In 2000, the Tennessee General Assembly passed a law to establish a Commission on Responsible Fatherhood. Three legislative sessions later, no members have been appointed and no progress has been made toward beginning the commission's work.
Guest columnist Daniel Lee of Collierville is a radar technician
for FedEx and president of Childs Best Interest.
This commission, which is to be made up of lawmakers, citizens and
representatives of state agencies that deal with human services, is
badly needed to explore why many children in our state don't have
two parents taking meaningful roles in their lives.
Decades of studies show the staggering social and financial costs that result when children are raised by only one parent. Such children have more behavioral and emotional problems, poorer school performance and higher rates of pregnancy and incarceration.
Except for the rare cases in which one parent is unfit, it is clearly in a child's best interest to be raised by both Mom and Dad. Ease of travel makes it possible even for parents who live far away to spend time with their children on a regular basis. DNA technology can establish parenthood with far more certainty than was possible in the past. And yet large numbers of children grow up without the companionship and guidance of one of their parents - typically, their father.
Some mothers and fathers simply abandon their responsibilities, but others are forced out of their children's lives by our legal system. Today's routine practice of denying one parent - usually the father - substantial time with his children and a decision-making role in their lives unnecessarily exposes children to harm.
In most custody cases, a child's mother is designated the custodian, with the father typically limited to four to six overnight visits a month.
And it can be worse. An 8-year-old Memphis boy has been denied any contact with his father, a reserve deputy sheriff, for almost three years. The father's appeal of the court order was denied, creating a fatherless child and showing that our judicial branch is willing to override the intent of custody laws and the best interests of parent and child.
An advocacy group called Childs Best Interest, with chapters in Memphis and Nashville, is gathering information on custody cases. Our data show that fewer than one in 10 fathers is awarded custody, and custody alternates between the parents in only 6 percent of cases. And there is a more troubling statistic: More than half the children in the families surveyed spend six days or fewer per month with their non-custodial parent.
To end these injustices, Childs Best Interest drafted an equal custody bill, the first of its kind in the nation, which was introduced in the Tennessee House of Representatives by Rep. Kathryn Bowers (D-Memphis) and may be voted on as early as next year. The bill would give each parent the option of sharing primary custody with the other parent in substantially equal amounts. The custodial designation could alternate yearly, in multi-year blocks or once at the midpoint of childhood.
The measure would end most custody battles and keep children from having a parent cut out of their lives. Other citizens would benefit as well, as children raised by two parents require fewer government services.
Many judges, divorce attorneys and government employees who are charged with representing children's interests vigorously oppose equality of men and women in custody issues. Battling such attitudes can be costly financially as well as emotionally.
Childs Best Interest has heard of a FedEx pilot whose attorney's fees in a custody case amounted to $100,000, and a Germantown grandmother who had to cover $300,000 in legal expenses for her son. Sometimes parents in custody cases are ordered to undergo unnecessary medical testing at an additional cost of thousands of dollars.
Every week court orders are issued that keep Tennessee parents from raising their children. About 300,000 standing custody orders are in effect in the state - placing an estimated 1 million parents and children under control of the courts.
Each of these cases was adjudicated under the wrong legal standard.
Trial judges in cases that involve the rights of family members, such as termination of parental rights and grandparent visitation, operate within rulings that define limits under constitutional law. No such rulings have been issued for parental custody actions. If constitutional guarantees were applied to those cases, their outcome would be close to what is sought in the equal custody bill.
Thousands of standing orders fall outside the boundaries of constitutional protections, and are thus subject to being overturned. The effect is a continuing legal disaster.
Child custody issues are a factor in the poor performance of many schools and the constant increase in our tax burden, and they affect the quality of life for everyone.
An investigation of our judicial branch and action by the General Assembly are required. Those institutions have shown they cannot do those jobs themselves. Some legal practitioners and child advocates are ready to move forward, and the Commission on Responsible Fatherhood could provide an appropriate platform.
The enabling legislation should be reauthorized and its members appointed
with no further delay.
Daniel Lee
