My Story
I have two daughters, a step-son and a step-daughter. I love them all and despite the obstacles caused by parental alienation they inspire me to be the best dad I can be.
Since May 2005 I have been striving to gain equal time with my daughters by exercising the ‘Joint Legal and Physical Custody’ so wisely spelled out in my original ‘Judgment of Dissolution’. Equal Time that is guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and supported by numerous Supreme Court decisions. “The interest of parents in their relationship with their children is sufficiently fundamental to come within the finite class of liberty interest protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.” Since starting this endeavor our Fourteenth, Fourth and First Amendment Rights have been trampled.
I have followed the advice of marriage and family counselors, attorneys, friends and my loving family. I have relocated twice for the sole purpose of being closer to my daughters to provide stability and support. My daughters and I enjoyed increased time together before their mother moved them away. I sought an injunctive order to preempt her move and was denied. I have submitted multiple ‘Orders to Show Cause’, ‘Declarations’, and ‘Custody Sharing Arrangements’. Each asking the court to take action giving me equal time to parent my children. We have been put through the Evidence Code 730 Evaluation process; called upon all the resources of my supportive family, sought out the advice and opinions of expert witnesses, and spent countless amounts of time and energy, all, to no avail. It would seem that my efforts have fallen on the ears of a deaf court system and I now have significantly less time with my girls than when I started. What I do have, is a court decision that rather than answer any of my questions or concerns, seeks to further delay a decision until August 2007, opening the door for more extended litigation and undo trauma to my daughters.
Today, I am held hostage by our legal system and forced to sit back and watch the relationship with my daughter’s forcibly destroyed. My daughters have already lost two years of irreplaceable fatherhood and have suffered irreparable injury and harm.
“The impact these judicial decisions have on the lives of all concerned cannot be overestimated. Childhood passes rapidly and it quickly becomes too late to un-ring the bell. Expanded visitation or joint custody may seem unimportant, but only to those who have never experienced the hollow time of forced separation. No human bond is of greater strength than that of parent and child.”
Michelle W. v. Ronald W., 39 Cal. 3d354 (1985)
All I want is to be the best Dad I can be. To love and support my children and family and to enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I will not give up my inalienable right to be a parent; to the care, custody, control and companionship of my offspring.