Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the House on October 6, 2005

Click here to view bill details.

Having grown up as a child of Divorce, and run through the mill as a result, Then growing on to the mandated future that lies ahead for children from single parent homes due to either divorce, seperation or paternity issues, I can honestly say that this bill is a step in the right direction. It will not resolve all of the issues involved, but it is a definate step. There are otehr ideas being run your way shortly after the first of the year if they are not already. It is time to Make Michigan FAMILY Friendly, rather than the drowning pool it has become. Notice there is no gender specific wording within this comment. It is not needed. Draconian laws like the one that HB 5267 amends, do not specifically target one gender. That comes from the courts in pursuit of the almighty federal funding. It is also twisted into being by those special interest groups who so willingly reap additional financial benefits from such process. Look at it like this. Michigan is losing jobs fast enough to blow us right back to the depression era. We should be promoting healthy families that raise stable individuals with positive morals and values. To continue the current path, in 10 more years Michigan alone will be comprised of close to 50% of single parent children. I do not need to give you the RECENT Stats, you already have them and have studied them well. Had you not the bill would not have went forward. It is time to put BOTH parents back into the families of Michigan.

I also believe this is a long overdue beginning to a much needed restructure of our Friend of the Court and Family Law systems. There is no place for laws that deal with children that are "gender specific" nor should there have ever been! It is outrageous and clearly wrong for anyone to conduct matters concerning children that suggest that one parent is more important than the other and yet our FOC and Family Court judges make that statement nearly every single day! I should think that this House Bill would pass with flying colors and a new structuring process begin for Family Court and FOC guidelines.

To Rep. Mortimer, I am happy to read that you see fit to put a bill like this one into law. I am a father of 3 great kids and love them with all my heart. I do have equal time with my kids but still get treated like a second class perant. This is unfair and hard to take because I WANT TO BE THE BEST PARENT I can be. But working with the system we have now does not make it easy. If you would like to contact me to help or to understand more please do. Joesnowskis@hotmail.com Thank you for you time. Joe Rodgers

To Rep. Mortimer, I am happy to read that you see fit to put a bill like this one into law. I am a father of 3 great kids and love them with all my heart. I do have equal time with my kids but still get treated like a second class perant. This is unfair and hard to take because I WANT TO BE THE BEST PARENT I can be. But working with the system we have now does not make it easy. If you would like to contact me to help or to understand more please do. Joesnowskis@hotmail.com Thank you for you time. Joe Rodgers

i am product of divorce and saw the devastation that foc wreaked on our family. they provided a level of incompetence that seemed to be encouraged by the courts that ensured the kids would be continually punished for the deeds of the parents. as a kid my mom was made to feel that if she had the kids then she shouldnt need any help i raising them. they made my dad feel that since he didnt get the kids then there was probably a good reason for that and he should feel guilty.

HB 5267 will remove the incentives for family break-up and improve the plight of Michigan's children by improvong their chances of having two parents involved in parenting them. The mantra of "jobs, jobs, jobs" that our political candidates are reciting ad nauseum is about 1 millimiter deep. Michigan will have no economic recovery until it fixes the social plight of our families. The economic tsunami is about to hit Michigan and it will drag down the entire American economy. It's time to focus on repairing the Michigan and American infrastructures. That requires a serious focus on the family, not just the minority of families that appear to be intact, but the increasing majority of broken American families. Why aren't our leaders talking about this? HB 5267 is but one small step down the road to fixing Michigan's very deep social and economicd travails. We need to focus on Detroit. It's plight is a harbinger of what's coming for the rest of the state.

This bill is a starting point to place back into perspective that both parents should have an equal opportunity to PARENT their children. This also restores in some situations the rights bestowed upon parents as both being custodial in nature and reversing the damage caused in some cases where the State of Michigan has manufactured an absent parent by court order to fit people into the Title IV-D welfare system, which by the way has no eligibility requirements. HB5267 restores in some cases equal opportunity to children again having access to both parents instead of being used as a tool for financial gain. This important first step to restoring willing parents back into their children's lives is a welcomed reversal of current unfriendly family policy.

This is my message to my dear Congressman. The Federal government has done so much wrong to families and fathers during the past three decades. It has caused so much pain and destruction that it owes a moral debt of gratitude to those of us family members who have survived those years of living dangerously and are here with you to give you moral support to pass this long overdue legislation.

This is my message to my dear Congressman. The Federal government has done so much wrong to families and fathers during the past three decades. It has caused so much pain and destruction that it owes a moral debt of gratitude to those of us family members who have survived those years of living dangerously and are here with you to give you moral support to pass this long overdue legislation.

Vote and pass HB5267! Children need both parents-- it’s that simple! Give me any reason why this bill should not be passed--other than lack of income for State and County employees. Why should the Government be in charge of our children? If we are smart enough to fill out IRS forms, we are smart enough to know what is best for our children, not a judge, lawyer or any Federal, State, County, City employee. Children need both parents-- it’s that simple! If our reps do not pass HB5267, that clearly shows their intent is solely based on their “job security”, and not our children, and we should not vote for them next term. We need our reps to give us the back the power to be parents---50/50 as it should be!

The maintaining of two custodial parents is fundamental. By creating a non custodial parent when there are two willing parents, there is a discrimination so gross that it creates a deprivation of the most fundamental parental rights. This bill is a test to see if the legislature and our State will continue selling out parents for federal money, or if the state will allow willing parents to continue tending to the custody of their children without state intervention.

If you start hearing this mantra, expect the definition of families to change to single parent households. You must be aware when you are reading policy statements that the word families often means custodial parent with children. This is most often used when describing child support being a source of income for families, instead of meaning subsidization to prevent additional welfare roles. Be aware that there should always first be an opportunity for two willing parents to both be custodial parents responsible for the well-being of their children. Children should not be denied the presence of a willing parent, unless there is proof of unfitness.

The FOC won't be affected too much by this house bill, but keep talking about their incompetence because their interference is widespread, especially when involved with middle-class family breakups. Friend of the Court as an employee of the court has a duty to their employer. That duty is to bring in money so that the State gets more federal incentive money. The FOC does not benefit from two custodial parents, which means that we could expect resistance for what is truly best for our children. IE: Children need both parents presence... equally, when they are willing and fit. The FOC is struggling to justify its existence among widespread complaints of incompetence and a reduction in available federal funding. Two custodial parents will decrease the need for FOC services, allowing for huge savings statewide, and a non-reliance on federal income to support the bloated services. Our economy will benefit greatly by maintaining two custodial parents because of the decreased need for the Friend of the Court services. The reduction in need of foc services due to maintaining two custodial parents will cut administrative spending and free up money for our children and will save state and federal tax payers millions.

This is a must pass bill I feel.

This should be the NORM for every state! Why when a divorce happens is one person bitter and then they use a child to get back at the other parent, by denial of time - dragging the other to court for MORE MONEY. False allegations - lies and more lies. And to top it off - the Judges beleive it! This is an issue about children who did not ASK to be brought into this world, but they were. They did not ask to have one parent so ate up with hate - to push the other parent out of their lives out of SPITE, but they were. I am a child of divorce and the courts SAY - they are looking out for the best interest of the children - the best interest is MAKING them stay in their lives, be a parent - be active. I hope this passes - I no longer what the courts and state involved in our lives. They have people claiming to doing a job - the only job Wayne County FOC employee's do - is CASH THEIR CHECKS! X~

The F.O.C. reminds me of a robot that decided to take over its own decision-base and become a dangerous monster destroying the world. In its infancy, I suppose it's motive were good; and controlled by the people, but as it grew and became more powerful, its mission has become completely independent of what is really good for the a family unit. Most people today don't really understand the underlying reasoning its destruction keeps on growing. In 1982 Francis Schaeffer spoke to a church group and if you were to view this message today you would call this man a prophet. Tyranny was mentioned several times in his speech 24 years ago and the founding fathers warned a free people of the same danger. In the industry of law (where the tyranny is) those really concerned for the “best interest of the child” should be compensated on reconciliations not divorce. But then it would slow the gravy train down and bring the politics back to the people, and fathers back to their children. FOC has become an arm of tyranny in America today, a very important arm. FOC is an arm to destroy middle class, and split apart families. FOC, the arm whose mission is to bring a once free nation to its knees to government dependence, called socialism. The reward to the FOC is financial and employee growth. For every dollar the FOC collects, they are federally reimbursed high percentages back to run their agencies. This not only goes against any better social interest for the country's future, but it is also blatant "conflict of interest" and failure of the equal protection clause in the rights of each parent. The equal parenting bill, if drafted correctly and passed could bring an uppercut blow to the socialistic view of the FOC, by removing their strength, the financial incentive and bring back to the family the 85% of fathers who have lost their constitutional right to parent. What did this kind of consistent court decision in reality do to the best interest of the child? Well all one has to do is a little research to see that every aspect of children’s healthy development is on a very slippery slope, spiraling downward. Their health habits, educational habits, crime habits, social habits, mental habits, and spiritual habits all trending in a negative social epidemic, because the once healthy habit of dad being a dad has been rewritten as dad being a deadbeat dad. I am sure you have heard the saying that if you say a lie enough times, to those asleep it appears to be the truth. Let’s not be fooled any longer. It’s time to bring back the best interest of every child, BOTH PARENTS, equally parenting.

The F.O.C. reminds me of a robot that decided to take over its own decision-base and become a dangerous monster destroying the world. In its infancy, I suppose it's motive were good; and controlled by the people, but as it grew and became more powerful, its mission has become completely independent of what is really good for the a family unit. Most people today don't really understand the underlying reasoning its destruction keeps on growing. In 1982 Francis Schaeffer spoke to a church group and if you were to view this message today you would call this man a prophet. Tyranny was mentioned several times in his speech 24 years ago and the founding fathers warned a free people of the same danger. In the industry of law (where the tyranny is) those really concerned for the “best interest of the child” should be compensated on reconciliations not divorce. But then it would slow the gravy train down and bring the politics back to the people, and fathers back to their children. FOC has become an arm of tyranny in America today, a very important arm. FOC is an arm to destroy middle class, and split apart families. FOC, the arm whose mission is to bring a once free nation to its knees to government dependence, called socialism. The reward to the FOC is financial and employee growth. For every dollar the FOC collects, they are federally reimbursed high percentages back to run their agencies. This not only goes against any better social interest for the country's future, but it is also blatant "conflict of interest" and failure of the equal protection clause in the rights of each parent. The equal parenting bill, if drafted correctly and passed could bring an uppercut blow to the socialistic view of the FOC, by removing their strength, the financial incentive and bring back to the family the 85% of fathers who have lost their constitutional right to parent. What did this kind of consistent court decision in reality do to the best interest of the child? Well all one has to do is a little research to see that every aspect of children’s healthy development is on a very slippery slope, spiraling downward. Their health habits, educational habits, crime habits, social habits, mental habits, and spiritual habits all trending in a negative social epidemic, because the once healthy habit of dad being a dad has been rewritten as dad being a deadbeat dad. I am sure you have heard the saying that if you say a lie enough times, to those asleep it appears to be the truth. Let’s not be fooled any longer. It’s time to bring back the best interest of every child, BOTH PARENTS, equally parenting.

As a Michigan voter, I strongly urge you to to support Michigan House Bill 4664 and/or any other Parental Parity Bill. Children need and deserve the love and care of both parents, and no government is more capable than they are to care for their children. The current system turns most fathers into paychecks, is riddled with injustices, and ignores the needs of children and their fathers to grow and be together. I love my son, and I know that what is best for him is to enjoy the approximately equal time getting love and attention from both his mother and I. As a modern father, I am directly involved in every aspect of his daily life. However, the Friend of the Court has a strong financial disincentive to award equal parenting time. They are funded through a federal matching funds of 54 cents for each dollar they collect in child support, and child support payments are based on a formula involving the income of the mother, the income of the father, and the number of nights a child spends with each. Equal parenting time hurts the bottom line of the Friend of the Court, so it's very rarely awarded. Most commonly, the mother is awarded custody, and the father is given parenting time on alternate weekends. This arrangement maximizes child support payments, which helps the Michigan Friend of the Court collect more in federal incentive grants, but it hurts children, who miss out on much of the love that their fathers want to give. The Michigan Friend of the Court received $24 Million in federal incentive grants in 2004, and each Friend of the Court employee brings in $1 million in support, generating revenues of $540,000 each. In Wayne County, one of six Friend of the Court Referees in effect makes custody decisions, normally in less than 30 minutes. While the referee is paid a salary, it's easy for a referee to understand that if he or she keeps awarding joint custody, someone in his or her office is going to be out of a job - quite possibly himself or herself. And the Friend of the Court is responding to its financial incentives, and ignoring the needs of children and families. In one case, the FOC knowingly charged child support to a man based on a clerical error for 3 years, and refused to stop until he contacted a local TV station. In another, the Friend of the Court refused to pay a mother money that it had collected from the father's tax return, because the parents had agreed to handle further child support privately. Another father is complaining that he hasn't seen his daughter in months. His ex-wife won't answer her phone and is never home when he's supposed to see his daughter, and the Friend of the Court won't respond to his pleas. In another, the Friend of the Court knowingly ordered that a father pay twice for his daughter's day care (he could have used that money for her college!). In another, a man who is not the father of a child is paying support to the child's actual biological father. These types behaviors have triggered a class action lawsuit against the Wayne County Friend of the Court. The Michigan Friend of the Court.should be putting the needs of children first, but it seems that they are putting their needs first, by focusing on maximizing their revenue, rather than maximizing the welfare of children. A law mandating that the default custody arrangement be for equal and joint custody unless there is compelling evidence that either party is unfit is in my son's best interest, and the best interests of most children. No referee or judge, even one without a financial incentive to rule one way or the other, can make a decision in less than 30 minutes to substantially exclude one loving and fit parent or another from their lives. Current law effectively leaves little or no room for a middle ground, and gives referees a strong financial incentive to rule in favor of the mother. All fit parents sacrifice for their children. Referees need to respect fit parents, stay out of the way, and allow those parents to love and care for their children.

Passing HB5267 will return to parents what God gave them. It takes a man and a woman to create a child, a sperm and an egg, an X and Y chromosone. It takes Mom and Dad to raise them. Granting sole custody to one parent implies that geography is more important than two loving and nuturing parents. Read the statistics on the effect of having one parent removed from a childs life. When I found out I was going to be a father I was estatic. Things went fine for awhile, then Mom quit her job and got on medicade. In come the courts, before our child is even born. After a little research I discover that because we arn't married I'm going to be asked to sign an affidavit of paternity, relinquishing all of my parental rights, except the right to pay child support. The stage is set for a fight. The courts intrusion into our lives has created more conflict than anything we could have done ourselves. HB5267 is THE most important legislation pending today! Our children are our future, they need both parents. THE BEST PARENT IS BOTH PARENTS

HB4664 - was a Rebuttable Presumption Bill introduced in 2001. Introduced by Rep. Andrew Raczkowski on April 24, 2001, to establish a rebuttable presumption in child custody disputes that joint custody is in the best interest of the child. If a parent seeks to rebut the presumption, the court would presume that the "best interest of the child" factors listed in the state Child Custody Act would apply evenly to each parent, unless proven otherwise. Such proof would include, but not be limited to, things like child abuse or domestic violence. If parents could not agree to a shared parenting plan, the court would be required to impose one which gives each parent specific and substantially equal periods of custody. If one parent refused to cooperate with the other on parenting decisions for no good reason, a court could award sole custody to the other parent.

House Bill 5267 is needed by all of us. Children and parents suffering from divorce need this to become a reality in 2006. Anyone who would not support this common sense movement is out of touch with family values. Parents who divorce do not divorce their children!!! Why the family law courts in this state and others see fit to make visitors out of parents defies all logic, common sense, and all values of morality and decency. Please write and call your reps. and senators and educate them, and pressure them to do the right thing. Many other states are doing this also. We are not alone. Don't get frustrated. Don't give up. We are fighting FOR OUR CHILDREN!!!

Why do courts get involved in matters like this? Because one of the parents is either unfit or unwilling, and/or may be pressured into the wrong viewpoint of family matters. The courts are unfit to tell anyone who will raise their kids and how they will be raised. My daughters are mine-not the courts. They had no right to turn me into a payer of bills and a visitor in their lives. Until we stop them, regain our rights, they will do this again and again to thousands of others. This has to stop-NOW.

This would save millions of children's emotional wounds by having their parents 50/50!! Pass this law! It's our reps that need to save the children, not what is best for the State Budget. Think of the kids for once...its free to pass this bill.

Please support bills that give parents equal rights and custody of their children, regardless of gender. Please support family rights.

Dear folks: I have another excellent reason for voting for and supporting HB5267. I recently wrote to Judge Wm. Doherty here in Barry County-he had posted a notice shortly after he was elected to his position-he wanted to hear from people who had problems or issues with our Friend of the Court. I heard back from him two days ago. I had listed personal concerns and facts that show bias against fathers from the family law court system and our foc in particular. I presented him with facts-the matching federal incentive grants program-and others. Part of his reply, and I quote: "As a parent myself, I am committed to providing a court system that is fair and impartial. A system that applies the law equitably to all parties." He continues with "I have not witnessed nor would I tolerate any institutional or personal bias." Keep in mind that this man was an attorney for 18 YEARS before becoming a judge. I find his comments incredible and unbelievable. I despise being lied to as well. If a judge can be this blind, uncaring, and completely unaware of the reality of the situtation, our laws need to be changed now-FOR OUR CHILDREN'S SAKE.

RE: Why Parenting Time Motions Fail and Child Support Motions Succeed. After a Friend of the Court Citizen Advisory Committee meeting an attorney indicated that it seemed that their parenting time motions seem to fail more frequently than child support motions succeed. This was a brilliant observation and I wanted to take a quick moment and tell you why. For every three dollars ($3.00) that your local court spends on Child Support Enforcement the court receives two dollars ($2.00) by way of federal block grant money. Additionally to make up the difference of the remaining one dollar balance the local courts have been able to use what is known as federal incentive grants from the federal government, which has made it possible to “profit” from operating a “successful” child support enforcement program. An immense gain by the state is to be had by operating a "successful" child support enforcement program which means that a child cannot have substantially equal time with both parents. In order to maximize federal money the states create the appearance of an absentee parent for purposes of the Child Support Enforcement welfare program. Successful also means maximizing the number of participants the state has in its Child Support Enforcement welfare program by including the middle-class at the sole expense of the U.S. Tax Payer. See 42 USC 655; “Payment to States”; See 42 USC 658a; “Incentive payments to States”; In a parenting time conflict, there is disincentive to allow children to have substantially equal time with their parents because then the parents do not fit wholly into the above welfare program model as being absent. The more parenting time provided, typically, child support is reduced or abated. A reduction in participants is a reduction in the justification of federal monies to the state. Normally the reduction of expenditures is encouraged by government but in this case the opposite holds true because there is a profit derived from the excess influx of funds. Because of lack of eligibility requirements there is immense waste in the new Child Support Enforcement Beuracracy. In 2006 alone, 4.2 BILLION of our Social Security Fund, nationally, is being invested into this program which is a huge disincentive for the states to allow substantially equal parenting time with both parents. The huge mass of money out of your social security also is the reason that the State is so eager to incorporate all the middle-class into their Child Support Enforcement welfare programs; that means higher support awards and an appearance of more need for federal money now that there is widespread expanded group participation. The new welfare abuser is not the people, but the states who have shaped their participant numbers to create the appearance of need for a program that lacks eligibility requirements. The reality is that there are many fit, willing, and competent parents that are trapped in a welfare system against their will and they are being prevented from parenting their children because the state wants to maximize their federal funding and make them look absent. Very Truly Yours, /s/ /s/ Lary Holland 5180 Cedar Lake Rd. Oscoda, MI 48750 (989) 747-0079 (v) (989) 764-5920 (f)

This bill will raise the standard for dissolution of the family and will give proper recognition to the rights of fit, willing, and able parents. When it passes it will be a win for the family as a whole and especially for the children spared the bitter custody games that unscrupulous lawyers invent in order to win their cases.

This law will actually improve the budget because the foc bureacracy which has grown too quickly with little direction and no eligibility requirements for their services will be able to focus their efforts on a more directed effort instead of being spread too thin across too many cases they should not be involved in. An overwhelming amount of waste has gone into the beuracracy that was hastily advanced to take advantage of the federal nipple. Substantially equal parenting of children will remove the involvement of this welfare program and improve the budget and their performance of services to low income families.

In the end the best interest of the child is served when that child has equal access to both parents. One day the family is intact and the child has 2 equal parents. A divorce is filed and all of a sudden 1 parent (usually the father) is no longer equal most often because the law now requires BOTH parents agree to joint physical custody or litigation occurs. Rarely, in the heat of the divorce does the mother think JPC is best. My son only has me 42% of the time because I spent over $125,000 (yes for real) to fight for 2 years, and 42% with no joint physical was the best I could do. We meet all the criteria, 2 miles apart, same school district, child would prefer 50/50, no violence or abuse. This kind of injustice doesnt just affect me, it affects oUR son. PLEASE for KIDS SAKE, pass this bill.

Thank you for posting your situation, because this is a perfect example of the state needing to make a non-custodial parent to the extreme just to get their cut of federal funding. It is very upsetting to see fit, willing, and competent parents being forced into a lesser role in their children's lives for no reason whatsoever. Please be sure to call your local reps and make sure you have their support in the legislature for ensuring this bill gets passed this legislative session. If they are not going to support the bill, be sure to let us know and we will work to replace the representative in your district.

Finally a voice of reason in Lansing, and even better yet a politician who is not afraid to do the right thing!!! Thank you Rep. Mortimer!!! I do not understand how anyone with the best interests of the children in this state could oppose this legislation. The state tells us on various billboards on Michigan hiways to step up and be a dad. Maybe we will now be allowed to do just that.

I also found out that by signing an affidavit of parentage I waived all my rights, to custody, paternity testing, and agreeing to pay support. And that I was solely responsible for paying back medicaid for the birth of my daughters, while the mother was responsible for none of the debt. Who wouldn't sign a document when they are in the hospital living with their mother and beaming proud to be a father, not knowing that when the tough times come you have waived all your rights and agree to give the mother sole custody just so the kids can have your last name. How unfair. I did get joint physical custody, with me having the kids the standard every other weekend, and one other weekend night and every other wednesday overnight so as not to disrupt the girls "schedule" and was still ordered to pay child support as if their mother had full custody. The mediator failed to give me any summertime custody therefore I didn't qualify for shared economic responsibity. When I complained and asked for another hearing I was told to send in another 100 dollars, and was given my summertime but was told to get my deserved shared economic responsibility I would have to pay more money for a modification to support. I have already paid 3000 to a lawyer to get me joint custody with 25% of the parenting time. What a crock the current system is.

It is hard to imagine a BILL that deserves more PUBLIC DEBATE than this one; yet 8 months after being introduced it is stuck in committee. I tried my own legislator and he answered with a vague its being debated answer. How shall I say this......No it isn't. What can we do as parents to INCREASE public awareness? This is being killed quietly, slowly and surely as we live and breath. I am a father, a business owner, a college graduate and an honest man. I am about ready to revolt, this is sickening.

It is horrible that the government would rather disadvantage children quietly through some falsehoods from interest groups that are being funded with tax payers dollars and other interest groups such as the bar association. If it takes a village to raise a child, maybe the only way to see that that childs's best interests are be first and foremost is to have the village decide through a civil jury trial. Or, have a public vote on the bill and let the village decide what the best interest of a child of divorce is.

Joint custody?what a joke.If you stay within so many miles from your ex until child is 18?What if you lose your job?you lose the child too.Because it's 50/50 and you might have to move.It should matter to the court who was at fault in the marriage break up,it should matter who wanted out.The kids didn't ask for this and maybe the ex didn't either.It was forced on them.Men need to stand up and fight for their children,they have the right to pay support.

for a quickie. in the state of michigan you MUST know it's all about money !!!! the courts don't care about you, your spouse, or your kids !!! the name of the PROBLEM, IS FRIEND OF THE COURT. HENCE, THE NAME !!! IT'S NOT THE FRIEND OF THE MOTHER, it's not the friend of the father, it's not even the friend of the child. it's the friend of the court. plain and simple. the state of michigan can not make any money if everyone is getting along. they must throw out the power they have to make you dependant on them to help you thru this. you pay money, the stae gets involved, the hole thing goes sour, and you are in their clutches. now it is not up to you anymore. the state will take care of you and yours, even if you don't want it. ther are alot of people in jail for back child support, maybe because they lost their job or the plant closed down. it doesn't matter !!! we are going to throw you in jail!!!! you can't pay support, you don't havea job ANYMORE. let's see... now we have you !!! welcome to the state of michigan !!! we have no jobs, but, jenny's buddies will make sure you pay anyway. think about it. where eles but michigan and russia can things like this happen.

I do know that the group Fathers-4-Justice is about to announce their national launch in Columbus Ohio on Saturday June 17 with a big rally. Chapters are forming all over the USA as we speak to fight against the present system and its abuses. I know NY has had a bill like this sitting for over 12 years tied up in committee hearings and that is how they prevent them from getting through! The politicians don't want to seem to be against it since so many voters are for the idea so they have a few anonymous members keep it tied up and then they all come out ans say they are for it but can't vote for it until it comes out. Best I can say is to organize against them and lobby hard. www.f4j.us is a good start and maybe if enough stand up things can begin to change.

This needs to become law. It's high time we address the unjust system we have here in Michigan.

I feel that the State of Michigan does very little to ensure children have a right to the non custodial father. I believe this bill is a start. But we need to make stiffer penalties for parents that deny non custodial parents visitation!