Fathers fight for equality

Divorced fathers living in Massachusetts won a decisive victory on Election Day, after more than 85 percent of the electorate in almost 30 legislative districts supported a petition to pressure family courts to give divorced parents joint custody over their children.

Ned Holstein, president and founder of Fathers and Families, the non-profit organization that supported the petition, said the "overwhelming endorsement" for the plan was necessary. He said "existing laws are silent" with respect to paternal custodial rights.

According to the petition, Massachusetts courts will be urged to "uphold the fundamental rights of both parents to the shared physical and legal custody of their children."

The petition is non-binding, but legislators in districts where the petition passed are expected to push for laws encouraging joint custody.

Judges are "stuck in a time warp," Holstein said, adding that they practice what he calls "old-think" and fail to recognize that "gender roles have changed dramatically."

But Nancy Scannell, director of government affairs for Jane Doe Inc. and the Massachusetts Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said "the proposed laws could have painful and even dangerous consequences for children caught in the middle of high-conflict divorce cases and, in particular, in cases where domestic violence is a factor."

"A deeper look [at the Fathers' and Families' petition] exposes an agenda centered on what is 'in the best interest of the non-custodial parent' - not the child," she said.

Scannell said encouraging joint custody will simply exacerbate problems with domestic abuse.

"The forces behind these initiatives have tried in numerous ways to undermine protection for victims by portraying men accused of abuse as being the 'true victims' of a system that has gone overboard in protecting women," she said. "These groups use twisted interpretations of family violence data in their attempts to derail the efforts of community-based victim service providers and to herald the plight of individual abusers."

The Massachusetts Family Institute - known for staunch involvement in many social issues, most notably an opposition to same-sex marriage - supports the joint custody petition.

"Current no-fault divorce law makes it too easy to break off a marriage," said Evelyn Reilly, the Family Institute's director of public policy. "An intact family is the greatest social service. Fathers have been dismissed over the past few decades."

But Scannell disagreed.

"[Proposed laws] make no explicit provision for dealing with cases where sexual abuse or domestic violence is a factor and they rely on antiquated, oversimplified notions about relationships between parents and children," she said. "We must not be deceived by hollow messages promising simple solutions to issues as complicated as child welfare and domestic violence."

Violence and abuse are an ongoing problem in American homes. According to a report released by the Jane Doe Inc., there are "an estimated 43,000 children in the Commonwealth who live in homes where domestic violence exists."