Divorced Fathers Press for Greater Custody Rights

About 75 people crammed a legislative hearing room to discuss the bill that would make changes to state child custody laws.

Representative Dave Bickford of New Durham is sponsoring the measure.

He says he crafted it because fathers have parental rights and responsibilities in marriage, and that shouldn't end with divorce.
well, the thing is, what happens to them when you go into court? where do they go? do they disappear or something? of course not. and this says that they are there and they are intact.

Bickford's bill would require the courts to give each parent equal custodial rights.

That 50-50 notion was popular with many men in the audience.

One who testified was David Amico, a divorced father of two small children.

He says his divorce decree has drastically reduced his time with his kids.
they don't get to see their dad. they see their dad six or seven times a month. i would like to see them half of the time. you know, just half of the time.

Opponents of Bickford's bill called it wrong headed.

Their problem centers on the measure's instruction to the court that every divorce involving children should start with the presumption that both parents should get equal custodial time.

Nina Gardner is the chairwoman of New Hampshire's Family Law Task Force.
this bill sets a standard that treats all families alike. we endorse the concept that each family, reconfiguring comes from what it was and goes to what it needs to be. and that does not necessarily need to be a conscript based upon a presumption.

Other critics of the Bickford bill said they agreed with the sponsor that many divorced fathers should have greater say over their children's lives.

John Cameron is a Laconia attorney who has a family law practice.

He says despite his agreement, the bill has a flaw that is present in much of the state's family law system.

And he says many attorneys, parents, and even judges share that flaw.

Cameron says they all focus too much on parents, and not enough on children.
we have to take the idea that a child is prize to be contested over...out of our culture and we have to allow the parents to continue being parents on an ongoing basis.

Many people who wanted to testify at the hearing didn't get the chance, because time ran out.

The committee has announced it will continue the hearing next Tuesday.