Vol. 11, No. 11                 The Fourteen Percenter                   February 2009

A publication for parents on the wrong side of the standard possession order.
- I see my child two days out of every fourteen; 14%. That's not enough. –

 

Recital

Sweet Sixteen (for Charlie, on his birthday)

He's sweet 16, his mother's pet,

and never kissed a young girl yet.
This is untrue. He's not that sweet.
And he keeps his kissing discreet.
He loves his mom; that much is true.
And what's more, his dad loves him too.

Don Mathis (aka Daddy)
 

 

Request for Articles

The Fourteen Percenter is an international newsletter that seeks to promote equal parenting rights in the US, the UK, and worldwide. We welcome feedback, as well as any article, poem, or review relating to the child-parent bond.

Send your letters to fourteenpercenter@... . Previous editions available at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NCP-TX-Grayson/message/1 (change last digit for other issues). The editor is grateful to http://a1laminating.com/ for regional printing.

 

 

Resources

 

There is an excellent research guide published by The Men's Studies Press - The Men's Directory: A Worldwide Directory of Research and Resources (2008 edition, ISBN-13: 978-1-931342-21-6). To download your free copy, visit http://www.mensstudies.info/TMD.html .

 

Stephen Baskerville has begun an excellent blog of his recent articles. Read his latest at http://stephenbaskerville.blogspot.com/ .

 

The Canadian Symposium on Parental Alienation Syndrome will be held March 27-29 at the Metro Toronto Convention Center. See http://www.cspas.ca/ for more details. See http://cspas.ca/speaker_profiles.shtml for a link to the speakers.

 

Bessie Hudgins of Three Sides to Every Story and Ron Smith of Children Need Both Parents are the original organizers of the DC Family Preservation Festival 2007 and 2008. Bessie is continuing the events for the DC Family Preservation Festival 2009, July 18-19, and held in front of the Lincoln Memorial. "We hope that all will attend as we know the importance of children having the ability of both parents in their lives is vital for healthy emotional growth," Ms Hudgins said. For further information or if you would like to be a sponsor, please email her at Three3sides@... or visit http://www.dcrally2009.com/ .

 

Parental Alienation is in the news more and more. To keep abreast of Parental Alienation New Developments and Studies, please visit http://www.pasnews.tv/ .

 

 

Readers Write

 

Articles on "Jobless dad wants break on paying child support" and "Advocacy group finds Texas 'under-investing' in its youth" recently appeared in the Houston Chronicle. Kudos to Bob and Peter for the letters at http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6205826.html on January 11.

 

Fathers on fatherless homes

Let's truly discuss it

Regarding the Wednesday Page B3 article "Advocacy group finds Texas 'under-investing' in its youth": It would appear from the reporting in this article and from my recent attendance at the Children's Defense Fund's follow-up conference on the "Cradle to Prison Pipeline" that even at this early date, the groups assembled to lobby the Legislature, and even the legislators themselves, have no inkling about the relationship of father loss to the mental, physical and moral health of children.

It has been repeatedly proved, for example, that the presence of a father in the life of a child is crucial. When has it ever been presented to the readers of the Chronicle just exactly how many fathers are actually the so-called deadbeats and have actually abandoned their children? When has it been presented to readers just exactly how many of these fathers are dead broke? Just how many fathers are run off from the lives of their children by malicious mothers? How many fathers wanted an equal opportunity in the lives of their children but were denied, simply, but significantly, because of the lack of funds to fight or were cast into the position of non-custodial, or "visiting," parent, at best, due to the fact that the Texas attorney general has every reason to position a father thusly while that office gets a federal monetary kick-back for doing just that?

Unless and until we truly discuss the loss of fathers and all the reasons for that loss, we will continue to throw away the lives of human beings of all ages. It's not as simple as we are told to believe by even such people as Barack Obama, who in his Senate Bill 1626 "Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families" told fathers to simply step forward, or by Joe Biden, who brought the world the Violence Against Women Act, one that affords absolutely no support for an abused and battered man or father.

Robert Gartner, Houston

 

Make support fairer

The economy is making many of us struggle, but for dads it is extremely dangerous, as detailed in the Jan. 3 Chronicle Business column by Ronald Lipman, "Jobless dad wants break on paying child support."

If you can't make your house payments, or you can't make your car payments or you can't pay your credit card bills, you do not go to jail. However, if you are an unemployed dad and you can no longer afford your child-support payments, you will be thrown in jail, and you will be labeled a deadbeat. Dead broke is more appropriate.

While debtors prisons were eliminated years ago, they have not been eliminated for poor, unemployed dads. So if you wonder why so many kids are now being raised without dads in the home, just start looking at arcane child support laws, for one. Back in the 1960s, according to the Centers for Disease Control, about 9 percent of kids were raised without dads in the home. Today, according to the CDC, it stands at more than 28 percent — more than 20 million of our nation's kids.

It is time to bring back dads, make child support fair and to make "equally shared parent-ing" for fit parents the law of the land. We also need to reform the family courts to make them fairer to fathers. We need to do the aforementioned for the health and well-being of our nation's children.

Peter G. Hill, Weston, Mass.

 

Rebuttals

 

The January 7, 2009, Oklahoman published this letter regarding http://newsok.com/dna-test-doesnt-stop-oklahoma-mans-child-support-liability/article/3333733 (DNA test doesn't stop child support liability, Dec. 29, 2008, page 4A). Be sure to read the comments at http://newsok.com/letters-to-the-editor-wednesday-january-7-2009/article/3335841?custom_click=headlines_widget as . 

Duped daddies

Regarding "DNA test doesn't stop child support liability; Under state law, fathers can't question paternity after two years" (news feature, Dec. 29): Why is it that Oklahoma, like most states, doesn't care if a man isn't the father of his ex-wife's child, as long as they can get child support out of him? Could it be that each state gets millions in federal funds to maintain a registry of child support payments? Many people don't know that Oklahoma gets federal dollars for every man ordered to pay child support or that the bigger the support payment, the more the state gets.  

Oklahoma, like Texas, pretends that "the best interests of the child" is to have a duped daddy who can pay child support. They won't lift a finger to find the real father. The child support industry is out of whack, and laws that punish innocent men don't represent justice. Such governmental get-rich schemes only serve to increase the coffers of state agencies.

The cuckolded fathers aren't the only ones who pay. Every taxpayer has an investment in justice. And while the current system of milking the cash cows for the benefit of the state may be legal, it is not just.
Don Mathis, Sherman, Texas

 

The Sherman Herald-Democrat ran this letter January 4, 2009, regarding the article at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,472946,00.html .

 

No reason agency should be involved

I read with dismay - for more reasons than one - about the "Maryland Woman arrested for her son's kidnapping" (December 26 Herald Democrat, page A5).

Donald Wiswell was ordered to have sole custody of his 4-year-old son in 1998. But the mother, Tamara Kennedy, absconded with little Joseph to Mexico . The man hasn't seen his child in 10 years. So when Mom was arrested for being in Mexico illegally, Dad flew to Texas with high hopes of being reunited with his boy.

Now we have Houston Child Protective Services on the case. And despite no report of allegations against the father, CPS plans to keep the kid from his dad while they "investigate."

Parental Alienation is child abuse. And for every day the alienation continues, the effects of abuse grow deeper. Instead of protecting children from abuse, CPS is perpetrating the offense.

On second thought, dismay does not convey my opinion of CPS, disgust is more like it.

Don Mathis, Sherman, TX

 

 

Remember What He Said

Yet ultimately it is the very nature of parenthood to declare to the world: "Your opinions about my children are of no consequence. You do not love my children, and you are not responsible for them. If your opinions about what is best for my children turn out to be wrong, it is my children and I who must live with the consequences, not you. I am not required to conform to your opinions about what is best for my children, and I am not answerable to you for how I raise them." Prof. Stephen Baskerville

 

 

Responses

 

The following correspondence is between the Fourteen Percenter and the Child Rights Information Network (East Studio, 2 Pontypool Place, London, SE1 8QF, United Kingdom, info@... ) regarding http://www.crin.org/resources/treaties/Committee.asp 

 

Dear CRIN,

I know of your interest in the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

What is your opinion on the child's right to have equal access to both parents?

Don Mathis, Editor, The Fourteen Percenter

 

Hi Don,

Thank you for your email. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (article 9) explains: "The child has a right to live with his or her parents unless this is deemed to be incompatible with the child's best interests. The child also has the right to maintain contact with both parents if separated from one or both. "

We would therefore support this clause. Kind regards
Simon

 

This exchange of ideas is from the Fourteen Percenter and the folks at http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/email.php?dist=88&rep=warren.chisum

 

Dear Representative Chisum,

I read that "Representative Chisum is also continuing to pursue legislation to strengthen Texas marriages by proposing a bill that will require those filing for divorce to complete a ten hour crisis marriage course."

A better way to strengthen Texas marriages is to remove the incentive to divorce - And child support is a major incentive for women to end their marriages.

If each parent of the child of divorce is ordered to support the child during the time the child is with them, there would be fewer mothers filing for divorce. And even fewer if each parent is ordered to support their child 50 percent of the time.

Just because most divorces are filed by women is no reason to reward them with custody and child support most of the time. After all, Children Need Both Parents!

Don Mathis

 

Dear Mr. Mathis,

I am Representative Chisum's Administrative Aide and I am responding to you on his behalf. Thank you for your e-mail regarding Texas marriages. I assure you that your thoughts on this matter are very important to Representative Chisum and he will take them into great consideration. I will make sure that he is informed of your concerns.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact our office.
Sincerely, Reshma S. Charles, Administrative Aide, Office of Representative Warren Chisum

 

 

Remember What He Said

I believe that the default position of every family court in this country should be fifty-fifty physical custody of the couple's children. The only exceptions should be those commonly held objections that include spousal and/or child abuse, drug and/or alcohol abuse..., or a parent's inability to provide a home for children for any number of economic or emotional reasons. Alec Baldwin