Center for Parental Responsibility (CPR)
WEEKLY
UPDATE (A Few Highlights):
Website:
cpr-mn.org Email contact: info@cpr-mn.org Voicemail:
651/490-9277
“If it is to be, it’s up to me!” - Your input and participation
is needed for reform
PLEASE forward this email to anyone you know
who is interested in family law reform!
Psalm 55: 1-17 “Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide
not thyself from my trouble! Attend to me, and answer
me; I am overcome by my trouble. I am distraught by the noise of the enemy,
because of the oppression of the wicked. For they bring
trouble upon me, and in anger they cherish strife against me. My heart
is in anguish … Oh Lord, destroy their plans and
confuse their tongues … But I will call upon God, and the Lord will save me;
evening and morning I utter my prayers and He will hear my voice.”
CPR Weekly Update Summary – (what’s included below)
1) NEXT GENERAL CPR MEETING Sunday August 15th, Speaker Topic: “Pursing the best interest of children.” NOTE CHANGE IN LOCATION.
a.
All attendees are
eligible for DRAWING FOR FREE TWINS TICKETS
good through
2) Write YOUR STORY – do you have an egregious unfair family court story to tell?
3) Article: Evidence needed for murderers, but no evidence needed to strip dads of custody.
4)
5) NEW
CPR SUPPORT GROUP beginning
6) CPR gets MEDIA COVERAGE at the Veterans Stand-down
7) Do you want support at your upcoming court hearing? Provide information and COURT WATCH volunteers available.
8) National TV program “Dr. Phil” wants the story on your CUSTODY BATTLE
9) REPEAT
REMINDER: FREE Activity for fathers and
children, Saturday August 14, noon-
10) Your Success Stories
UPCOMING CPR
GENERAL SUNDAY
NIGHT MEETING –
Sunday August 15
- FREE
Another
great speaker is planned. Last month, the meeting was quite “lively” as we
heard and discussed many examples of biased judges, evaluators who “missed”
that the “custodial” mother was a drug addict, and
problems when the other parent alienates your children from you. Expect an
informative meeting and lively discussion again at our FREE public open meeting
this month:
Meeting
Date:
Speaker: Kit Thomas, Licensed Psychologist
Topic: Pursuing the Best Interest of
Children – a bold and creative look at post decree arbitration and mediation to
protect alienated children
Arrive:
GUEST SPEAKER BEGINS promptly at
Meeting
Time:
(Title IV-D is the federal welfare service
program for Child Support Enforcement and Collections for deadbeats – which you
don’t want to be erroneously labeled. Custody matters are of paramount concern
for parents who want to be fully involved in the lives of their children).
CHANGE IN Meeting
Location: Normally we meet at William Mitchell College of Law (
Directions: Hwy 94 to Dale. Take Dale South
to
FREE POP, FOOD AND SNACKS ARE PROVIDED.
YOUR ACTION ITEM:
1)
Please
SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THE Sunday August
15 MEETING – forward this email to others and bring other friends who have
experienced tragedies with the family law system. Bring girlfriends,
grandparents – anyone who has experienced the impact of the unfair family court
system and the unforgiving and oppressive child support system.
2)
Please
PRINT this email, so you remember
that there is a SLIGHT CHANGE IN
LOCATION for the CPR Sunday meeting which has been changed to directly east
across the street of the law school at the Assembly of God Church education
building in their parking lot. (It will be obvious)
3)
If
you can, bring a bag of candy or fruit or some snack to add to the food table (not required) – if there are
leftovers, be sure to take what you brought back home with you! What ever
little food/candy item you can add to the food table is appreciated by all
since we meet during the dinner hour.
4)
The
meeting takes a lot of volunteers to pull it all together, if you are
interested in helping, let us know by email at info@cpr-mn.org.
We need people to help make phone call reminders, do a short 2-3 minute
devotion/inspirational thought, sit at registration table, greet people,
briefly share your testimony how CPR has helped you, etc.
WRITE YOUR STORY!
IN ORDER
TO ENSURE CHANGE, YOU MUST TELL PEOPLE OF THE TRADEGY. We NEED people to write
their stories – especially egregious cases where one parent has been unfairly
robbed of physical custody, when that FIT parent (you) wanted to continue the
responsibility of joint physical custody, if there has been unwarranted
government intrusion overseeing your case, or if you have been financially
devastated with no place to live while your ex buys new SUV’s and goes on
expensive vacations. KEY: communicate how all this has negatively impacted not
only you but your children.
WHY do
we need stories:
1)
help
you communicate with your judge
2)
potential
class action law suit through CPR
3)
to create an arsenal of stories to prove to legislators that there
really is a problem and the law must change to protect families and eliminate
the removal of one parent and reduce judicial discretion.
4)
to
peek media interest
KEY:
write in chronological order and start with a long version; making it your goal
to summarize your story to two pages or neither the judge, legislators,
or the media will read it.
CPR has a
brochure to help you know how to write your story. Please email us for the
brochure if you would like. If you think you are not a good writer, but you
want to share your story, CPR also has volunteers available to help you write
your story. Email us at info@cpr-mn.org if
you have a story to share. Try to write as much as you can and we will help you
fill in the blanks or organize it. We’ll work with a draft, an audio tape of
you telling the story, or interview you over the telephone.
YOUR ACTION ITEM:
1)
Email
CPR YOUR STORY at info@cpr-mn.org if: a) you
have an egregious personal story to share the devastation and unfairness of
what happened to you in your divorce and the negative impact it had on your
children, or b) you want the CPR brochure on how to write your story, or c) you
want a CPR volunteer writer to work with you to help you write your story.
2)
In
the EMAIL, to help us organize the stories, in the email SUBJECT LINE of the email, write: MY
STORY – then your name.
ARTICLE: Evidence
needed for murderers,
but no evidence
needed to strip dad of custody
A newspaper
article “Murder conviction revered by
Justices,” in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on
This
struck me as more evidence of the bias in family court. I wish the courts would
similarly find that “while it is possible
that the parents can’t co-parent their children, the evidence at trial was
insufficient to establish a connection between the parents dislike for each
other and their ability to co-parent their child.” Here, in the above
article, a murderer can get away with murder because there was a lack of
evidence to prove it, but in family court, a
dad’s right to parent his child can be stripped without ANY evidence that contact with the child would be harmful.
Does that frustrate you? As you know, when the reverse is true, i.e. when a
parent wants to challenge the custody decision, and regain joint physical
custody, it is impossible to switch custody unless the high standard of harm
and endangerment is met, so why isn’t the standard the same at the time of
divorce? No child should be taken from either parent at the time of divorce.
The Joint
Physical Custody committee continues to work on their legislation and gain
interest and momentum for a bill in 2005 that would require a presumption of
joint physical custody. We’ll keep you posted.
YOUR ACTION ITEM:
1)
A
fabulous article titled PARENTAL RIGHTS And DUE PROCESS, on why fit
parents should not be stripped of physical custody is available on line: http://familyrightsassociation.com/bin/white_papers-articles/parental_rights_and_due_process.htm
2)
See
the information regarding the
SIGN UP NOW!
The custody committee has developed an
online petition to mobilize the grass roots effort and develop the critical
mass needed to assure legislators that Joint Physical Custody is in the best
interest of
YOUR ACTION ITEM:
1)
Sign the online petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/jpcmn/petition.html
2)
Forward the petition to other concerned
SUPPORT GROUP FOR NON-CUSTODIAL PARENTS
When: 2nd/4th
Monday starting
Where:
Time:
Non-custodial parents (NCP) are most often dads. NCPs have specific needs and unique and often overwhelming
challenges, which cause hurt, disappointment and frustration, especially when
they lose all rights to their children and are limited in how often they can
even “visit” their children. Most NCPs lost rights to
their children even though they have never been found unfit. Most NCPs thought they were doing the right thing by cooperating
with a “traditional” visitation schedule and being willing to accept the label
of NCP, having no idea what parental rights they would lose with that label. If
you experience alienation from your children; if you are struggling with an
uncooperative ex; if you are financially devastated by support payments that
exceed your ability to pay, or just want to understand how to co-parent better,
the NEW support group for non-custodial parents may help you.
This forum gives you an opportunity to share your
story with others in same/similar circumstances and get advice from others who
have been through the same thing. The Sunday night educational meetings don’t
offer an opportunity to have a group discussion on everyone’s story. The
support group will have more time for this. It also gives you an opportunity to
find out what went on at the Sunday Night CPR meeting if you are unable to
attend those nights.
Please join us. A volunteer from the Center for
Parental Responsibility (www.cpr-mn.org)
will facilitate the meetings and offer educational information, hope, and
strength to help guide you to solutions that will remove the obstacles that
prevent you from being fully involved in the lives of your child(ren) and able to self-sustain as well as provide for your
children with more dignity as a parent. If you have experience with similar
groups, please volunteer as a co-facilitator. For more information about the
group, call or email Randy at starrman@hotmail.com
YOUR ACTION ITEM:
1)
Spread the word about the support group – attend if you can.
2)
Offer
suggestions and help us develop the
support group into the kind of meeting that is helpful to YOU.
MEDIA COVERAGE at the Veterans
Stand-down
On
Many TV stations
covered the Mpls Stand-down, but Channel 4 WCCO had a
clip of the CPR booth and volunteers. (Thanks to CPR member B.S. who saw it and
told us!)
YOUR ACTION ITEM:
1)
If
you saw the piece, email channel 4, WCCO, tell them you saw the Center for
Parental Responsibility on their piece on the Minneapolis Stand-down and ask
them to provide more stories about CPR and what they are doing to protect
parents when their kids are alienated from them.
COURT WATCH
CPR provides volunteers who will attend your court hearing with you for moral support. We can’t and don’t provide legal advice, but we are there as observers and supporters. It makes a difference when you are not there alone. It sends a message to the judge that you have a support system who believes in you and that the public is watching their decision. Court can be overwhelming and it always helps to get someone else’s perspective on what happened, and obtain their suggestions afterwards – whether you have an attorney or not.
YOUR ACTION ITEM:
1. If you want a CPR volunteer(s) to attend your court hearing with you, provide us the following information via email at info@cpr-mn.org and we will put it on our website and call for volunteers. Please provide the following details:
a.
Your
name
b.
County
where hearing will take place
c.
Court
Date
d.
Time
of hearing
e.
Issue:
for example, modification of child
support, temporary hearing for custody, contempt of court, allegations of abuse, OFP, etc
f.
Judge/Referee or Magistrate (if
you know this information)
Dr. Phil Wants Your Story
After you have completed the above number #2 (WRITE YOUR
STORY), you will have what
Dr. Phil is looking for and you could potentially be selected to tell your
story on national TV – why not!!?? It’s great exposure about the problem! When
you finish writing your story, contact the Dr Phil Show!
Divorcing? Locked in Bitter Custody
The Dr. Phil show is looking for parents involved in a bitter
custody dispute. Are you in a daily battle with your ex over your children?
Have you been falsely accused of physical or sexual abuse or already lost
visitation over a false allegation? Feel like you can’t compete with your
spouse’s high priced legal team? Afraid of losing your
children forever? If you feel that your children are suffering in your
nasty custody battle, you want help from Dr. Phil and ARE ALL WILLING TO APPEAR
ON THE SHOW, email your story.
YOUR ACTION ITEM:
1)
Contact the show through Dr. Phil's web site at http://www.drphil.com/index.jhtml
2)
See Dr Phil’s Page for Custody Battles at https://www.drphil.com/drphilplugger/templates/BeOnTheShow.jhtml?action=respond&plugId=D121500006
A FREE ACTIVITY FOR YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN.
MFFN
(Minnesota Fathers and Families Network) is holding a festival full of
activities on
YOUR ACTION ITEM:
1)
See
link to the flyer on their website for details… http://www.mnfathers.org/documents/FestivalFlyer2004.pdf
SUCCESS STORIES:
¨
NCP
J.J. who’s story is on the www.abuseofdiscretion.com
website, had a terrible decision by Referee Earl Beddow
in
¨
NCP
D.K. is filing a lawsuit for unwarranted intervention in a private settlement
in a non-welfare family court action.
¨
Have
you had success stories? Let us know so we can report them and encourage other NCPs.
SPECIAL NOTE regarding this weekly update:
SPREAD THE WORD: PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL ALONG TO ANY NON-CUSTODIAL
PARENT or ANYONE else who is concerned
for the non-custodial parent, and the negative
impact on the children that comes from bad discriminatory legislation,
nasty case workers who treat you like a criminal, and unfair &
bias judicial practice impressed upon the fractured family. Those
interested and affected include: children of divorce or out-of-wedlock birth,
non-custodial parents, second wife, grandparents, girlfriends, employers, etc).
WE NEED NAMES: WE are EAGER to add the names to our email list of all citizens who
are AFFECTED OR INTERESTED IN HELPING TO
REFORM FAMILY LAW AND ANY NON-CUSTODIAL PARENT NEEDING ASSISTANCE IN THEIR
FAMILY LAW CASE. We do the best we can to help with the limited volunteer
resources we have. CPR does not provide legal advice, but rather information
that can help guide you to better outcomes as you battle the bias of the
government system.
WE NEED HELP: WE WELCOME YOUR PARTICIPATION AND WE NEED
ALL INTERESTED NAMES so AS A GROUP OF CONCERNED CITIZENS we can ORGANIZE AND MOBILIZE (like Martin Luther King Jr did!) to
prove to legislators that these family law issues matter to their constituents,
and TO ACHIEVE THE GRASS
ROOTS PUSH needed to DRIVE the MUCH NEEDED Family Law REFORM
to encourage EQUAL PROTECTION for both parents and their children, because
parents made the best decisions for their children, NOT the government.
Please forward names to CPR
of other citizens interested in these issues. We want to add them to our list
to keep people informed and show legislators there is a LONG list of effected
and interested people in
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