7 ITEMS
1.
Why Homelessness is a Man
Thing—Printed in its entirety
(A Rinaldo MUST READ)
2.
Down and Out Dads (No room
at the Shelter) In Hyperlink
Only
3.
Shared Parenting Council
of Connecticut Honors Representative—Printed
in Entirety
4.
Dr. Klein, Potential Presidential
Candidate: Speaks at Ohio
State University October
12th, In Cincinnati
on October 11th.
5.
Fatherhood Coalition (Unrelated
to Berkshire Fatherhood
Coalition) Announces Statewide
Meeting October 23 in Leominster,
MA
6.
Michigan Event shows need
for strong fathers (printed
in entirety)
7.
Roger Knight Responds to
Case where appeals court
dismissed a judgment despite
the lack of fraud by father.
ITEM 1:
Why Homelessness is a Man
Thing
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Why Homelessness is a Man
Thing
By Denise Noe
When the Atlanta Journal
Constitution published an
editorial, “To save Georgia’s
children, we must save their
mothers,” they inadvertently
pointed to the reason why
the majority of people at
the economic bottom – the
homeless – are men.
Since human fathers do not
carry babies before their
birth, are not physically
equipped to breastfeed,
and rarely are primary caregivers,
our society has made little
provision for the least
economically successful
males. While the life of
poor, single mothers is
undoubtedly very rough,
they rarely end up, as men
so often do, on the streets.
Of course, being children’s
primary caregivers is a
two-edged sword. As Sylvia
Ann Hewlett pointed out
in Creating a Life, mothers,
saddled with childcare,
rarely reach the economic
top. Fathers have no problem
since they leave most “hands-on”
parenting to mothers.
But in discussions of the
poorest of the poor, we
must take gender into account
and recognize that, in this
area, men may be considered
the disadvantaged sex. After
all, one program aimed at
helping the poor, WIC, is
actually titled “Women Infants
Children.” Men can and do
receive WIC if they have
custody of a child under
the age of 5. However, would
modern America tolerate
an anti-poverty agency that
had “Men” in its name?
The truth that the majority
of the homeless are men
also sheds light on the
emptiness of some proposed
solutions to the impoverishment
of women and children. It
is often suggested that
the mothers and children
would not be poor if the
parents were married but
men whose incomes are nothigh
enough to pull themselves
up out of homelessness cannot
possibly pull wives and
children out of poverty.
Moreover, while being a
mother is a ticket to extraordinary
stress and deprivation for
poor women, being a father
can be a ticket to jail
for poor men. Under current
Georgia law, a non-custodial
parent can be criminally
prosecuted and incarcerated
for non-support, called
“child abandonment” even
if he or she has no funds
and/or is unemployed.
We often look with horror
on Charles Dickens’ depictions
of Debtor’s Prisons in Victorian
England. From our present,
supposedly enlightened standpoint,
the very idea of putting
people behind bars who are
unable to pay their bills
seems barbaric. Isn’t it
obvious that, if a person
lacks the funds to meet
their debts while they are
free, putting them in jail
is not going to help them
get that money? We also
look down at the Victorians
for making criminals out
of people for being failures.
Yet we do the same thing
today. Debtor’s Prison is
alive and sick in the United
States and very popular.
It’s called a crackdown
on “Deadbeat Dads.”
Certainly parents need to
be responsible, financially,
physically, and emotionally,
for their children. When
the parents are not together,
the one who does not shoulder
the day-to-day physical
and emotional burdens ought
to pick up the financial
tab – if she or (much more
commonly) he -- can. But
we should not be demanding
the impossible. We don’t
expect to squeeze blood
out of a turnip and we should
not be demanding child support
from parents, usually fathers,
who simply don’t have the
money. By doing so, we have
criminalized financial failure.
Ours is a culture in which
we are reluctant to see
people suffer for things
they cannot help. One of
the major factors leading
to the worst sort of destitution
is something that, except
for (arguably) the transgendered,
individuals do not choose
and that is their sex. We
need to put in a more secure
financial safety net for
those of the poor who happen
to be men. Society reaps
no benefit fromleaving its
least competent adult males
to sleep on street grates
and forage out of garbage
cans.
Denise Noe
Item 2:
Down-and-out dads:
No room at the shelters?
SOUTHBURY - Representative
Arthur O'Neill (R-69) has
been honored by the Shared
Parenting Council.
Rep. O'Neill was given an
award naming him an effective
legislator for his work
this past session on PA
05-258, which is a new law
redefining "the best
interests of the child"
to include active involvement
by both parents.
The Act also requires
detailed Parental Responsibility
Plans and encourages conciliation
of disputes without involvement
of the children.
The award was voted unanimously
at a meeting of the Board
of Directors of the Shared
Parenting Council of Connecticut:
John Clapp, Ph.D; Dr. Paul
Appleton, M.D.; Dr. Eric
Gladstein, DDS; and Robert
Stewart, M.S. and J.D.
The mission of the Council
is to obtain presumption
of equal parenting opportunities
before the law, regardless
of gender, and to change
the judicial system to better
serve children.
The Council works with
state legislatures, nonprofit
and lobbying groups, to
promote change in Connecticut's
legal and regulatory framework,
and seeks a framework that
promotes active involvement
of both parents in the lives
of their children.
The Council believes the
state cannot guarantee that
parents will make the right
decisions for their children,
but it can provide incentives
to encourage this.
The Council also believes
that custody laws in Connecticut
should be oriented around
the need to promote frequent
and continued contact between
children and their mothers
and fathers.
ITEM 4: Dr. Klein, presedential
candidate.
·
* Please forward this email
to equal custody/equal rights
advocates. * * *
Dr. Klein is in the "testing
the waters" phase concerning
the 2008 presidential election.
He is conducting meetings
at colleges across America.
If you are one of the 25 million
divorced dads, "second
wives" and disenfranchised
grandparents you should come
to the meetings to support
reform of family custody law
at the national
level. Case by case or state-by-state
reform could take a lifetime.
We need top down national
reform. If you are an advocate
for equal custody/equal rights
please show your support for
Dr. Klein because he promises
a national Equal Custody Act
on the level of the national
Civil Rights Act of the 1964.
Dr. Klein will speak briefly
and take questions and comments
about numerous national issues
including family law reform.
WHEN: Wednesday, October 12,
7:30 PM
WHERE: Ohio State University
at University Hall Room 347,
230 North Oval Mall, Columbus,
OH 43210
Admission is FREE !
www.EqualCustodyAct.com
412-829-2278
(Dr. Klein will be speaking
in Cincinnati on Tuesday
10/11/05 please
contact us for time &
locations
ITEM 5: Fatherhood Coalition
has statewide meeting
Event shows need for strong
fathers
Saturday, October 08, 2005
By Scott Hagen
shagen@citpat.com --
768-4929
Children who grow up in
homes without fathers are
more likely to be violent,
abuse drugs and alcohol,
get pregnant at an early
age and suffer from depression.
All research points to
those facts. And it's a
large reason a movement
has risen in the past 15
years directed at educating
men about the important
roles they play in the lives
of their children, and the
ripple effect it leaves
when fathers aren't in the
home.
The scene Friday at the
fourth annual Father Fair
at the Jackson County Fairgrounds
invoked hope. Toddlers walked
hand-in-hand with their
fathers while dads cradled
infants in their arms. The
event is designed to raise
awareness on the importance
of fatherhood and to offer
resources to help fathers.
Experts -- and local dads
-- say that sons learn and
watch how fathers behave
and inherit those traits
when they grow older and
start families.
"My role as a father
is to show my son how to
live life the proper way,
how to be a good citizen
to society, the right things
to do and how to treat women,"
said 26-year-old Lynard
Oliver II, as he cradled
his son, Lynard Oliver III,
in the crook of his left
arm at Father Fair. "I
learned it from my father."
Studies show that kids
who grow up with involved
fathers are more confident,
handle frustration better,
gain a better sense of independence,
have a higher self-esteem
and do better in school.
But with each year Oliver
is becoming the exception,
rather than the rule. About
40 to 50 percent of children
live in a home without their
father or a male role model,
according to the National
Council on Fathering. The
statistics are an alarming
trend for advocates of two-parent
families and experts who
point out the problems that
accompany children who grow
up fatherless.
Paying a price
"We're seeing the
price we pay as a society,"
said Ned Holstein, director
of the Massachusetts-based
Fathers and Families, a
group that trumpets the
importance of active fathers.
"It's no longer a questionable
matter as to whether this
is having adverse effects
on kids and therefore on
society. The jury is back
on this question, and it's
not working."
Some experts point to a
shift in culture that no
longer recognizes the benefits
fathers bring to the family.
Single mothering is heralded
in television sitcoms and
in Hollywood movies while
fathers are depicted as
goofballs.
"In a time when we
have more children growing
up in fatherless homes than
ever before, we're also
suddenly being bombarded
with the message from all
sides that dad is unnecessary,
that it's a nice option
if you can get it,"
said Bob Pletcher, the father
involvement specialist at
Community Action Agency
and the director of Father
Fair.
The ambitious goal of local
and national agencies is
to reverse that cultural
mindset, to get men in the
home and get them actively
involved with raising children.
"All men want to be
good dads, they just don't
necessarily know how,"
said Ken Howard, the seminar
director at the National
Center on Fathering. "In
most cases, there's just
nothing in their paradigm
that says: good fathering.
Something in their life
has to point them to learning."
The future trend
Some predict the trend
of fatherless homes will
get worse before it gets
better. But for every child
that is growing up, exploring
life and discovering values
without a father, the brighter
the spotlight male-advocacy
organizations plan to shine
on the problem.
"Mothers do an awesome
job," said 27-year-old
Jacob Kuhn while he held
his son, Andrew, at Father
Fair. "But kids are
looking for that one strong
person, and I firmly believe
we've got to be it."
ITEM 7: Roger Knight responds
to Massachusetts Case which
over ruled trial court and
allowed wife to set aside
a judgment on division of
assets without a finding of
fraud on the part of the husband
(it was an “intentional ignorance”
theory):
“Here is the problem
that I would have in even
taking a course in family
law: I strongly disagree with
the basic premises behind
family law. Here, we
have a case where the husband
in a divorce, who probably
is the respondent and not
the petitioner, has a duty
to fully disclose his financial
assets and sources of income,
but the wife who wishes to
share in income she does not
directly earn, NEVER HAS TO
PROVE WRONGDOING OR FAULT
on the part of the husband
off whom she wishes to continue
to live.
That is clear deprivation
of property without due process
of law.
The reason we used to have
FAULT in divorce is to protect
breadwinners from this deprivation
of property without due process
of law and therefore keep
the divorce process constitutional.
That is what stops me in my
tracks on the subject of family
law. Without the requirement
for finding of WRONGDOING,
I consider the EVERYTHING
THAT FOLLOWS to be UNCONSTITUTIONAL
and therefore NULL AND VOID.
In which case, I tend to get
bored with the nitty gritty
details of such fundamentally
illegal process.”