We recognize that there are serious breakdowns in our
justice system which have adversely affected unmarried parents and their
children for decades. Some of the most fundamental and prevalent of these
breakdowns are: failure of courts to thoroughly and objectively scrutinize
custody issues, resulting in custody determinations which are detrimental to
children; lack of court intervention to eliminate and prevent obstruction of
co-parenting of and access to children; legislation and enforcement of child
support laws which result in failure to require some parents to support their
children, while requiring other parents to pay levels of child support which
are unaffordable. These and related problems originate from a misperception
which prevails throughout society and our justice system: unmarried
parents are not given equal status as parents.
These are not partisan or political issues. We advocate equity and equality
of umarried parents in furtherance of a genuine focus on the needs and rights
of children and in recognition of this fundamental truth: issues that
adversely affect a parent's ability to raise and nurture their children
adversely affect children. Society's perception of unmarried parents and their
roles must change to realize the needs of children cannot be fully and
adequately met unless unmarried parents share equal rights and responsibility
in raising their children. We promote the right of children to continue to
receive the same access to both parents that is acknowledged and sanctioned in
families with married parents, recognizing that a divorced family is still a
family, and that family values often cannot survive when broken families
disintegrate from the loss of a parent and perpetuation of parental
irresponsibility and abuse.
There are numerous and complex issues which are generated by these
breakdowns in our justice system. While each organization joining in this event
focuses on certain issues, our focuses address a common objective:
eliminating barriers and inequities in our justice system which deprive
unmarried parents and their children of the civil rights that protect them
individually and their right to exist and function as a family.
The goal of this important event is to gain
public recognition of these urgent social issues, gain public support for
critically needed reform, and, most importantly, to call attention to the
reason why our system must be reformed: our love for our children, and the
desparate need of our children to have both parents meaningfully involved in
their lives.