Child support has major impact on poverty

One million parents in Texas are obligated to pay child support. Nearly half of them, 460,000, are at least one month behind in their payments. Collectively, they owe their children $11 billion.

Children living in single parent households are five times more likely to live in poverty than those who live in two parent households. Six of 10 children in single parent households have experienced long-term poverty.

Child support enforcement makes a big difference in levels of child poverty. Support payments typically account for 39 percent of the income of households headed by single poor mothers. Payments reduce their poverty rates by 25 percent.

Read the rest of the article at http://www.valleymorningstar.com/news/local_news/article_93e45f6c-b9e6-11e2-996f-0019bb30f31a.html

Child Custody for Fathers

Nothing in a divorce can be more paralyzing than the thought of losing your children or missing out on key moments in their life. As a father, you may be concerned that your wife will automatically receive primary custody of your children. This is not necessarily true. While it is true that women usually are awarded primary physical custody of children, ultimately, the courts try to act in the child’s best interest.


Read the rest of the article at http://www.just4dads.org/legal-custody.html

Do Courts Favor Moms?

When Allan Karr of Orange County, Calif., married his pregnant girlfriend, he thought he was doing the right thing for the child. 

Later his wife was brought up on charges in a rape case she had started against six men. According to authorities, she received less than a year of jail time and agreed to pay more than $1,800 to the state crime fund for victims as part of a plea agreeement in the case.

The couple eventually split, and he has continued to battle to keep his son in his life.

In Karr’s case, marrying his girlfriend may have been the exact wrong thing to do.  Being married to the mother does not necessarily help a man in court, says Mel Feit, the director of the National Center for Men (http://www.nationalcenterformen.org), a men’s rights group based in Michigan that believes there are challenges to being both a married and unmarried man going before family court. “Each circumstance brings a different set of problems,” Feit says.  

Read the rest of the article at http://www.divorce360.com/divorce-articles/child/custody/do-courts-favor-moms.aspx?artid=591

Kids And Absent Dads

 More kids have died in Chicago between September 2007 and August 2008 than servicemen and women from Illinois during the same period in Iraq. A recent survey estimates the greatest fear Chicago Public School children have is “getting shot”. Government officials, educators, and community activists debate continuously over the causes of the explosion of youth violence in Chicago- gangs, drugs, guns, poor school funding, etc. While all of those factors certainly contribute to the rising statistics on youth violence, the largest contributing factor that continually gets overlooked is absent fathers.  

Studies show that school systems with above-average rates of father absence have nearly double the rates of school violence compared to those with below-average rates of father absence. Children who do not live with both parents are also more likely to carry a gun, assault another student and assault a teacher. To put it simply, father absence is the single strongest predictor that a child will grow up to be violent or fall victim to violence.  

Read the rest of the article at http://www.divorce360.com/divorce-articles/after-divorce/parenting/dads-rights-divorce-and-absent-fathers.aspx?artid=1422

Helping Your Friend Through a Divorce

Certainly, divorce is one of the most painful experiences a father can endure. Many fathers going through divorce feel loneliness, anxiety, failure, and despair. No matter how they feel about their soon to be ex-spouse, they miss being in a family, and they more often than not miss living with their children.

If you are this dad's friend, what can you do to be supportive? How can you help him through the process positively? How can you avoid taking sides or becoming co-dependent and at the same time be there for your friend?

Read the rest of the article at http://fatherhood.about.com/cs/divorceddads/a/helping_divorce.htm

Aggrieved fathers spend night on cathedral roof

The four were part of an initial group of nine protesters, who had set up camp on Thursday and unfurled banners from the roof reading "Children need a dad and a mom" and "Parental abduction, justice is accomplice".

Five of the men, however, came back down a short while later.

But the four who remain do not appear likely to end their protest anytime soon.

“We are determined to stay up here,” Frederic Foroughi, told AFP by telephone. “We have put up a tent on the terrace, we have duvets and something to eat.

“We took turns in sleeping, two at a time,” said Foroughi, who claims he can only see his daughter every other weekend.

“The group are demanding “shared parenting” and that “a child’s right to have both their parents is recognized by the courts”.

The protesters, who come from all over France, including Brittany and Alsace Lorraine, were on a tour of the cathedral that they themselves had organized when they surprised officials by setting up camp on the terrace.

Read the rest of the article at http://www.thelocal.fr/page/view/aggrieved-fathers-spend-night-on-cathedral-roof#.UY6VmbVzBsA

Five tips for fathers going through a divorce

Majority of information available for divorcees are geared towards mothers.  Divorce can be equally, if not more, devastating and both financially and emotionally draining for fathers who lose their children in child custody battles. Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you go through the divorce process. 

1)    Get a good lawyer –If you and your ex-spouse mutually agree on the divorce and there no major issues exist, it can be a short, easy process. However, if there are disagreements with things such as assets, debts, and child custody, it is pertinent you hire an attorney because the divorce may be lengthy and complicated.  An attorney can help you understanding your rights and what you’re giving up.

Read the rest of the article at http://www.dupageattorneys.com/blog-0/bid/62944/Five-tips-for-fathers-going-through-a-divorce