HF22 Signed into law by Governor Vilsack

[Hawkeye]

Kitty C and I have posted alot of other info about Iowa's new joint physical care law on the Fathers Issues board here on SPARC as it is the most widely read. Here's a letter I rec'vd today from the Gov's office.

May 25, 2004

Dear *****:

    After much reflection and research as to what is best for Iowa children, I decided to sign House File 22, which establishes in Iowa law (Iowa Code Section 598.41, subsection 5) the presumption that children benefit when both parents remain positively involved in their lives after a divorce.

    This bill takes into consideration studies that have found that children tend to do better in school, feel better about themselves and remain more emotionally and physically healthy when both divorcing parents take a loving, nurturing role in their children's lives. Whether in divorced or intact families, children need a mother and a father. Each makes a substantial, though often differing but complementary contribution to the child's life.

    While the bill creates the presumption that joint physical care by both parents is to the benefit of the children, the bill does allow judges to deny requests for joint physical care if there are specific findings that joint physical care would not be in the best interests of a child. This would protect a child from a parent or home situation found to be physically or emotionally abusive or otherwise negligent or generally not in the best interest of a child.

    The bill also does not preclude divorcing parents from working out their own mutually agreeable, court approved parenting and living arrangements for their children. Every child in Iowa, whether in an intact or divorced family, is entitled whenever possible, to the love, the nurturing and the creative inspiration offered by two parents who share their responsibilities toward their children. House File 22 deserves a chance to succeed.

    Sincerely,
   
Thomas J. Vilsack, Governor                                                                      Sally J. Pederson, Lieutenant Governor