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The Homepage of Non-Custodial Parents Force! |
| THE POLITICS & ACTIVISM OF FAMILY LAW REFORM | |
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Family Law FactsTable of Contents I. Overview II. Government Abuse 2. Federal Law & State Constitutional Violations 3. Murder 2. Idealogy a. Morals 4. Racism 5. Failure of Divorced Dads & NCP's to Organize V. Hypocrisy OverviewThe family law system in America is an outdated system, medieval in its ideals and functioning on a set of double standards in which non-custodial parents, namely fathers, have been dehumanized and stripped of their basic civil and human rights. Under this system, men in particular face discrimination on many levels which makes it hard for them to maintain ties to their children or to challenge the unfairness of the system. Because America's legal system is driven primarily by money, most non-custodial parents lose their cases before they even enter a courtroom. The high cost of attorney's fees force many non-custodial parents to appear before advice to enter courts without legal representation. Attorneys are rarely appointed by courts to those who cannot afford representation, and even when they are appointed, the legal services rendered are usually incompetent or inadequate. To make matters worse, non-custodial parents after a break-up are immediately held responsible for artificially imposed child support orders. Since failures to meet payments can result in their arrest, many non-custodial parents are pressured to give up legal challenges due to the financial stresses placed upon them. Furthermore, courts that award sole custody to one parent consistently behave as advocates for the sole custodial parent while demolishing the rights of the non-custodial parent. Courts and government agencies are ruthless in punishing non-custodial parents for violating child support orders, but habitualy fail to punish custodial parents (usually mothers) for ignoring visitation orders and alienating children from non-custodial parents. These double standards are hallmarks of America's family law system. Aside from being unfair, these inequalities promote the dissolution of families and the advancement of a "cash machine" notion of fatherhood in which it is perfectly fine for men to go missing from their childrens' lives so long as they pay. The system demands that men become cold, unfeeling brutes by forcing them to them become "visitors" instead of parents, yet at the same time holds them to a higher standard than parents who live with their children. The severe emotional stress this causes non-custodial parents is of no concern to the system whose cruelty lies in its callousness. Non-custodial parents also face rampant discrimination in American society. American news agencies are biased against non-custodial parents and routinely ignore rights violations which take place the family law system. News agencies regularly indulge in the use of hate speech which poisons the atmosphere for any kind of meaningful debate on reform, makes it all the more difficult for non-custodial parents to fight for their rights in a system which is stakes against them. Government AbuseConstitutional ViolationsThe family law system in America routinely violates the U.S. Constitution in a number of ways (an online version of the US. Constitution can be found at http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html). Equal ProtectionThe 14th Amendment guarantees all citizens the right to equal protection under law. But this provision of the Bill of Rights crumbles at the door of the family court, specifically in the case of reproductive rights and in the way the federal government has impacted child support matters through the Bradley Amendment. Reproductive RightsCurrently in the United States, only women enjoy reproductive rights. Women in America may terminate lives of unborn children whenever they see fit, even at late stages of pregnancy. While feminists campaign for additional rights, such as the right of children to seek abortions without the consent of their parents, men are prohibited from expressing their reproductive wishes on a legal and cultural level. Unmarried men are never asked whether they wish to become fathers after intimate contact has led to pregnancy and are not consulted if their partners opt for abortion; the only road that lies open for them is parenthood whether they want it or not, and years of financial responsibility. Should an unmarried man express a desire not to become a parent, American society reacts with scorn. Such a man is deemed immoral and irresponsible by most Americans who seem to forget that abortion clinics are operating every day of the week to terminate the lives of unborn children because women feel that this is the correct personal choice. Feminist groups in America have successfully ingrained this double standard into the nation's consciousness by inculcating the slogan "My body, my choice" and demanding total reproductive freedom while accepting zero reproductive responsibility. Once a child is involved, the slogan becomes "My body, my choice, MY CHILD, YOUR WALLET" -- a battle cry which illustrates sorry state of reproductive freedom for men in America. On March 9th, 2006, the National Center for Men filed a landmark lawsuit (see Roe vs. Wade for Men on NCM's website) requesting reproductive rights for Matt Dubay, a Michigan resident who became a father after a girlfriend repeatedly told him she could note get preganant. In July 2006, a judge summarily dismissed the case, which is now on appeal to the sixth circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals. Arguments are expected to begin in the fall of 2007. The Bradley AmendmentAs another violation of the 14th Amendment, we have an infamous piece of legislation known as the Bradley Amendment. The Bradley Amendment is a federal law, perhaps the first of its kind, which strips one class of citizens of any right to appeal. The victims of this heinous act are non-custodial parents who are barred from seeking retroactive reductions of child support, whether or not court orders were given in error are issued without the non-custodial parent being represented by an attorney. This law has led to untold suffering for millions of non-custodial parents who have fallen into financial holes due to lay-offs and disabilities by making sure they can never recover from a financial setback. Because of this law, many non-custodial parents have been forced underground, their lives a constant flight from debtor's prisons for an artificial debt which knows no mercy and no relief. While proponents brag that the measure has netted millions of dollars in owed child support, they fail to address the underlying issues of why billions more go uncollected. One major item never addressed by proponents is the relation of child support to visitation, and why some parenrts who've been denied visitation rights justly withhold support. Thus far, there is no federal law to assist non-custodial parents in securing visitation rights or to punish custodial parents who withhold visitation. Also, the Bradley amendment allows retroactive appeals for custodial parents when seeking additional child support arrears. Due to its clearly imbalanced nature, the amendment can be used as a weapon of malice by custodial parents who wish to inflict the greatest amount of harm on a former partner. The Bradley Amendment gets its name from former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley -- a silver spoon and onetime pro-basketballl player. During his time in the Senate, it has been alleged that Bill Bradley bundled campaign contributions to avoid limits on campaign funding, accepted free travel from numerous special interests, and lied to the American public about his health while running for President. The Center for Public Integrity found him to be 2nd worst out of 535 federal legislators for accepting travel handouts. In the mid-1980's, Bradley also cast a critical vote to give $100 million in aid to the Nicaraguan Contras even though they were involved in the transport of drugs to the United States. See additional information at http://www.realchange.org/bradley.html and http://www.consortiumnews.com/1999/072899a.html). Federal Law & State Constitutional ViolationsDebtor's Prisons(see article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debtor's_prison.) In 1833, our federal government declared debtor's prisons illegal and abolished debtor's prisons on a federal level. Many states followed this policy and even abolished debtor's prisons via provisions in their individual state constitutions. At the present time, however, debtor's prisons have become a new reality in our society which illegally imprisons men for failing to meet artificially imposed child support orders. With practices reminiscent of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, law enforcement agencies routinely conduct sweeps in the dead of night in which non-custodial parents have been whisked off prison after receiving a mysterious knock at the door. Men and other non-custodial parents who have lost jobs, or become disabled, or for other reasons become unable to meet child support orders are hunted down and thrown into debtor's prison without even being properly charged. Courts routinely imprison debtors on "contempt of court" charges (see definition at Wikipedia) which implies that they've willfully violated court orders, regardless of whether or not they are financially unable to meet payments due to unemployment, disability, or other reasons beyond their control. In doing so, courts have effectively covered up the sheer numbers of people who have been wrongfully imprisoned this way; the mingling of child support case with actual contempt cases has proven a very effective method for keeping raw data out of the public's hands Debtor's prisons have also caused many non-custodial parents to commit suicide, seeing it as the only way out of a Draconian system which sneers at individual hardships. And finally, the existance debtor's prisons have reportedly led to the deaths of at least two non-custodial parents -- crimes which have since been swept under the carpet in a climate of hate and discrimination. MurderChild support enforcement measures in the United States have led to the death of at least two fathers. In 2002, Brian Armstrong was allegedly beath death by prison guards at the Valley Street prison in Milford, New Hampshire. Mr. Armstrong suffered from alcoholism and his wages at a fast food restaurant left him unable to pay his debts. After his arrest for failure to pay support, officials harrassed his family with demands for thousands of dollars in arrears payments to secure his release. While they did this, prison guards allegedly bound him to a chair and kicked him over, causing fatal head trauma. This case was swept under the carpet by New Hampshire authorities and is still ignored by the media, but a wrongful death suit is now underway in New Hampshire courts. (For more information and updates to this story, see our Avenger Project page.) Another child support related murder is that of Wilbur Streett, a divorced dad and fathers' rights activist, who died after allegedly being denied treatment for Lou Gehrig's disease by New Jersey police. Although bound to a wheelchair and unable to work, a New Jersey judge issued a warrant for his arrest in 2004. Police in Hazlet, NJ, who beat Mr. Streett on a prior occasion, allegedly denied him treatment which resulted in his death a few days later. William's bereaved mother, who grew up in Nazi occupied Holland, has compared William's treatment by American courts and law enforcement agencies to the human rights abuses she witnessed at the hands of the Third Reich. (For more information and updates to this story, see our Avenger Project page.) In additions to these outright murders, the government's brutal and inhuman family law policies have precipitated the deaths of many other divorced fathers and non-custodial parents by suicide. NCPForce! is now involved in a campaign to bring to light any others victims of government sanctioned murder and to expose our government's guilt on an international scale. Human Rights Violations(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights) America's family law system is a violation of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights as follows: The double standard granting full reproductive rights to woman and none to men is a violation of Article 2 of the declaration which states that a rights violation has occurred when men and women are treated differently. Federal laws that strip non-custodial parents of passports are a violation of Article 13 which states that no individual shall be forbidden to leave or return to their country. The arbitrary nature of federal laws (like the Bradley Amendment and the Child Welfare Reform Act) are violations of Articles 11 which bars punishments that are arbitrary or unilateral or without a proper and fair trial. The Bradley Amendment is also a violation of Article 8 when victims of judicial or government agency abuse are denied an effective judicial remedies. An institutionalized climate of hate against non-custodial parents which exists in government and in the media is a violation Articles 2 & 6 because it denies fathers and other non-custodial parents recognition as individual persons. The use of debtor's prisons in America to enforce child support laws are a violation of Article 3, regarding the life, liberty or security individuals. They are also a violation of Article 5 which prohibits cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment. They are also a violation of Article 4 which forbids individuals from being used as slaves by preventing them pursuing work that they choose, and by forcing them to pay for children to which they may share no biological or emotional bonds. Finally, the family law system as it stands is a violation of Article 12 because it is based on the power of the state to arbitrarily interfere with personal/private lives. Reasons for AbuseThere is not one single cause for the ongoing abuses against divorced dads and non-custodial parents. Rather, there are many forces which have played a role in creating a climate of discrimination and abuse. Among them are political corruption, outdated ideologies, morality and gender politics as discussed below. Political CorruptionThe America that we live in is no longer a true democracy; certainly we have elections, but year after year, we are given a choice of only two candidates in any given race. These candidates are drawn from an entrenched two-party system, with very few real differences between either party. Whether Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal, our elected leaders do not serve the American people. They exist to serve wealthy individuals and the interests of wealthy corporations. But in order to make themselves appear as if they are actually steering our society towards a greater good, they seek out soft targets on which they can demonstrate supposed good governance. As they publicly crack down on groups without strong political representation, like divorced dads and non-custodial parents, they are quietly enriching our nation's wealthiest entities with lucrative tax breaks and government handouts. By doing so, our elected leaders have steadily driven us down the path of Third World nations. As of this writing, in August 2008, our nation is engaged in a destructive war of occupation while our economy teeters on the brink of ruin. Our dollar, once the world's preferred monetary unit, is now second to the euro. The sub-prime mortgage crisis rolls on, and a collapse of the credit card industry is predicted by many experts to be imminent. Middle-class and working-class poor Americans are getting more and more financially squeezed while the rich get richer. Thanks to our elected leaders, Americans work for some of the lowest wages in the western world, the federal minimum wage being a laughable $5.85 per hour. Our leaders have also seen to it that American workers have little, if any, job security. The average American's lot in life is to be hired and fired like an animal because of poor labor laws. And organized labor, where it exists, is subject to union busting activities unrestrained by our lawmakers. To further drive down wages, our leaders allow millions of illegal aliens to enter this country every year, and now wish to grant them amnesty. Our leaders have also erased housing protections for many Americans by phasing out rent control, and by allowing banks to subject mortgage borrowers to predatory lending practices. In years past, our leaders were better able to cover up their malfeasance, but the bitter fruits of their mismanagement are now too monumental to ignore. The destruction of New Orleans is a striking testament to our leaders' unwillingness to protect their citizens. By diverting billions of dollars away from the city's levy system, and into the pockets of special interests, our leaders sealed the fate of over 1,800 people who died in the resulting flood. Ordinary American taxpayers were left stuck paying for the damages, upwards of $80 billion, and to this date the city has still not fully recovered. Furthermore, our nation was forced to hang its head in shame as the world watched televised images of death and chaos, and our government's disgraceful inability to respond properly to the crisis. Our leaders are also responsible for the man-made disaster which is the ongoing mortgage/credit crisis. At the behest of powerful banks and real estate developers, our leaders enthusiasically demolished laws and regulations which would have prevented an proliferation of risky financial devices, such as subprime mortgages and default credit swaps -- devices which will soon bring world financial markets to their knees. And while our leaders were allowing banks to do what they want, they were drafting tough laws to crack down on "deadbeat dads". This is to say nothing of the horror which is the current war in the Middle East, which has left over 4000 U.S. servicemen dead without any tangible security gains and hundreds of billions spent. Now, with the liklihood of the war widening into Iran and Pakistan, it is clear that divorced dads and non-custodial parents will face more abuses. The more and more our leaders get themselves in a hole, the more they will do do bolster their image by flexing their muscles against boogeymen wherever they can find them. IdealogyEven while our leaders attack the religious ideologies of terrorist groups like the Taliban, our country hums along with repressive, quasi-religious ideologies of its own. Despite many advances in civil rights, our nation is at heart a puritanical nation which resists modernization. In fact, much of our family law legislation is the result of puritanical thought which seeks to punish individuals whose relationships have fallen apart. No one can deny that, for many decades, divorce in the United States carried a certain stigma. And many of the abuses built into in the family law system can rightfully be interpreted as attempts to teach the "immoral" (meaning, those determined responsible for a failed relationship) lifelong lessons. Alimony, or spousal support, is one such abuse which can in no way be justified in modern day society. Since men and women have an equal right to work, there is no reason why one partner of a failed marriage should continue to support another after the marriage is terminated. The only explanation for spousal support is to "teach" people that marriage is not a thing to be taken lightly. In order to pound this message into brains of "offenders" the system dishes out long-running financial burdens. In a like manner, the system blindly denies equal reproductive rights to men. Currently, our government has not come up with one sound justification for denying men reproductive rights, while allowing women to abort fetuses and give up children for adoption as they see fit. The ideology behind this system, however, is beginning to collapse. Thanks to the gay and lesbian community, we are beginning to question not only what a "marriage" or a "family" really is, but also who makes these determinations. Around the nation, we are beginning to propositions to either ban gay marriage or to make it legal. And in places where bans have been imposed by the will of voters, the gay and lesbian community has come out hard against "majority rule". As this battle unfolds, divorced dads and non-custodial parents should seize the moment and demand their rights too. We should no longer allowed ourselves to be shackled by outdated ideologies which seek to punish "wrongdoers" at the expense of civil and human rights, and the happiness of individuals. MoralsSection under construction. Gender StereotypingSection under construction. Fiscal ConcernsSection under construction. RacismIt is human nature for groups to single out minorities and to subject them to harsh treatment. But as we evolve, we learn to put down our darker instincts in order to form a more compassionate society. As barriers fall and we begin to treat one another as equals, it becomes harder for those prone to hate to unleash their venom on minorities. Unfortunately, there are always areas where hate finds a safe haven for itself in our society. And the family law system is just such a place. When our leaders abuse divorced dads and non-custodial parents, they usually justify their acts by saying that they really wish to address the "problem of absent fathers in the inner city". These are really just code words which mean: "we will control the reproductive rights of poor, Afro-American men." When politicians speak like this, they are really reaching out to the darker instincts of America's white majority to gain approval for using divorced dads and non-custodial parents as punching bags. When Americans take the bait, there are a number negative effects on society. First, underlying racist tendencies are fueled and encouraged. Second, Americans mistakenly believe that they've improved society while what they've really done is given their corrupt leaders license to mismanage society. And third, they allow government abuses to flourish against an entire segment of society which spans all races, ethnicities, religions, and genders. Notice how our leaders never rail against absent fathers in well-to-do, white suburbs; here it is perfectly AOK for children to alienated from their fathers by sole custody orders or the refusal of custodial mothers to obey visitation orders. And notice too how our leaders never look into the root causes of absent fathers in the inner cities. Never do they rail against minimum wage jobs which push inner city men into hopelessness and crime. Never do they address poor housing conditions which cause tension within families. Never do they address the scourge of illegal immigration which drains inner cities of resources and employment opportunities which could help young inner city men find dignity as the path to true fatherhood. Our leaders do not wish to talk about such things because they are not in the interest of the wealthy and powerful who they represent. Instead, they choose racism as a reliable tool to divide and distract the electorate from the real issues. Failure of Divorced Dads & Non-Custodial Parents to OrganizeDivorced dads and non-custodial parents are partially to blame for the widespread abuses they face due to their inability to organize themselves into a potent political fighting force. Unlike radical feminists (with groups like N.O.W.), divorced dads and non-custodial parents have no group to represent them or to fight for their rights in an aggressive, militant fashion. Instead of directly confronting the government, divorced dads and non-custodial parents spend too much time trying to comfort one another with support groups, or waste energies on legal clinics which play by the rules of our biased court system. And then there is the cottage industry of websites which promote self-help manuals for surviving divorce, or calculating child support payments, or spending quality time with your children. Divorced dads and non-custodial parents must learn that nothing will change unless they get active -- truly active -- by seeking one another out, banding together, and carrying out loud protest operations similar to those mounted by radical feminists and the gay and lesbian community. We certainly have the numbers, but we must only find the will to become more militant, and to stand up to an abusive government like brave Americans. HypocrisySection under construction. Foreign PolicySection under construction. Economic PolicySection under construction. Social EngineeringSection under construction. Reforming the SystemSection under construction.
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ABOUT NCP FORCE! (Non-Custodial Parents Force) Our organization is a non-profit, grassroots action organization dedicated to reforming America's family law system. While we frequently refer to divorced fathers, who overwhelmingly bear the brunt of abuses in the family law system, we champion the cause of all non-custodial parents, be they unwed fathers, non-custodial mothers, grandparents, or assigned parentage fathers (men who are held responsible for parentage despite the fact that they are not biological fathers). Unlike many other family law websites which claim to help divorced dads and NCP's, we will never ask our visitors for money or donations. We also do not charge for, or offer legal services. Instead we provide a virtual base of operations, forum, and information clearing house for visitors to help themselves free of charge. Learn more about joining the NCP Force! It's free and no personal questions will be asked unless you wish to share your family law experiences with us. |
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Copyright 2007, NCP Force! (Non-Custodial Parent FORCE!) |
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