Regarding: An Act to add Family Code Section 3050-3055 concerning Equal Parenting (the ACT can be read and is incorporated within this petition at http://tinyurl.com/56byje THIS PETITION to the California Legislature is to pass an Act to add Family Code Section 3050-3055 all relating to Equal Parenting; custody of children after divorce; providing certain rebuttable presumptions concerning custody; adding procedures and criteria relating to determining the custody of children; addressing relocation of parents; addressing certain tax implications; and including contempt provisions. We, the undersigned petitioners, demand that the California Legislature pass a bill to add Section 3050-3055 to the Family Code, all relating to an Equal Parenting Act; custody of children after divorce; providing certain rebuttable presumptions concerning custody; adding procedures and criteria relating to determining the custody of children; addressing relocation of parents; addressing certain tax implications; and including contempt provisions. 1. WHEREAS Children who have equal amounts of exposure with both parents do best psychologically, academically, socially, and physically; 2. WHEREAS a recent survey by the National Academy of Sciences has shown that divorce hurts the environment by adding households and increasing utility and water usage; 3. WHEREAS a policy of equal parenting would substantially cut the number of move-aways, thereby reducing transportation costs and thus helping the environment; 4. WHEREAS the US Comptroller General has stated that the federal government has $53T in debt and unfunded mandates and California is $16B in deficit, an equal parenting act would reduce court costs; 5. WHEREAS high conflict situations will be substantially reduced creating less emotional stress and damage to the children. 6. WHEREAS it is widely recognized that disrespect for the rule of law leads to greater crime in general, an equal parenting act will bring back respect for law by changing the one sector of our legal system where perjury is widely tolerated; 7. WHEREAS according to the Texas Department of Corrections, 85% of youth in prison grew up in fatherless homes, joint custody will provide incentives for fathers to remain at home, thus reducing crime rates; 8. WHEREAS in approximately 84 percent of the cases where a parent is absent, that parent is the father; 9. WHEREAS if current trends continue, half of all children born today will live apart from one of their parents, usually their father, at some point before they turn 18 years old; 10. WHEREAS committed and responsible fathering during infancy and early childhood contributes to the development of emotional security, curiosity, and math and verbal skills; 11. WHEREAS an estimated 19,400,000 children (27 percent) in the United States live apart from their biological fathers, a large part of which live in California; 12. WHEREAS 40 percent of the children under age 18 not living with their biological fathers had not seen their fathers even once in the past 12 months, according to national survey data; 13. WHEREAS the California encourages responsible parenting and active involvement in childrens lives by both fathers and mothers whenever possible; 14. WHEREAS the most effective way to do that is to ensure equal parenting so that children maximize their time with both parents; 15. WHEREAS social science literature shows that children are generally well adjusted in an intact family with 2 parents in the home; and, research also shows that for children of divorced, separated, and never-married parents, a high time share is strongly associated with positive outcomes for children on important measures of adjustment and well-being; 16. WHEREAS research by the Department of Health and Human Services shows that the States with the highest time share subsequently had the lowest divorce rate, which is also true for the higher collection of child support, and 17. WHEREAS it has been shown that equal parenting reduces the number of filings for bankruptcy, THEREFORE be it resolved that the California Assembly adopt equal parenting laws for fit parents, so that more children are raised with the benefit of having a father and a mother in their lives, careful to protect domestic violence victims, abuse, neglect, children from potential kidnapping by a parent.

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