An open letter to all members of the Ohio
General Assembly
Many of you are aware that I have written
legislation that has been introduced before both houses of our Assembly
concerning equal rights for parents.
This legislation will change the way custody is viewed for the
betterment of Ohio’s children and families.
SB144 has been sitting in the Senate
Judiciary Committee and is not moving forward.
I have been told that the reason the bill is not moving is that the
committee chair, Senator Mark Wagoner, wants all parental rights groups to
agree before moving the legislation forward.
All groups that have commented agree with the exception of two. Why are the children of Ohio to wait while
less than 20 “adults” hold up this legislation?
Here are the concerns of these two groups and how their suggestions
either are moot or are not economical or constitutionally feasible.
Fathers and
Families
This is a Massachusetts based group with
very little understanding of Ohio laws and regulations. The Ohio representative, as well as the
national leadership, has not read the bill so cannot comment to its content or
spirit. Attempts have been made to meet
with them for nearly two years, but they did not return invitations or comments. As a result, they are now coming forward with
proposals at this late date. While
testifying before the Massachusetts Assembly on their shared parenting bill they
stated that the men were just “angry dads”. Are they trying to do the same here?
1)
Fathers and Families have asked the General
Assembly to create legislation for a “presumption of shared parenting”. We already have that, as unless a parent is
deemed unfit or disavows the child, shared parenting is codified. This is covered by ORC 3109.401. It makes no sense to rewrite
legislation to make nothing more than wording changes.
2)
They have
also attempted to introduce what is referred to as The Missouri Parenting Time
Enforcement. This has been considered in
the past, and was a major sticking point when equal parenting was first introduced
(HB 232 –Judicial Impact Statement) and was major sticking point. The premise of this concept is that contempt
is strictly punished. SB144 deals with
this issue more efficiently and fairly by making the evidentiary standard
“clear and convincing”. This will allow
judges to exercise discretion on facts rather than by the “he said, she said”
that currently clogs our Juvenile and Family/Domestic Relations Courts. This standard will also prevent false
allegations and save the courts both time and money.
Summit Dads
This is an extremely small group of men mostly
from Summit County that discusses the issues of unwed fathers. They are focused on their own cases and have
little understanding of federal and state regulations and how changes affect
more than procedures.
1)
Summit Dads has suggested that all children
born to unmarried parents be subject to DNA testing at the hospital and that
this be expedited so that the paternity of the child be
determined prior to release. On the
surface, this may seem a good idea, most of these
children are born to mothers on Medicaid.
Should this suggestion be made into law, the extra days’ hospital stay
for the new mom and baby may be expanded to weeks rather than days, a cost that
we just cannot bare. This also totally disregards a major violation of Liberty
Interests of all parents and children.
2)
The wording
of their proposed legislation to parenting time is confusing. It mandates that the court treat all never
married parents with the current “shared parenting social model” which is
already in use. This accomplishes
nothing. Under SB144 parents are equal
once paternity is established, as SB144 starts at equal, and adjusts from
there, by placing the decision in the hands of the parents of the child with
live life. The step of establishing paternity that carries over from current
law is necessary to protect the State of Ohio for cost associated with the
reimbursement of TANF funds.
Ohio children have suffered under our
current legislation for over 20 years.
We have placed the fate of families in the hands of judges, while
restricting solutions to outdated social norms.
When the current legislation was written, fathers were not as involved
with their children, especially very young children, as they are today. Our current laws, regulations, and procedures
cause added strain on an already bad situation, and is
tantamount to walking into a neighbor’s home and telling them how to raise
their children. This, in my opinion, and
the opinion of the majority of parental rights groups, in NOT in the best interest of any child!
While these two groups have refused to
support this legislation, Ohio Family Rights, Guernsey County Parents United, and
others are strongly in support of this legislation moving forward without
amendment.
Last year, our new governor challenged
everyone to step up and tell the General Assembly how to make Ohio better for
families. Well, I had already completed
that task, and was waiting for the new Assembly to be seated. I submitted this legislation to the
Legislative Select Committee and they suggested changes that added up to less
than 50 words. The purpose of this was
to expedite the process once you all were sworn in.
I have not only considered the children
and families of Ohio, but also how this bill will impact the budgets of the
state and counties, the cost savings to businesses and the cost to our
courts. The savings are substantial! The Ohio Fatherhood Commission has recognized
the need for this legislation. In their
study of this issue, they found that Seneca County paid placed the cost at $50
Million per year due to fatherless families.
Tracey Robinson of that commission stated that the biggest problem with
men being father was the obstacles within the law rather than a willingness to
be involved. The Ohio Fatherhood Commission
has recommended these changes http://www.nopeohio.org/ohio%20commission%20on%20fatherhood%20strickland-fisher%20transition%20agency%20review%20committee%20report%20revised%20full%20version.pdf
I have, and continue to make myself
available to discuss this legislation with anyone, legislator or John Q.
Public. I am willing to debate this
subject with anyone in a public forum.
The changes in this bill be improve the
lives our children, and children with good memories of their youth will be more
inclined to stay close to those memories and the people associated with them,
slowing the “brain drain” from Ohio. If
you want the real story of how this will affect families read out Family Impact
Statement. http://www.nopeohio.org/nope_049.htm
I am asking you to contact Senator
Wagoner and encourage him to do the right thing for our state and its families
by bringing this legislation through his committee and for a full vote. What a wonderful gift to the children of
Ohio, a future with less strife, less poverty and the confirmation of the love
of both of their parents.
Ray
Lautenschlager
National
Organization for Parental Equality
President
With the following Ohio organizations
Michael Port
Guernsey County Parents United
Michael L Hakes Jr.
A Father’s Heart
Roz
McAllister
Ohio Father Rights
Ray Erker
Children First
Other Organizations
Douglas
George
The Fatherhood Coalition
21 Roselin Ave
Quincy, MA 02169
Dan Wilson
Parents for
Children
Michigan
Leonard
Henderson
American Family Rights Association
Add
to these names the many attorneys, judicial candidates, retired Domestic
Relations judges that have come to us with support of these changes.