Extra Mile Family Media

Fathers & Families fights for equality of parental rights!

Update on Fathers & Families Shared Parenting Bill:

September 16th, 2009 by Ned Holstein, MD, MS, Board Chairman Fathers & Families’ Shared Parenting Bill HB 1400 will be heard this coming Thursday (9/17). Massachusetts is one of the worst states in the country for shared parenting and for fathers, but Fathers & Families has nevertheless made considerable progress there.
This includes:

• Over one-quarter of the Massachusetts Legislature has expressed clear, public support for Fathers & Families’ Shared Parenting Bill, many of them signing on as co-sponsors.
• Fathers & Families gathered thousands of signatures to place shared parenting on the 2004 Massachusetts ballot and led a successful campaign for its passage, winning 86% of the vote.
• Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick told the Legislature that if they pass Fathers & Families’ Shared Parenting, he will sign it.
• Fathers & Families recently met with Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick concerning Shared Parenting and related topics.
• Fathers & Families persuaded the Boston Globe to become first major newspaper in the United States to endorse Shared Parenting in principle in an editorial (Feb 23, 2008).
• Fathers & Families pushed “Shared Parenting ” to the number one issue on the Massachusetts Governor’s website for citizen input.
• Fathers & Families ignited a debate in the Massachusetts Democratic Party over Shared Parenting , leading to a spirited, 40 minute debate on the floor of the 2009 Massachusetts Democratic Party Convention and winning 40% of the Convention’s vote.