| |
| |
Reconsider
- An Appeal to the Parents of
America about the Destruction of the
American Family |
| |
Americans
today are rightly concerned about
the family. We hear of a 50% divorce
rate and an alarming out of wedlock
birth rate. We see the effects on
the children of divorce, who are more
likely to commit crimes, abuse drugs,
suffer mental and physical ill health,
do poorly in school, become marginally
employed adults, and lack the skills
to keep their own marriages together.
We see the effects in our own homes
and on our own children. We hear controversies
surrounding marriage being debated
on the federal and state levels. We
see our governments spending millions
of dollars to promote marriage, fatherhood,
and family stability. But what many
Americans do not realize is that families
g forcibare beinly dissolved by family
courts and other agencies of government. |
| |
The
weakening of America’s families is
caused not simply by social forces
or cultural decline. It proceeds directly
from programs and policies of our
governments, paid for with our tax
dollars. Important facts about divorce
are being obscured and ignored by
the media and by our leaders. |
| |
| You need
to know these facts:- |
| |
 |
Through
no fault of their own, divorce is
forced upon unwilling parents who
are guilty of no grounds, such as
adultery, desertion, abuse, or the
like. Few realize that family courts
usually force divorce upon one spouse
(and sometimes both spouses). |
| |
|
Federal
family policy drives the destruction
of American families. Taxpayers’ dollars
subsidize the destruction of families.
Divorce has become a major revenue
source for state governments. The
federal government’s financial incentives
paid to states to collect child support
(US Code, Title 42, Chap 7, Subchapter
7, part D, sec. 666.) prompt states
to set support guidelines so high
as to encourage divorce. Federal financial
incentives remove the
moral and political
incentive for states to
reduce divorce rates. |
| |
|
Federal
child support law is undermining morale
and readiness in the Army Reserve
and National Guard. The Bradley Amendment
and US Code, Title 42 Sec 666 sub
sec(a), Para (9) part c, bar courts
from reducing child support arrearages.
Many reservists deployed to Iraq with
child support obligations had no time
before reporting for duty to seek
court ordered reductions on the grounds
their military pay was insufficient
to pay their current obligation. Thousands
of reservists could return home to
face financial ruin and jail! |
| |
|
Over 4,000 children’s
relationships with their parents are
groundlessly impaired or severed by
family courts in America each day |
| |
|
Young
men are now reluctant to marry, knowing
they can lose their children, homes,
earnings, and can be jailed, groundlessly.
This is at cross-purposes to stated
policy objectives encouraging family
formation, including programs costing
hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars
to promote marriage and fatherhood.
A 50% divorce rate has created a huge
army of financially ruined, heartbroken,
alienated, and angry parents deprived
of their children and is responsible
for an alarming increase in divorce-related
violence. |
| |
|
Family
courts routinely violate the constitutional
rights of parents. Parental rights
have been recognized for centuries
as among the most basic constitutional
protections. Family courts routinely
defy the Supreme Court’s recognition
of parents’ fundamental “liberty interest”
in the “care, custody and companionship”
of their children. |
| |
Please
join us to stop an abusive and runaway
family law system: We invite parents
to join us in demanding that our elected
officials at all levels investigate
the machinery of family law and child
custody and render a full and candid
account to the American people. |
| |
Your
assistance will allow us to place
this advertisement in other newspapers.
It will also help us persuade policymakers
in Washington and nationwide to confront
the true causes of American family
decline. |
| |
Please
send your tax-deductible contribution
to the: ACFC, 1718 M St. NW, #187,
Washington, DC 20036, Email: info@acfc.org
Tel: 800 978-3237, or contribute on
the Internet at
www.acfc.org
|
| |
| Stephen
Baskerville, President |
| |
| Michael
McCormick, Executive Director |
| |
| American
Coalition for Fathers and Children -
ACFC |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
