I have a question that has rolled around in my head for a while, it is a simple question, yet it goes unanswered.

Why do so many organization say they want “share parenting” when every state has “shared parenting”? New York was the last state to get a shred parenting law about three years ago. Is it because these organizations want you to believe that they are doing something about the problems of how we treat parents in custody situations or is it because they just want to suck you in with a feel good phrase?

Maybe is it that they just want to get you to keep the donations coming to them so they can just continue to talk about the “problem”? Or is it that they don’t really understand the problem with the laws that are currently on the books?

Ohio Family Rights does not use the term “shared parenting” in anyway. We only believe in equal custody for all fit parents. We only believe that it is the responsibility of the parents to decide how they family should be run after the parents end their personal relationship, not a third party “judge” that does not know or understand the dynamics of your family unit.

The only way to solve the problem is to stop talking and to do something about the problem and our track record shows that we have done some about it in the past and will continue to do something about it in the future until every state has a true equal custody law on the books and in effect.

The days of raising awareness have long past. As a nation we have been talking about this “problem” for close to twenty years. There is no need for more talk or awareness.

At present time, there are four proposed bills for equal custody that have commitments for introduction with the beginning of the next legislative sessions. All four have been written by us for other organizations that think the way we do and want to work to comprehensively solve the problem. Those four are only the beginning as there are more in the works at this time.

I want to you think about this, South Dakota passed a “presumption” of shared parenting bill this year. Shortly after it was passed they admitted that it will not solve the many problems they have in their law. What that really means is they did not solve the problem at all, they just perpetuated it. Is that what you want? It certainly is not an approach that has solved anything.

We have had our successes in the past, not all have been in the area that we all call the “Holy Grail”, but they have been successes. Not all have been publicly acknowledged which is fine also because we know what we did and we know that the results were right but Ohio and American families. We have learned and learned well from every success and from every failure and we know more know that we did yesterday and we will know more as we move forward. While others are still working failed and tired methods and messages, we have refined and moved ours in a direction that is unique. That is what learning for experience is about.

So think about what I have said and ask yourself if you want to keep financially supporting failure or do you want to support an organization that is refining and building the case that will change family law as we know it.

We have a goal to raised $20,000 by the first of the year. These funds will be used to support the bills that we have written and the others we are working on now. 

While we see many that will willingly give to an individual case, you need to question why. While we sympathize with the people that have got themselves into these costly predicaments funding a case that will not change the law is a miss one the big picture.

Until the big picture is corrected cases will continue to be costly and parents and children will continue to lose out on the relationship that is a fundamental right.