Dads fight for child custody: Advocacy group puts shared parenting on some ballots

The Patriot Ledger
Jessica Fargen
July 26, 2004

Fathers & Families, a father advocacy group based in Boston, is pushing for a non-binding ballot question aimed at granting equal time with children to parents, sometimes called shared parenting. Fathers & Families believes that there is inherent bias against fathers in divorce proceedings, with mothers typically being granted custody and fathers granted visitation rights. The question instructs representatives to vote for bills requiring judges to award equal custody unless there is evidence of abuse or neglect. Monica Driggers, a researcher at the Wellesley Centers for Women, warns that the ballot question takes away judicial discretion. “Here we are taking away from the ability of Family Court judges to really mold custody arrangements to the case of the particular family.”

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