Utah prepared to move to equally shared parenting after divorceSALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The House has approved a bill that would give fathers an equal chance with mothers in getting custody of their children during divorce hearings. House Bill 6 gives fathers and mothers equal access to their children during divorce hearings and calls for judges to give both parties equal consideration when assigning custody. Rep. Michael J.S. Thompson, R-Orem, proposed the legislation. The current trend is to give mothers custody, but Thompson said men have an equal right to be with their children. Utah courts have ruled that automatically giving custody to the mother violates the 14th amendment, Thompson said. ''We must accept what the court says,'' he said. ''Children do need both parents.'' The bill passed the house with a 42-26 vote. It now moves to the Senate. www.trib.com/AP/wire_detail.php?wire_num=128905
Vermont Supreme Court Ruling on Parental Alienation> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-acfc@esosoft.com [mailto:owner-acfc@esosoft.com] On Behalf
> Of acfc-l@usa.net
> Sent: Sunday, October 04, 1998 5:16 AM
> To: "undisclosed-recipients:;;;"@esosoft.com;
> Subject: ACFC: Good VT parental alienation cite
>
>
> Thanks to Tim Barden for sending us the following.
>
> ACFC
>
> ++++++++++++++++
>
> The following link will bring you to a recent Vermont Supreme Court
> ruling in which a non custodial parent appealed a lower
> courts decision
> that awarded custody to her children's father. The lower court ruling
> was based upon the children's estrangement from their mother,
> notwithstanding the court's express finding that the most significant
> cause of the estrangement had been a constant poisoning of the
> relationship by father, in other words "Parental Alienation"
>
> The Supreme court reversed the lower court decision and the case was
> remanded for reconsideration of parental rights and
> responsibilities.
>
> If your children are victims of this type of behavior on the part of a
> parent, you need to bring this case to the attention of your attorney.
>
http://web.archive.org/web/19990504235243/http://dol.state.vt.us/gopher_root3/supct/current/97-334.op
Subject: ACFC: Does DCSE help enforce visitation?
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1998 00:34:51 -0600 (MDT)
From: acfc-l@usa.net Thanks to James Semerad for sending us the following. ACFC ++++++++++++++++ FYI: FPLS Requests for Enforcing Child Custody or Visitation Federal law does not permit a noncustodial parent to directly submit a request either to the IV-D agency's State Parent Locator Service (SPLS) or to the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) for purposes of enforcing child custody or visitation. However, the IV-D agency should advise noncustodial parents about the proper steps for submitting such requests for FPLS information. A noncustodial parent may request that an appropriate state official, who is an "authorized person" within the meaning of the statute, submit the request to the FPLS via the SPLS, provided that the state has a law that empowers the official to act on behalf of the state to enforce a child custody or visitation determination. The noncustodial parent may also petition a court with proper jurisdiction to submit the request to the FPLS via the SPLS on his or her behalf. A private attorney is not considered to be an agent of the court for the purposes of the statutory definition of "authorized person." If you would like further information, contact OCSE's Anne Benson at (202) 401-1467. For more information http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cse/
Jim Semerad
Lake Orion, MI | 
