Local petitioners fight for joint custody

BY JESSICA STATON

Residents across the state can expect to see petitioners at their local post offices and other public forums this month. A petition drive to pass a bill amending the Michigan Child Custody Act of 1970 will be launched March 12. If passed, the amendment would create “a rebuttable presumption that the award of joint legal and joint physical custody to the parties of a divorce is in the best interests of a minor child.”


Known as the Children Need Both Parents Initiative, the new legislation would require Circuit Court judges to award joint physical and legal custody in all divorces unless one party presents clear and convincing evidence that one parent is unfit.


Current law leaves judges far more discretion when awarding custody, requiring only that both parties “be advised of joint custody.”


In addition, the bill would encourage parents to present a mutually agreed upon parenting time plan for all minor children. If the parties cannot agree, the court would be required to impose a “50/50” joint physical and legal custody parenting plan.


The petition drive is being led by Dads of Michigan, a state wide, non-profit equal parenting group based out of Bloomfield Hills. DOM board member Richard Patrella of Royal Oak and DOM Political Action Committee Director Jim Johnston of Clawson are leading the equal parenting effort in our area.


“Fathers are responsible parents too…because the best parent is both parents. Fathers and mothers should be equal parents, with equal rights, and equal responsibilities,” said Johnston Monday.


According to the Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of the Census, children from fatherless homes are 5 times more likely to commit suicide, 20 times more likely to have behavioral disorders, 9 times more likely to drop out of high school, and 10 times more likely to abuse chemical substances. Supporters of the petition point to these statistics as proof that joint custody is truly in the best interest of children.


“The most fundamental human right of all is the right to parent your own child. I’ll be at the Royal Oak post office defending that right Saturday March 13,” said Patrella.


In addition to influencing new custody cases, the presumption of joint custody would strengthen the position of parents petitioning the court to add more parenting time to their existing orders.


“Parenting is not a light switch you turn on and off. You don’t parent children at certain times and then stop until it’s time to parent again. Yet family law judicial systems issue orders that permit the majority of noncustodial parents to spend less than 30% of their time parenting,” said Patti Diroff of the Children’s Rights Council.


Petitioners will be outside local post offices and other public locations starting Saturday arch 13 in an effort to obtain 254,206 signatures required to pass the petition. The proposal will be voted on Nov. 2 in the General Election.

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