NFJA To Sponsor Rally/March Re Child Support: Creates Community Liaison Program Nationwide
| National Family Justice Association (NFJA) | News Release |
| Midwest Regional Office - Detroit |
Contact: Jane Spies - (330) 534-8948
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NFJA To Sponsor Rally/March Re Child Support: Creates Community Liaison Program Nationwide
"Child support is both emotional and financial. To illustrate how the current system is not working properly and has gone awry, we are raising public awareness of 2 cases that we believe illustrate both sides of the same coin. We believe these cases are representative of countless other similar situations," said Jane Spies, M.S. Ed., NFJA Executive Director.
First we have the story of Steve Barreras. Steve was declared a legal dad, but despite his and his wife's, Shelly Barreras', insistence for 5 years that he was not a dad and there was no child, he was forced by the system to support - to the tune of $20,000 - a "child" or face the threat of jail time or other punitive measures. It was later confirmed that the "child" was indeed declared non-existent by an Albuquerque judge.
On the other hand we have Mark Huddleston. Mark is a dad who can prove by DNA testing that he is a dad, he wants to support his biological son, yet, against Mark's will, the system declared him not the dad. The judge ordered that his son should stay with a couple who want to adopt him. Despite Mark's valiant efforts to be in his beloved child's life, so far, the system forces him to be a stranger to his own child with absolutely no rights to his own offspring.
What is wrong with this picture?
NFJA says that the basis of both of these cases, is a damaging and pervasive negative stereotype that paints men and fathers as uncaring, runaway, absent or so-called "deadbeat dads," while social services agencies prioritize revenue generation over constitutional rights.
Unfortunately, as unusual as these 2 stories sound, they are not atypical.
"Child support is very much in the news these days, but unfortunately, the whole story is frequently not told or known. Misinformation or partial information often abound. A lot of what is wrong with the system is that noncustodial parents, mostly fathers, have been subjected to damaging negative stereotypes that have led to bad social policies. We believe that the system, as it currently stands, is rife with error and questionable, unjust practices that hurt children, families - men and women," said Murray Davis, NFJA Board President.
NFJA says part of the solution is to remind society that men love their children equally as much as women do. Children need both their parents and love their fathers equally as much as their mothers. NFJA is creating the "NFJA Community Liaison Program," where its goal is to have volunteer liaisons and grassroots groups in every county nationwide to help spread this message and to find effective, positive solutions to the problem of rampant family breakdown and how to stop and reverse it.
The March/Rally to support Mark and Steve and others in similar situations is planned for fall, 2005. To get involved in the March/Rally or the NFJA Community Liaison Program please see www.NFJA.org and/or contact the National Family Justice Association (NFJA) at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..