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Enforcing equal protection under the law for children and families within and among the several States of the Union. To be introduced in the 106th Congress, Second Session

Whereas the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution provides that the States may not abridge equal protection under the law to the residents and citizens of the several states;

Whereas the US Supreme Court has repeatedly held that parenting one's children is a fundamental liberty interest protected under the US Constitution;

Whereas the States have, for many years, continually violated this provision of the US Constitution in the administration of family law, specifically in the (1) denial of the right of trial by jury when custody of and visitation with children are at issue, (2) routine granting of injunctive relief in the form of preventing parent/child contact, (3) denying the fundamental liberty interests of both children and parents in the award of "sole custody" without a predicate finding of harm in the interaction between children and parents in the instant case, or finding such presumed harm based on insupportable and intangible evidence;

Whereas the Citizens of the several States, having petitioned their legislatures and elected officials for relief and having been unable to secure same;

Whereas there are 20 Million children who are disenfranchised from one of their parents living today in the United States, and nearly 60% of all children born today are either born out of wedlock or will suffer a divorce in their childhood years;

Whereas it has been established and proven that the best environment for the rearing of children is one in which both parents are present and fully involved;

Whereas it is vital to the future health of our nation that the children residing within it be protected to the fullest extent of the law;

Therefore let it be enacted that:

1. The several States should immediately introduce and pass legislation that provides for the full protection of parent's and children's rights, including the right of each biological or adoptive parent to personally discharge their parental responsibilities without undue governmental interference, in preference to any asset transfer payment (whether known as "child support" or otherwise), and no State may confiscate or order transferred any item of material value for the support of children born to or adopted by said parents so long as both parents are willing and able to personally discharge these responsibilities;
2. That such rights may be abrogated through injunctive or other relief only by a showing, supported by evidence meeting the threshold of admissibility in a court of competent jurisdiction, of imminent harm to the child or children involved, an actual prior act of neglect or abuse adjudicated as such in a trial wherein all due process rights are accorded the accused, or willful or negligent abandonment of shared parenting, which finding by a court of competent jurisdiction shall be supported by competent evidence and wherein the accused shall have enjoyed his full rights to due process of law;
3. That absent such a showing, supported by competent evidence, any parent attempting to thwart or otherwise interfere with the rights of the other parent to a full and close relationship with the child shall be deemed to have committed a prima facie act of child abuse;
4. That the State may not impose a standard of material entitlement or duty of care for divorced or never-married couples that is higher than that applied to married or single adoptive parents;
5. That the State shall provide that an accusation or other allegation of neglect or abuse, made by one parent against the other, in any proceeding for the determination of custody or parenting time, where the accusing parent knew or should have known that such accusation or allegation was false, for the purpose of prejudicing or inducing a court against the presumption of equal shared parenting shall be deemed prima facie proof of an act of child abuse rendering the accusing parent unfit to be a custodian of the child.
6. That any court denying equal shared parenting shall document in its findings and judgment the imminent or actual material harm claimed as the basis in said judgment, or the abandonment of shared parenting by the party being enjoined, and such finding shall be based on competent evidence;
7. That any judgment denying shared parenting without said documentation and findings based on competent evidence shall be, by a statutory rebuttable presumption, deemed error, reversible on appeal.

1. For each year in which such enactment is unfulfilled, Title IV-D, TANF, and all other federal matching funds for welfare purposes shall be reduced successively each fiscal year by a sum of 20% of the full amount of such entitlement to which the State would otherwise qualify for in each fiscal year, such that by January 1st, 2005 States not in compliance shall receive no Title IV-D and TANF funds;
2. Funds withheld under this section shall be redistributed proportionately among the States in compliance with the above provisions;

This legislation shall go into effect upon its enactment into law.

This petition will be immediately faxed to your US Senators and (if you provide a federal district number) your US Representative when you confirm your signature. By filling out the below form you are consenting to these fax transmissions, along with your name and address, with individual signature pages to your Senators and US Representative.

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I have read the above legislation and demand its immediate introduction and passage. The above information is my registered voter address, or, if I am not registered, my legal address, I am qualified to vote, and will so register prior to the next election.

people have viewed this petition since January 30th, 2000