The Father's Bulletin
A Newsletter for members of World Fathers Union
April 29, 2007
Greetings, Johns and Janes!
John X. here. Marketing weenies know this kind of thing instinctively, but for the rest of us, it sometimes takes a while.
What's the best way to keep people thinking about you?
Answer: You send them stuff in the mail.
At least, that's the stock answer, used by hack marketers who still believe that 'any publicity is good publicity,' even if it annoys the bejaysus out of the very people they're trying to reach. The post office version is junk mail; the electronic version we call SPAM. Both are an blight on humanity and tend to make the recipients want to run the sender through a meat grinder and flush the result down the can.
But, there's big difference between members of an organisation such as World Fathers Union and the victims of marketing slime-think at, say, Columbia Louse Video Club. For one thing, our members are never solicited to buy anything...and for another, we're a family, working together for mutual aid and support and to make the world a better place for our children.
With that as my heraldic device, I have managed to persuade the very proper John T. that an e-mail newsletter to our members doesn't qualify as Stupid Pernicious Advertising Material. This was a hard sell (if you saw how much spam John T. gets each day, you'd understand why) but I did it by shamelessly appealing to his ego. After all, one of the positive results of this new venture should be to get our members to visit the News Page a bit more often and admire all the work he does on it. (You can admire my contributions to the Father's News Browser while you're at it, if you like.)
In any event, we're pleased to present the first edition of our new Members' Newsletter, The Father's Bulletin. If you have any complaints, contributions, or suggestions, please e-mail me, John X. (If you want to say what a wonderful idea it is, e-mail John T.) I'm going to try to put this out at least once a month, weather-permitting. You'll get individual mailings in between issues when there is something special to report.
Technical note: Some e-mail programs do not support e-mail messages such as this one which call outside URLs to present images (or some users block that feature). If you are viewing this e-mail in text-only format, you may see it on the web with the missing graphic content by clicking here.
News from the Union
News about members, events, and activities at World Fathers Union
Project Announcements
The International Model Code of Family Justice
An important and wide-reaching law project is being undertaken by World Fathers Union.
The Union's International Model Code of Family Justice Project is a major, global effort to develop a model legal code, which, when completed in 2008, will present a codified family law system designed to be the standard against which all jurisdictions can measure their existing domestic relations statutes and rules of procedure.
Directing the project is John F. Smith. 'The first step,' he explained, 'is to determine the scope of the code. We will need to address all of the many complex issues which can give rise to disputes among the members of separating families. In the first draft of the project prospectus, we have defined 10 chapters.'
Among the issues presently in those chapters are Divorce, Custody, Child Support, Family Violence, Child Kidnapping, Contempt, and Enforcement, said John F. Smith.
'Other difficult issues need to be addressed as well,' he continued. 'Adoption and Consent issues are closely intertwined with Paternity, and the conflicts of rights in those areas must be resolved. And of course, there is the question of expert witnesses and intervenors. Family law is a very wide field, and we must not neglect any part of it, because so much of present family law is based on old ideas of adversarial justice. This is what we need to remedy.'
The Model Code will not treat only the issues which the parties bring before the courts, but it will also treat the way in which the courts and legal practitioners deal with them. Many fathers' movement critics feel that this is one of the most important aspects of the problems facing men seeking a fair hearing for their children.
'There will be individual chapters devoted to Rules of Procedure for Family Courts, and Ethical Conduct for Family Law Practitioners, ' said John F. Smith. 'There will also be a chapter specifically devoted to judges, referees, and what are known in some jurisdictions as "special masters."
'In sum,' said John F. Smith, 'the Model Code will be designed to provide absolutely equitable treatment of parents in all issues arising under its scope. But it will do something even more important: It will encourage parents to agree, by eliminating any advantage to them in disagreeing.'
Great emphasis will be placed on devising statues and rules which actively discourage parents from going to court in the first place. All perceived advantage which one spouse could hope to achieve through fighting a custody battle through the courts will be eliminated. Under the Model Code, there will be no monetary or control advantage to gaining custody--only an equitable division of responsibility and the parental authority necessary to fulfill it. Said John F. Smith, 'The Code will eliminate the destructive power games that fuel these disputes by apportioning the power evenhandedly. Neither father nor mother will have anything to gain by fighting...and everything to lose.'
'This,' he continued, 'is the essential ingredient lacking in all family law codes today. Divorce has become big business, an all-consuming industry, because current family law encourages parents to fight. It is an adversarial system, with built-in bonuses for the 'winner'. But what these codes fail to do is realise that the children are always the losers. That must be changed.'
Calls are currently being sent out to members, Institutional Affiliates, and individuals to participate in the process of creating the International Model Code of Family Justice. 'That is step two,' said John F. Smith. 'We will now assemble our working group. A new page will soon appear on the Union's website to describe the project in detail, and to enable interested parties to become part of the process.'
--John T.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Project Spotlight: The First Report
This is a news item from last November, but it's still important.
November 23, 2006 marks an important milestone in the Union's Project SPOTLIGHT history. Our researchers have been working on the first study in the programme since early April of 2006, and the planning and design of the project began over six months before that. Now, finally, the first report is ready, and you can read it here on our website. A brief article about the report also appears on the News Page story index.
This is an important report, because the subject judge of the study is not just an ordinary family court judge, he is the Associate Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Quebec in Canada, a man with an extraordinary amount of power in that province.
Thanks go out to the entire research team: John T. for helping co-author the report; John P1 and John B. for helping read the seemingly endless list of court decisions; Dr. Jane K. and John CG for vetting the statistical work; and attorney-members John A. and John K. for their help in consolidating the legal aspects discussed in the introduction.
--John F.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Members and Affiliates
One of the Union's prime mandates is to united the fathers' movement worldwide. Our Institutional Affiliate program offers fathers' groups the opportunity to 'network' with others through the Union's information and press coordination services, while allowing them to retain full autonomy. Affiliates are identified on the Union's WORLDWIDE RESOURCES page by boldface type. We are please to welcome two new Institutional Affiliates this month.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Berkshire Fatherhood Coalition
The Berkshire Fatherhood Coalition is a fathers' aid group in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in the United States. Attorney and activist Rinaldo del Gallo III is the founder. The Coalition takes as its mandate 'to provide both members and non-members easy access to important legal information, free legal seminars, and up-to-date legal news.'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Los Angeles Chapter, National Coalition of Free Men (NCFM-LA)
The Los Angeles Chapter of the National Coalition of Free Men joins the Affiliate list this month as well. NCFM's Los Angeles chapter, as part of a global men's movement for gender equality, raises awareness about and combats sexism against men in family courts, domestic violence policies, criminal sentencing, military conscription, media, education, public health policies and other areas, using public speaking, media, lawsuits, legislative advocacy, rallies, tabling and other activism tools. The group holds local meetings and also provides limited emergency advocacy and transport to a battered men's shelter. Marc Angelucci is President of the chapter.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New 'Friends' Around the World
The Union often works with fathers groups which aren't yet Affiliates, and also with specialised advocate organisations around the world which deal with narrow gender issues affecting fathers and children. Such organisations can provide valuable information for fathers on specific legal, medical, or psychological issues. This month, we have worked with two such organisations to help spread the word on important issues and events.
Figli Negati ("Children Denied") is an Italian fathers organisation, part of the larger group Armata di Papi ("The Fathers' Army"). Giorgio Ceccarelli is in charge of this very active and energetic organisation, which has produced two major demonstrations in Rome in the last month. We hope to welcome Figli Negati as an Affiliate very soon.
RADAR ("Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting") is a specialised advocacy group working to promote fairness and accuracy in domestic abuse law. This month the Union became one of a number of international signatories to a RADAR organised initiative to block the I_VAWA bill currently before the United States Senate.
New member roster
The Union is pleased to welcome John AA Smith (CAN), John A2 Smith (USA), John RB Smith, and John 98 Smith (?) as new members this week.
The Father's Daily Press Clips
Top stories from the Union's NEWS PAGE
If you don't visit the Union's NEWS PAGE frequently, you're missing out on a vast amount of important information and commentary for fathers all over the planet. John T. and I post new stories almost every day, and we update the departments weekly or more often with the kind of opinion and analysis you need to keep yourself informed. Remember, if you don't know what's happening to other fathers, you can't use it to help your own case.
Please note that some of the links below will only bring up the stories themselves; they will not bring up our entire News Page. John F. tells me that there's a long-winded technical explanation for that, but since I don't understand it, I'm not going to try to repeat it. Just use one of the links at the bottom of each story page to bring up the rest of the site if you want to read more.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's no doubt that the Alec Baldwin affair has made the news in a big way. Normally, we keep the trashy celebrity divorces out of the hard news index (although I have been known to slide one into the News Browser from time to time since they offer so many lovely opportunities for the sort of snide jabs in which we serious journalists aren't normally supposed to indulge)--but this one's an exception because, as a result of Baldwin's supersonic boom at his alienated daughter treating him like a non-entity, the real argument over parental alienation and what that does to a man is finally getting some ink from the more thinking members of the press. Even John T. thought this one worthy of a bit of coverage, and you'll find a story from Newsweek, Baldwin Speaks Up on the news page index, as well as a couple of items in the News Browser about some very good coverage on ABC News.
The big deal, apparently, is that some men's organisations and commentators have had the temerity to defend Baldwin's conduct, which, although caused by the frustration attendant on having had his daughter alienated against him, is on the face of it just too damned easy to call 'inexcusable' or 'unforgivable' . So in that way, Alec hasn't done us--or himself--any favours. But Glenn Sacks has been quoted as remarking that in the long run, this affair will probably do more good than harm. "I think it'll give a lot of men in the same position the courage to fight back."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Australia, things seem to be changing for the better in family court. At least that's the gist of a long and thoughtful examination of family law reform, one year after. The Quiet Revolution, from Australia's The Age, talks about how the new laws, which went into effect last July 1st, have started to change the Australian family court system from an adversarial venue to a place where, just possibly, someone might actually be able to solve a problem. That's a radical thought, but according to quite a few commentators, it seems to be working. Fathers groups in Australia are generally pleased with the changes; some women's groups are not, especially with the clause that awards costs against anyone found guilty of having knowingly made false allegations against their partner. While that may or may not say something about women's tactics, one female family law barrister opined that she 'doesn't know what happened to the women's movement during the inquiry [which preceded the law project's institution] , but it took its eye off the ball.'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two stories about a New Zealand father whose complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Committee has born fruit are also currently running on the News Page. Father denied justice by NZ courts, says UN, from the New Zealand Herald, and UN slams delays in Kiwi child access case from Stuff.co.nz both relate the story of a father who was groundlessly accused of child sexual abuse by his children's mother--and never charged by the police--but who spent close to three and a half years fighting it through to the appeals court. He's now lost access to his daughters and is still fighting for access to his son. But the UNHRC says the delays in police investigations and court proceedings have denied him a fair trial and violate Article 14(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was signed by the NZ government in 1979. The present government now has 90 days to answer this charge.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Myriam Bédard International Child Abduction story coming out of Canada has been in the shadows since early this year, while everyone waited for the justice system to catch up. (If you've missed the beginning of this one, see John T.'s editorial, 'Celebrity, how fickle is thy fancy,' or go to the December Archives to get the stories about her arrest in the U.S. for international child abduction from Canada.) But now that a brief hearing on the merits of the charge have been laid, a few stories have turned up again, even one in the People's Daily from China. John T. ran that one, because it contained more details than the domestic versions of the wire reports.
The story is interesting because it has a few weird elements to it. For one thing, it began with the usual 'sorry pal we don't enforce custody orders' line from the cops. Only becaused Bédard is a household name (in Canada, at least) with enough beef to get the press on the case were the police finally nudged into doing their policely duty for the father. For another, when Bédard was finally arrested in the US and incarcerated, she faced the possibility of a long procedural wait in jail while the extradition papers were processed... but the RCMP in Canada obligingly went and got her after only a week or so. Finally, once she got back here, she somehow managed to wind up with full custody of their daughter even while she was out on bail for child abduction. Weirdest of all, her bail conditions included a requirement that she be supervised at all times when in contact with the child. Figure that out if you can....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's also been a lot of ink and electrons spent on pizza recently. Yes, pizza. Everyone from Glenn Sacks to yours truly has taken a whack at the Butler County (Ohio) Child Support Enforcement department and their 'Most Wanted' pizza-box stickers depicting so-called 'deadbeat dads'. The issue made national television in the U.S., as well as the AP wire, CNN, and who knows how many local papers which picked it up. My contribution is buried about seven items down in the current edition of The Father's News Browser. Glenn Sacks handled it on his blog but we've archived it here. Considering the Butler County authorities only managed to convince three pizza parlours to cooperate, there was what one might call a 'disproportionate amount' of press coverage...but then, if nothing else is sacred to the American psyche, pizza is. Yeah, that must be it....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since we're talking about child support, I ought to mention another recent story: This one's truly frightening. In Allentown, Pennsylvania, a man on a work-release program who'd been jailed for child support he couldn't pay, was shot dead by police while he was trying to kill himself because he couldn't bear to be returned to prison. One cop shot him twice--in the back--according to the story; his partner just stared at him and screamed, 'What the F*** are you doing?'. This one bothers me a lot, not only because we've 'lost' another father to the system, but because the press reports concentrated on the police-brutality aspect and only mentioned in passing the reason the guy hauled out a box-cutter to slash his own throat. The story we ran is from the Allentown (PA) Morning Call; click here to see it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's lots more on the News Page, and new stories are added almost every day. Right-click this link and add it to your Favourites or better yet, make it the home page for your web browser. Keeping up with what's happening to fathers everywhere is important. You never know when some other father's story will give you the vital piece of information you've been waiting for.
John X. Smith, Associate Editor
World Fathers Union News Page
A day may come when the courage of men fails...
But it is not this day.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
World Fathers Union is an all-volunteer research and outreach NGO. We work to foster cooperation and unity amongst fathers-aid groups worldwide working for equity in the family courts of all nations. We do statistical research, compilation, and analysis of trends in social and legislative policy affecting fathers and children, and we provide outreach programs to fathers and children in distress worldwide. Membership in the Union is free, anonymous, and open to everyone.
World Fathers Union, P.O. Box 278, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia B5A 4B2. www.worldfathersuni on.com
No comments:
Post a Comment