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HOT
Projects !!!
· COPS
Chat
As part of the COPS revival, COPS will resume holding moderated
chat discussions directed to Family Law reform topics. Please read our invitation letter here.
· Judicial
Accountability Project
As part of the COPS revival, COPS plans to expand the
San Diego chapter’s Judicial Accountability Project. More to come.
· 2007 VAWA Grants
The Department of Justice awards grants under the
Violence Against Women Act. Although the titles are blatantly
misleading, these grants are for victims of domestic violence regardless of
the victims sex as required by federal law.
Of particular interest are
1) FY 2007 Enhanced
Training and Services to End Violence and Abuse of Women Later in Life
Program
(Elder abuse)
Award Amounts:
Selected projects will receive up
to $450,000 for 36 months,
Deadlines:
Letters of intent to apply should
be submitted by January 17, 2007.
All applications are due by 8:00
p.m. E.S.T. on February 7, 2007.
2) FY 2007 Safe
Havens: Supervised Visitation and Safe Exchange Grant Program
(Supervised exchange facilities)
Award Amounts:
Sample project budget: $350,000 /
2 yrs,
Deadlines:
Letters of intent to apply should
be submitted by Tuesday, January 23, 2007
All applications are due by 8:00
p.m. E.S.T. on Tuesday, February 13, 2007
3) FY 2007 Legal Assistance for
Victims Grant Program
(Legal aid)
Award Amounts:
Selected projects will receive up
to $450,000 to $850,000 for 24 months,
Deadlines:
Letters of intent to apply should
be submitted by January 10, 2007
All applications are due by 8:00
p.m. E.S.T. on January 24, 2007.
4) FY 2007 Rural Domestic
Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, Stalking, and Child Abuse
Enforcement Assistance Program
(Rural services)
Award Amounts:
Local and state agencies and
tribal governments serving fewer than 5 rural counties will be eligible to
receive up to $500,000. Multi-jurisdiction, multi-state, and tribal
consortium projects will be eligible to receive up to $900,000.
(Multi-jurisdictional projects are those that propose to serve 5 or more
rural counties.).
Deadlines:
Letters of intent to apply should
be submitted by January 30, 2007.
All applications are due by 8:00
p.m. E.S.T. on February 15, 2007.
This is an opportunity for entrepreneurial individuals
and organizations to provide a service to the community.
· COPS Mission and Chapters Revival
COPS
The Coalition of Parent Support is state wide, California political advocacy
and education organization for those who believe children do best when they
have a healthy relationship with both their mother and their father. We
believe in joint custody and shared parenting after divorce, accountable and
reasonable levels of child support and individual responsibility.
We sponsor and support legislation that
advances our cause, and participate on panels and task forces at both the
state and the local level that seek to support parent involvement in all
aspects of children's lives. We
expect our members to support our mission by making their voices heard in the
halls of government. We also support the elected officials who stand for
justice, equality and due process of the law, and fight those who don't.
Goals:
1. We
educate the media on accurate portrayals of non-custodial parents and family
law reform.
2. We
sponsor and support legislation that advances the cause of non-custodial
parents and giving divorced children a healthy access to both parents.
3. We
educate legislators and policy makers on family law reform to benefit
divorced children and non custodial families
4. We
support legislators that create a California and United States environment that
encourages non-custodial parents to be involved with their children.
5. We
support California and United States family law that protects the mental and
physical welfare of children.
6. We provide
resources and referrals for non custodial families, parents and children
· 2005
Review of Statewide Uniform Child Support Guideline 2005
The Judicial Council has published its report
reviewing California’s child support Guideline, as required by state and
federal law. This only happens once every four years. The
last review was in 2001, and the next one should be in 2009!
The report concludes that the Guideline accurately
reflects the cost of raising children, and that there is no need for change.
To understand the issue better: Family
Code Sections 4050-4076 cover the Statewide Uniform Guideline. In
particular,
-FC Section 4053 provides the
guiding principles of the Guideline.
-FC Section 4054 provides the
requirements and guiding policies of the four-year review.
The review recommendations must ensure that the
guideline results in appropriate child support orders, to limit deviations
from the guideline, or otherwise to help ensure that the guideline is in
compliance with federal law. Currently, the Guideline is not in
compliance with FC 4053(g), and is deficient with regards to the principles
at FC 4053(b),(c),(d),(f),(j),(l).
The Review was required to include input from various
interested entities, including parent focus groups, before making
recommendations (FC Section 4054(f)). This apparently did not
happen. The Review was also required to seek public comment (FC Section
4054(g)). However, the Judicial Council took a stealthy approach
to meeting this requirement (i.e., only taking public comment for a two week
period, one of which was the week of Christmas, and providing only nominal
notice to the public and no advance notice of the comment period).
COPS has formally protested this practice and
has requested corrective action. Read the COPS response here.
Despite formally requesting to participate in the
review, as required by state law, the Judicial Council has merely attached
the COPS formal request as a comment in an appendix. This does not
comply with enacted state law or due process.
More to come.
· Collaborative Project with Warren Farrell
COPS is beginning discussions with author and social
scientist Warren Farrell, Ph.D. on three judicial biases about moms, dads and
children. Stay tuned for updates
Continuing
Projects
· Fundraising for Legislator Education
California Alliance
for Families and Children (CAFC) is a gender-neutral 501(c)(3)
organization based in Sacramento California, dedicated to the equal rights of
men, women and children within family law. CAFC provides California
policy makers with professional and accurate information regarding family law
issues, providing for balanced and informed debate. CAFC also advocates
for legislative reform and provides personal assistance to victims of the
divorce industry. CAFC has been instrumental in numerous endeavors (some
public, some not) that ultimately will lead to children having access to both
parents instead of one or the other.
–PLEASE VISIT THE CAFC WEBSITE AND MAKE A CONTRIBUTION TODAY-
· Department
of Child Support Services (DCSS) Quarterly Conference Call:
The Department of Child Support Services (DCSS) sponsors a quarterly
conference call directed at providing information to and receiving feedback
from advocates of the various affected groups. On December7, 2006, COPS participated on the call for the third
time. The call continues to be
productive and DCSS was very receptive to COPS concerns.
In particular, DCSS continues to recognize that often child support order are
made too high through default judgments, and result in orders that cannot be
realistically be repaid. In response,
DCSS is looking at ways to reach out to paying parents (obligors) as DCSS has
the role of both establishing and modifying support orders.
DCSS has committed to continue to publicize its Compromise of Arrears Program
(COAP). Also, DCSS has established it Publications
and Public Awareness Workgroup that will take on projects that include making
sure DCSS publications and websites are more “user friendly” to non-custodial
parents. This is still a slow
process, but DCSS has taken a proactive stance and continues to increase its
momentum in the process
The next call is on March 15, 2007.
More to come
Upcoming Events
· Father’s Day 2007 - Mark your calendars
for Sunday, June 17, 2007.
· Equal Parents Week is in
September and is sponsored by the Children’s Rights Council (CRC) –visit
CRC's helpful website for all parents,
married or single
News
· SB1482 (Romero) Child Custody:
This bill is the latest “Move Away” bill. In short, it creates a
“presumptive right” for a custodial parent to move the child away from
his/her other parent, and increases the burden of the other parent to
actually prove the harm that will be done to the child before it actually
happens.
Currently, the courts have recognized that “move-aways” are often done to
keep the child away from the other parent, and are not in the child’s best
interest. In response, recent court decisions have protected the
child’s right to both parents, and the other parent’s right to a relationship
with his/her child, by considering whether the “move-away” is in the child’s
best interest.
SB 1482 seeks to take this ability the consider the child’s best interest
away from the courts, whenever a custodial parent desires to move the child
away from the other parent.
There is substantial opposition for this bill and little support. For
the latest information on this bill, see the GLENN SACKS website or the Alliance for Children Concerned About
Move-Aways website.
· JUNE Primary Elections::
The COPS mission include: legislative reform, education, and parent
support. Accordingly, legislative reform is key to COPS, and
identifying and working with legislators who are the “good guys” is equally
important.
To learn more about the
candidates, the Board of Directors of COPS asked the following questions of
Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Superintendent of Public Instruction (non
partisan) primary candidates from the Peace and Freedom Party, American
Independent Party, Green Party, Libertarian Party, Republican Party (except
Governor) and Democratic Party. the primary. The following
questions were:
What is your feeling on shared parenting?
How do you feel about support guidelines?
What do you feel is the best interest of
the child?
What is your knowledge & interest in
family law issues, and what sort of access would you give organizations
like ours to discuss these issues?
We received only three responses that we
appreciate the acknowledgement of COPS and shared parenting issues in
California from:
Vibert Greene - Democratic Party
candidate for Governor
Michael Strimling - Democratic Party
candidate for Governor
Diane Lenning - Non partisan candidate
for Superintendent of Public Instruction
Because we did not receive responses from all
Governor, Lt. Governor and Superintendent of Public Instruction candidates we
will not make an endorsement during the Primary. We will once again try for
the general election asking all the candidates to respond to a set of
questions to make an endorsement.
· SB
1482 Move-Away Bill Pulled in Face of Huge Opposition
May 9, 2006, [GLENN SACKS]
In the face of over 4,000 opposition calls, letters and faxes, California
Senator Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) has decided to withdraw a bill which
would have granted custodial parents an almost unlimited right to move
children far way from their noncustodial parents. Romero pulled SB 1482 just
before today's scheduled hearing on the bill.
SB 1482 would have weakened if
not abrogated the California Supreme Court's 2004 LaMusga move-away decision,
which affirmed that courts have the power to restrain moves which run counter
to children's best interests.
The bill was supported by a
wide array of feminist groups and state-funded pro-feminist organizations,
including the California National Organization for Women, the California
Commission on the Status of Women, the California Partnership to End Domestic
Violence, the Coalition for Family Equity, Haven Hills, Inc., Marin Abused
Women's Services, Business and Professional Women/USA, the National Council
of Jewish Women Los Angeles, the Santa Clara County Domestic Violence
Advocacy Consortium, and others.
Opposition to the bill and
unrestricted move-aways was led by the Alliance
for Children Concerned About Move-Aways, an advocacy group endorsed
by over 50 mental health and family law professionals, and Michael Robinson
and the California Alliance for Families
and Children (CAFC). Several organizations of family law and mental
health professionals also opposed SB 1482, including the California
Judge's Association, the California Psychological Association, and the State
Bar of California's Family Law Section.
· California
Equal Parenting Ballot Initiative
March 17, 2006, California
Shared Parenting Ballot Initiative (Child Custody. Equal Physical Custody.
Initiative Statute 1156. (SA2005RF0094)) failed to qualify for the 2006
ballot. The organizers of the Initiative are reviewing their Lessons
Learned for a potential second run.
Join
Your membership contributions make our work possible, so please join if you haven't
already.
This page is an overview of media and poltical
treatment of our issues, and a guide to the structure of our organization. If
you are here for the first time, " Who We Are, What
We've Done" is a good place to start.
History The Coalition Of Parent Support was established in
reaction to Senate Bill 370 in July of 1992. To read more about the
COPS history, click here.
To join COPS, please
fill out the online membership
form.
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