The SPC is pleased that the Commission has addressed several of the
challenges facing the family judicial system in Connecticut. The Commission’s
draft constitutes a set of general principles that will provide excellent
guidance for future debate on shared parenting in Connecticut.
My purpose today is to offer some specific suggestions for
improving the draft. By making the draft more specific, the Commission will
help to shape legislative action:
1. In the vast majority of cases, equal parenting time
and responsibility is the best outcome for children. In this way, the children
can have a female role model and a male role model. Research proves that
strongly unbalanced parenting plans often lead to bad outcomes in terms of
school performance, social adjustment, truancy, delinquency, substance abuse
and other measures.
2. The Commission should affirm the importance of shared
parenting by stating that a presumption of substantially equal parenting time
and responsibility begins at the time of separation, often prior to any formal
Court proceedings.
a. This presumption should be prominently posted in
family court, posted on the judicial website, and a statement to this effect
should be handed to those pro se parties presenting themselves to the
clerk of the Court.
b. This presumption should be written into the practice
book so that lawyers are bound to present this information to their clients.
c. When family service evaluators first address a new
custody case, they should be directed to begin with the presumption of equal
parenting time and responsibility.
d. Proven cases of violence or abuse will constitute an
exception to this presumption.
Mission: Our mission is to obtain
the presumption of equal parenting opportunities before the law regardless of
gender. The SPC is working to change the judicial system so as to better serve
children’s best interests.
Vision: The family court system awarding and enforcing for
children the right to have both parents actively involved in their lives.
Children retain good relationships with mother and father. Children can have a
male role model, a female role model.
3. The Commission should affirm that parenting plans for
schedules and responsibilities follow the specific guidelines laid out in the
SPC’s Proposed Legislation, available at: http://www.sharedparentinginc.org/.
Most importantly, the judicial system should emphasize the common interests
that both parents share in their children:
a. Actively encourage substantial and continuing
involvement for both parents by offering model parenting plans: 30-70, 40-60
and 50-50 plans should be offered, with several models for shared decision
making responsibility.
b. In contested cases, the Court can award sole legal
custody only when one parent is unable to perform substantial parental duties,
or when the parents are unable to cooperate. But, the Court may not award
custody to the party that unreasonably refuses to cooperate with the other
parent.
c. The amount and quality of
time that each parent has spent with the child in the past, any necessary
changes to the parents' custodial roles and any reasonable life-style changes
that a parent proposes to make to be able to spend time with the child in the
future.
d. Proven cases of violence or abuse will constitute an
exception to this presumption.
4. Reduce the level of conflict by requiring mediation
early in the process: Most legal motions should be postponed until after
required mediation.
a. Mediation should promote peaceful resolution of
custody cases, following the guidelines laid down in the SPC’s proposed
legislation.
b. Attorney’s representing the opposing sides should be
specifically excluded from the mediation process.
c. A summary of the results from mediation should be
forwarded to the Court, to be considered along with all the other evidence.
d. If parents cannot reach agreement the first time
through a mediation process, then the Court should have the option of making a
second pass binding on all parties.
5. The Commission should recommend a specific
administrative process, utilizing trained professionals, to determine when
allegations of abuse or violence are real and when they are false.
a. If real, the involvement of the abusing or violent
party with the family should be severely curtailed, as under current law and
practice.
b. If false, the involvement of the falsely accusing
party with the family should be severely curtailed: False allegations should be
confronted as a heinous abuse of the parent-child relationship and of the legal
system.
6. The Commission should discourage long-distance
relocation of children by requiring that the relocating party show that the
other parent can maintain his or her current relationship with the children.