The Illinois House Legislature is now considering a bill (HB4113) for shared/equal parenting, where both parents are presumed to be equals. Illinois is sixth largest state in the country. It’s been getting national press, such as in The Washington Post and NPR.
As unbelievable as it sounds, most current state custody laws still consider one parent (the father) less equal (inferior) compared to the mother.
Mothers are awarded custodial parent rights and the majority of possession time in almost all child custody cases nationwide, upwards of 85% of the time, according to US Census Bureau.
Some states have recently changed their laws (Kentucky) to presume parental equality, but the fight continues elsewhere, with 30+ other states with pending legislation. The group that opposes equality are the family lawyers and its institutions who derive income from inciting parental custody litigation fights and benefit from its destructive financial nature.
It’s estimated family law is a $50B ($50,000,000,000) billion dollar a year business for the lawyers. All that money comes from parents pockets and the children’s financial futures.
Child psychologists nationwide support 50/50 possession equality as being ‘best’ for children.
The Illinois Fathers for Equality Facebook page has a video of a family psychologist starting at minute 8:00 about this very issue:
“Kids are bonded to both parents … They don’t like being forced into being put into a position where one parent is considered less equal than the other … it’s a very divisive thing …. lawyers like to ‘opine’ and offer ‘opinions’ about children but they don’t have any evidence. Why are they the ones we rely upon to offer evidence? They can’t give us any clinical evidence. There are hundreds of clinical research papers showing 50/50 equality is best for children. ” – Dr. Jim Bedell, clinical psychologist
We all have a vested interest in supporting shared parenting equality: ALL parents, grandparents, extended family, siblings, friends, spouses and supporters with common goals in mind. Those goals benefit our children and ultimately our society as a whole.