children and
> parents."
>
> In an Indiana Civil Rights Council news release,
> Howard University political science professor
> Stephen Baskerville -- an expert on custody and
> child support issues -- explains the politics of
> family court.
>
> "Politicians often spend money to avoid confronting
> problems. Yet marshaling the government to
> strengthen families seems especially pointless when
> it is government that weakened the family in the
> first place."
>
> Locally, equal rights advocates are preparing for a
> fight.
>
> "We cannot allow officials to destroy our lives at
> random, and we will do whatever it takes to remove
> any and all opponents to equal parenting from
> office," says Crawford. "This is our country and our
> lives, and we want our children back."
>
> Ryan Slattery is a local freelance journalist and a
> regular CityLife contributor. He can be reached at
> ryslattery@....
>
>
> ---------------------------------

"Children learn what they live"