American Coalition for Fathers and Children/great site American Coalition for Fathers and Children/great siteMISSION STATEMENT
We, the members of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children, hereby dedicate ourselves and our efforts to the creation of a family law system, legislative system, and public awareness which promotes equal rights for ALL parties affected by divorce, and the breakup of a family or establishment of paternity. It is our belief through our involvement and dedication, we can have a positive effect on the emotional and psychological well-being of children.
We believe equal, shared parenting time or joint custody is the optimal custody situation.
We believe the best parent is both biological parents.
We believe grandparents should have rights and access to their grandchildren.
We believe gender bias should be eliminated from family law and from future legislation.
We believe BOTH biological parents should be responsible for the emotional and psychological well-being of their children, as well as financially responsible.
We believe in the concept of fairness and equity in support for ALL families; and, that all children involved in a blended family should have equal rights, and do deserve equal rights and equal protection under the law.
We believe child support orders should be reasonable, realistically reflect the cost of the children's basic needs, and reflect the relative parenting contribution of both parents in a shared parenting plan.
We believe when parents are given equal rights, equal responsibility follows; when parents have equal access to their children and support levels are reasonable and reflect the true cost of raising a child, parents will comply with court orders.
We believe when equity is created in our laws, the conflicts inherent in divorce situations dissolve and that, in the end, this is the greatest gift which we, as parents, could possibly bestow on our children.
Therefore, ACFC's mission is shared parenting.
Shared parenting means that children need both parents.
Shared parenting means that parents cooperate and that no parent can arbitrarily throw the other parent out of the family.
Share parenting means shared responsibility, and each parent is responsible for their own words and deeds, not changing the rules to suit our convenience.
Shared parenting means restoring the proper balance between the family and the government, ending government's occupation of the family and ownership of children.
Shared parenting means that parents decide what is in the "best interest" of their own children.
Shared parenting means stopping the criminalization of parents and parenthood.
Shared parenting means stopping the plundering of families by lawyers and psychotherapists.
Shared parenting means restoring justice to our judiciary and the Bill of Rights to its proper place.
There are many misconceptions about shared parenting. Many people, at first view, express a preference for traditional mother custody. Yet this opinion quickly evaporates when they realize how it has contributed to the runaway divorce rate.
It is not traditional motherhood that is destroying families; it is politicized motherhood that manipulates children and vilifies fathers. So while we reject automatic mother custody, we do intend to restore motherhood as much as fatherhood.
Contrarily, some suggest that a presumption of father custody, as once existed, would reduce the divorce rate drastically. But the unfairness is equally obvious. So while we are an organization primarily of fathers and their families, we do not believe fathers should automatically get custody.
Similarly, shared parenting is not simply "joint custody," which we also reject for several reasons: First, joint custody is usually a fig leaf, as we see in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, where it is enacted but not practiced. Second, joint custody alone suggests we are concerned with "fathers' rights," which we are not. Shared parenting takes the moral high ground on the principle that children need a family with a mother and a father, however imperfect that family, however imperfect that mother or father.
The highest form of shared parenting is marriage. In this sense, we are the foremost defenders of marriage. The marital bond is most securely cemented when children cannot be arbitrarily separated from their parents. The incentive for divorce is removed, and the intact family, or as much of it as possible, is preserved.
Shared parenting does not mean abusive parents having custody. Spousal or child abuse is, and always has been, grounds for losing custody, and it should be. In fact, if, as the feminists say, domestic violence is a "crime," then it should be treated as a crime, with the same procedures as for violent assault, with a presumption of innocence, a formal charge, criminal standards of evidence, and a jury trial. Criminal penalties should be imposed on those convicted. And those acquitted should be left in peace with their children. The same procedures should operate -- as in every other areas of the law they do operate -- for those who level false accusations against innocent citizens.
We had naively supposed that "Shared Parenting" would be obtained by fighting our own individual court cases. "Shared Parenting" is not going to be obtained by anyone's single court case, nor by any single piece of legislation. Words in the statute book mean very little. Parents must build themselves into a major political force before their victories will be firm. To succeed, parents must develop organizations that recruit, train, place, and fund political activists.
We, the members of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children, are dedicated to shared parenting
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