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Thursday, March 10, 2011

MO: Family Court Judge Fights Termination of Parental Rights

City judge's defense of troubled families offends many caseworkers

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Sun, 06 Mar 2011 21:49 PM PST

Critics decry his vocal refusal to terminate parental rights in the great majority of foster care cases.

Iowa EP Bill Rally at the State Capitol

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Iowa Fathers

Rally at the State Capitol 

March 8, 2011

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Dear Jim,

 

On Tuesday, March 15th, Iowa Fathers is holding a Rally at the State Capitol to show support for HF 345 from 9:00 am until noon.  This is a great opportunity to show support and speak directly with several legislators on supporting the bill. 

 

Please plan on attending this rally and bringing someone with you such as a significant other, sibling, parent, concerned citizen, etc.  If you are in need of transportation, please email me and I will see what I can do to accommodate your needs.

Several states around Iowa are working on a rebuttable presumption of joint physical care legislation.  Illinois Fathers has been extremely active with such legislation and South Dakota is voting on HB 1255 today in Senate. 

 

The time has come for a rebuttable presumption of joint physical care to become law here in Iowa. This will only happened if you take the time to help engage the political system.  Please continue to write and call your legislator asking them to support HF 345. I look forward to seeing you at the Rally at the State Capitol on next Tuesday, March 15th. 

 

For your convenience, all Iowa House Representatives email addresses are listed below for copy and paste:

ako.abdul-samad@legis.state.ia.us ; dwayne.alons@legis.state.ia.us ; richard.anderson@legis.state.ia.us ; richard.arnold@legis.state.ia.us ; Chip.Baltimore@legis.state.ia.us ; clel.baudler@legis.state.ia.us

deborah.berry@legis.state.ia.us ; Mark.Brandenburg@legis.state.ia.us ; Josh.Byrnes@legis.state.ia.us ; royd.chambers@legis.state.ia.us; dennis.cohoon@legis.state.ia.us ; peter.cownie@legis.state.ia.us

betty.deboef@legis.state.ia.us ; dave.deyoe@legis.state.ia.us ; cecil.dolecheck@legis.state.ia.us ; jack.drake@legis.state.ia.us ; greg.forristall@legis.state.ia.us ; Joel.Fry@legis.state.ia.us

RuthAnn.Gaines@legis.state.ia.us ; Julian.Garrett@legis.state.ia.us ; mary.gaskill@legis.state.ia.us ; pat.grassley@legis.state.ia.us ; chris.hagenow@legis.state.ia.us ; Bob.Hager@legis.state.ia.us

Chris.Hall@legis.state.ia.us ; Curt.Hanson@legis.state.ia.us ; MaryAnn.Hanusa@legis.state.ia.usdave.heaton@legis.state.ia.us ; lisa.heddens@legis.state.ia.us ; Lee.Hein@legis.state.ia.us

erik.helland@legis.state.ia.us ; lance.horbach@legis.state.ia.us ; bruce.hunter@legis.state.ia.us ; dan.huseman@legis.state.ia.us ; charles.isenhart@legis.state.ia.us ; Stewart.Iverson@legis.state.ia.us ;

david.jacoby@legis.state.ia.us ; Ron.Jorgensen@legis.state.ia.us ; Anesa.Kajtazovic@legis.state.ia.us ; jeff.kaufmann@legis.state.ia.us ; jerry.kearns@legis.state.ia.us ; Dan.Kelley@legis.state.ia.us ;

Jarad.Klein@legis.state.ia.us ; kevin.koester@legis.state.ia.usbob.kressig@legis.state.ia.us ; vicki.lensing@legis.state.ia.us ; Mark.Lofgren@legis.state.ia.us ; steven.lukan@legis.state.ia.us

jim.lykam@legis.state.ia.us ; mary.mascher@legis.state.ia.us ; Glen.Massie@legis.state.ia.us ; kevin.mccarthy@legis.state.ia.us ; helen.miller@legis.state.ia.us ; linda.miller@legis.state.ia.us

Brian.Moore@legis.state.ia.us ; Dan.Muhlbauer@legis.state.ia.us ; pat.murphy@legis.state.ia.us ; jo.oldson@legis.state.ia.us ; rick.olson@legis.state.ia.us ; steven.olson@legis.state.ia.us

tyler.olson@legis.state.ia.us ; kraig.paulsen@legis.state.ia.us ; Ross.Paustian@legis.state.ia.us ;  Kim.Pearson@legis.state.ia.us ; janet.petersen@legis.state.ia.us ; dawn.pettengill@legis.state.ia.us

brian.quirk@legis.state.ia.us ; scott.raecker@legis.state.ia.usDan.Rasmussen@legis.state.ia.us ; henry.rayhons@legis.state.ia.usWalt.Rogers@legis.state.ia.us ; kirsten.running-marquardt@legis.state.ia.us ;

tom.sands@legis.state.ia.us ; renee.schulte@legis.state.ia.usjason.schultz@legis.state.ia.us ; Tom.Shaw@legis.state.ia.usJeff.Smith@legis.state.ia.us ; mark.smith@legis.state.ia.us

chuck.soderberg@legis.state.ia.us ; sharon.steckman@legis.state.ia.us ; kurt.swaim@legis.state.ia.us ; annette.sweeney@legis.state.ia.usJeremy.Taylor@legis.state.ia.us ; todd.taylor@legis.state.ia.us ;

phyllis.thede@legis.state.ia.us ; roger.thomas@legis.state.ia.usdavid.tjepkes@legis.state.ia.us ; linda.upmeyer@legis.state.ia.usjim.van.engelenhoven@legis.state.ia.us ; Guy.VanderLinden@legis.state.ia.us

nick.wagner@legis.state.ia.us ; ralph.watts@legis.state.ia.us ; andrew.wenthe@legis.state.ia.us

beth.wessel-kroeschell@legis.state.ia.usnate.willems@legis.state.ia.us ; cindy.winckler@legis.state.ia.us

matt.windschitl@legis.state.ia.us ; John.Wittneben@legis.state.ia.usMary.Wolfe@legis.state.ia.us ; gary.worthan@legis.state.ia.us ;

Below is the email I sent personally to the entire Iowa House on HF 345.  Please feel free to use my research in your email.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Iowa House of Representatives,

 

I'm hopeful you will allow children the opportunity to have equal access to both parents by voting in favor of HF 345.

 

Click here for a thesis explaining in-depth the legality need along with the social need for a rebuttable presumption of joint physical care here in Iowa.  

 

A few key points that I would like to stress are as follows:

•         Joint physical care or shared parenting is when both parents share physical placement of the child(ren). Simply defined, joint physical care allows the child(ren) to live with each parent 50% of the time during the year.

•         In all thirty-three comparative studies in the U.S. comparing the outcomes of children in joint physical care to those in the care of only one parent found that children in joint physical care have better outcomes (Bauserman, 2002).

•         The percentage of all births that were to unmarried women more than doubled between 1980 and 2008. In 2008, 41 percent of births were to unmarried women, up from 40 percent in 2007. Increases have occurred for women in all age groups, with the largest increases measured for women in their twenties (America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2010).

•         Mothers win primary physical care in 84.4 percent of the cases (Support Providers: 2002, 2005).

•         According to recent studies, approximately 40 percent of child victims were maltreated by their mothers acting alone; another 18.3 percent were maltreated by their fathers acting alone; 17.3 percent were abused by both parents (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2007).

•         On specifically neglect, a study found that children living with just one parent, under any living arrangement, had significantly higher rates of Harm Standard neglect with 27.0 per 1,000 children compared to those living with two married biological parents with 4.2 per 1,000 children (Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-4), 2010).

•         Research by Dr. Judith Wallerstein and Dr. Joan Berlin Kelly revealed that 50 percent of mothers either saw no value in the father's contact with his children and actively tried to sabotage it, or resented the father's contact (Wallerstein & Kelly, 1996).

•         According to the U.S. Department of Justice, an estimated 2.11 million persons under the age of eighteen were arrested in 2008, where 1 in 10 arrests were for murder and 1 in 4 arrests were for robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. The report further showed that Iowa (92% reporting coverage) reported 252 juvenile violent crime arrests, 1792 juvenile property crime arrests, 396 juvenile drug abuse arrests, and 52 juvenile weapons arrests (Juvenile Arrests 2008, 2009).

The negative impacts of fatherless children cannot be ignored. Please support HF 345 which will create a rebuttable presumption of joint physical care and help ensure that Iowa's children gain access to both parents!

Sincerely,

Bryan Iehl

Founder & President

IowaFathers

PO Box 2884

Waterloo, IA  50704-2884

support@IowaFathers.com

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Center-Right March 10. A Very Busy Agenda

 

Center-Right Coalition Meeting

March 10, 2011, 9:00 to 11:00 a.m.

Samuel Ingham Building, 116 W. Ottawa St.

Lansing MI 48933

Agenda

  • Rep. Tom McMillin - National Deficit Reduction Act
  • Rep. Chuck Moss - Article V Convention. Could it be a "runaway"?
  • Senator Rick Jones - Ergonomics Rules Repealed?
  • Rep. Marty Knollenberg - Eliminate the Civil Service Commission?*
  • Rep. Lisa Lyons - HB4158, Item Pricing Bill*
  • Adam Carlson, Rep. Pscholka's office - Emergency Financial Manager Bill
  • Russ Harding, Mackinac Center - Regulatory Reform Blueprint
  • Ken Braun, Mackinac Center - Capitol Confidential
  • Bill McMaster - Taxing Pensions and the Headlee Amendment
  • Roll Call of Organization Leaders

 

* Invited, not confirmed

 

Please RSVP if you are coming. The Ronald Reagan 100th Birthday calendars arrived and will be available at the meeting.

 

 

Regards,

Jack Hoogendyk

Chairman, CRC

Gadsden Flag 

 

Join Our Mailing List

 

This email was sent to dlscott_farnsworth@grouply.com by centerrightmichigan@gmail.com |  

Center Right Coalition of Michigan | 8607 W R Ave | Kalamazoo | MI | 49009

Sunday, March 6, 2011

IOWA Shared Parenting HF 345 Passes Out of Committee - Eligible for Floor Debate

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IowaFathers

HF 345 Passes Out of Committee - Eligible for Floor Debate

March 4, 2011

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Dear Jim,

 

Great News! House File 345, passed out of the House Judiciary Committee this week 11-10.  The bill, which creates a rebuttable presumption of joint physical care, is now eligible for debate on the House Floor.  A rally date at the Capitol is currently being planned and the details will be released soon!

 

Please send Rep. Kaufmann, Rep. Rogers, Rep. Abul-Samad, Rep. Rasmussen, Rep. Sands, and Rep. Muhlbauer an individual thank you for introducing this bill and for their hard work in getting HF 345 through committee.

In order to successfully pass HF 345 on the House Floor, we need to gain more support.  I'm asking all members and concerned citizens to please start emailing all members of the Iowa House of Representatives asking them to support HF 345.  For your convenience, all Iowa House Representatives email addresses are listed below for copy and paste:

ako.abdul-samad@legis.state.ia.us; dwayne.alons@legis.state.ia.us; richard.anderson@legis.state.ia.us; richard.arnold@legis.state.ia.us; Chip.Baltimore@legis.state.ia.us; clel.baudler@legis.state.ia.us; 

deborah.berry@legis.state.ia.us; Mark.Brandenburg@legis.state.ia.us;Josh.Byrnes@legis.state.ia.us; royd.chambers@legis.state.ia.us;dennis.cohoon@legis.state.ia.us; peter.cownie@legis.state.ia.us; 

betty.deboef@legis.state.ia.us; dave.deyoe@legis.state.ia.us; cecil.dolecheck@legis.state.ia.us; jack.drake@legis.state.ia.us; greg.forristall@legis.state.ia.us; Joel.Fry@legis.state.ia.us; 

RuthAnn.Gaines@legis.state.ia.us; Julian.Garrett@legis.state.ia.us; mary.gaskill@legis.state.ia.us; pat.grassley@legis.state.ia.us; chris.hagenow@legis.state.ia.us; Bob.Hager@legis.state.ia.us; 

Chris.Hall@legis.state.ia.us; Curt.Hanson@legis.state.ia.us; MaryAnn.Hanusa@legis.state.ia.us;  dave.heaton@legis.state.ia.us; lisa.heddens@legis.state.ia.us; Lee.Hein@legis.state.ia.us; 

erik.helland@legis.state.ia.us; lance.horbach@legis.state.ia.us; bruce.hunter@legis.state.ia.us; dan.huseman@legis.state.ia.us; charles.isenhart@legis.state.ia.us; Stewart.Iverson@legis.state.ia.us;

david.jacoby@legis.state.ia.us; Ron.Jorgensen@legis.state.ia.us; Anesa.Kajtazovic@legis.state.ia.us; jeff.kaufmann@legis.state.ia.us; jerry.kearns@legis.state.ia.us; Dan.Kelley@legis.state.ia.us;

Jarad.Klein@legis.state.ia.us; kevin.koester@legis.state.ia.us;  bob.kressig@legis.state.ia.us; vicki.lensing@legis.state.ia.us; Mark.Lofgren@legis.state.ia.us; steven.lukan@legis.state.ia.us; 

jim.lykam@legis.state.ia.us; mary.mascher@legis.state.ia.us; Glen.Massie@legis.state.ia.us; kevin.mccarthy@legis.state.ia.us; helen.miller@legis.state.ia.us; linda.miller@legis.state.ia.us; 

Brian.Moore@legis.state.ia.us; Dan.Muhlbauer@legis.state.ia.us; pat.murphy@legis.state.ia.us; jo.oldson@legis.state.ia.us; rick.olson@legis.state.ia.us; steven.olson@legis.state.ia.us; 

tyler.olson@legis.state.ia.us; kraig.paulsen@legis.state.ia.us; Ross.Paustian@legis.state.ia.us; Kim.Pearson@legis.state.ia.us; janet.petersen@legis.state.ia.us; dawn.pettengill@legis.state.ia.us; 

brian.quirk@legis.state.ia.us; scott.raecker@legis.state.ia.us;  Dan.Rasmussen@legis.state.ia.us; henry.rayhons@legis.state.ia.us;  Walt.Rogers@legis.state.ia.us; kirsten.running-marquardt@legis.state.ia.us;

tom.sands@legis.state.ia.us; renee.schulte@legis.state.ia.us;  jason.schultz@legis.state.ia.us; Tom.Shaw@legis.state.ia.us;  Jeff.Smith@legis.state.ia.us; mark.smith@legis.state.ia.us; 

chuck.soderberg@legis.state.ia.us; sharon.steckman@legis.state.ia.us; kurt.swaim@legis.state.ia.us; annette.sweeney@legis.state.ia.us;  Jeremy.Taylor@legis.state.ia.us; todd.taylor@legis.state.ia.us;

phyllis.thede@legis.state.ia.us; roger.thomas@legis.state.ia.us;  david.tjepkes@legis.state.ia.us; linda.upmeyer@legis.state.ia.us;  jim.van.engelenhoven@legis.state.ia.us; Guy.VanderLinden@legis.state.ia.us; 

nick.wagner@legis.state.ia.us; ralph.watts@legis.state.ia.us; andrew.wenthe@legis.state.ia.us; 

beth.wessel-kroeschell@legis.state.ia.us;  nate.willems@legis.state.ia.us; cindy.winckler@legis.state.ia.us; 

matt.windschitl@legis.state.ia.us; John.Wittneben@legis.state.ia.us;  Mary.Wolfe@legis.state.ia.us; gary.worthan@legis.state.ia.us;

Below is the email I am personally sending to the entire Iowa House on HF 345.  Please feel free to use my research in your email.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Iowa House of Representatives,

 

I'm hopeful you will allow children the opportunity to have equal access to both parents by voting in favor of HF 345.

 

Click here for a thesis explaining in-depth the legality need along with the social need for a rebuttable presumption of joint physical care here in Iowa.  

 

A few key points that I would like to stress are as follows:

•         Joint physical care or shared parenting is when both parents share physical placement of the child(ren). Simply defined, joint physical care allows the child(ren) to live with each parent 50% of the time during the year.

•         In all thirty-three comparative studies in the U.S. comparing the outcomes of children in joint physical care to those in the care of only one parent found that children in joint physical care have better outcomes (Bauserman, 2002).

•         The percentage of all births that were to unmarried women more than doubled between 1980 and 2008. In 2008, 41 percent of births were to unmarried women, up from 40 percent in 2007. Increases have occurred for women in all age groups, with the largest increases measured for women in their twenties (America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2010).

•         Mothers win primary physical care in 84.4 percent of the cases (Support Providers: 2002, 2005).

•         According to recent studies, approximately 40 percent of child victims were maltreated by their mothers acting alone; another 18.3 percent were maltreated by their fathers acting alone; 17.3 percent were abused by both parents (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2007).

•         On specifically neglect, a study found that children living with just one parent, under any living arrangement, had significantly higher rates of Harm Standard neglect with 27.0 per 1,000 children compared to those living with two married biological parents with 4.2 per 1,000 children (Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-4), 2010).

•         Research by Dr. Judith Wallerstein and Dr. Joan Berlin Kelly revealed that 50 percent of mothers either saw no value in the father's contact with his children and actively tried to sabotage it, or resented the father's contact (Wallerstein & Kelly, 1996).

•         According to the U.S. Department of Justice, an estimated 2.11 million persons under the age of eighteen were arrested in 2008, where 1 in 10 arrests were for murder and 1 in 4 arrests were for robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. The report further showed that Iowa (92% reporting coverage) reported 252 juvenile violent crime arrests, 1792 juvenile property crime arrests, 396 juvenile drug abuse arrests, and 52 juvenile weapons arrests (Juvenile Arrests 2008, 2009).

The negative impacts of fatherless children cannot be ignored. Please support HF 345 which will create a rebuttable presumption of joint physical care and help ensure that Iowa's children gain access to both parents!

Sincerely,

Bryan Iehl

Founder & President

IowaFathers

PO Box 2884

Waterloo, IA  50704-2884

support@IowaFathers.com 

 

 

 

 

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Thursday, March 3, 2011

Obama: Policies promoting men

Thanks to Gordon Finley, Ph.D. for this one.

 

Gordon is on the Board of a new DC organization focused on boys education issues.

 

The letter below was published in The Washington Times on Tuesday February 22, 2011.

Gordon E. Finley, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/feb/21/policies-promoting-men/

TWT: Policies promoting men

It's terrific that Michelle Obama supports a host of causes mostly relevant to women, but who is supporting a host of causes mostly relevant to men? Men of all ages are looking for a few good candidates who are ready, willing and able to support a wide range of causes.

There's the male crisis in education (they're behind at all levels) and post-schooling equal job opportunities for men (the Finance Reform Act set aside scores of offices to guarantee employment for women but none for men). In health care, Obamacare provides scores of additional offices concerned with women's health but zero dealing with men's. Arguably most important for America's future, we must provide equal opportunities for fathers to have a close and meaningful relationship with their children both after divorce and increasingly, after the breakup of cohabitation relationships. Research demonstrates that close and meaningful father-child relationships benefit children, fathers and society.

As Mrs. Obama opens most of her speeches by describing herself as the mother of her children and how that's one of the more important things in her life, so too does America need leaders who describe themselves as the fathers of their children who are vitally interested in the health, education, well-being and success of their sons as well as their daughters.

GORDON E. FINLEY
Miami

 

James Semerad

DADS and MOMS PAC

 

6632 Telegraph Road, Suite 110
Bloomfield Hills, MI  48301

( phone: 248-467-1204

www.dadsmomspac.org

info@dadsmomspac.org

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

NH: Parental Right to Know of Child's Abortion

Abortion bill poised to pass
Concord Monitor
Mon, 28 Feb 2011 21:15 PM PST
GOP leaders push for parental rights Laws requiring parental notification or consent for minors seeking abortions have been defeated in the state 14 times over three decades. A law squeaked by the Legislature in 2003, was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and then repealed. Now, parental notification may have its best shot at becoming law, with a Republican-dominated Legislature and a strong…

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

MI: Equal Parenting Bill Action Plan

Below are links for you to use to contact the individual state senators and representatives concerning introducing and passing a Equal Parenting Bill. Attached is last sessions bill that can be used for wording for a new bill. Please let us know if you are able to discuss this with one of them and what is said, thanks.

http://house.michigan.gov/committeeinfo.asp?lstcommittees=families%2C+children%2C+and+seniors&submit=Go

http://house.michigan.gov/committeeinfo.asp?lstcommittees=judiciary&submit=Go

http://www.senate.michigan.gov/committee/committeeinfo.htm

 

 

Darrick Scott-Farnsworth

Executive Director www.AChildsRight.net www.daddyblogger.com 

Cell 269 209-7144 or Nextel DC ID 130*112*19287

True Conservative: Pro-Life, Liberty and Property