“Local man helps fathers across state to see kids”

By Claire Smith

Matt Hancock, a Bullitt County resident, joined the National Parents Organization when he noticed how backwards he felt the court system was. 

“I’m a single father and I wasn’t getting a lot of time with my daughter,” Hancock said. 

Kentucky passed House Bill 492 in 2017 that said parents going through a separation and in a temporary order are given joint custody and equal parenting time.  

Around this time Hancock met Matt Hale, who, at the time, was the chair of Kentucky’s chapter of the National Parents Organization. 

The National Parents Organization was instrumental in getting HB 492 passed. 

The organization’s goal is to push for family law reform so that shared parenting could become the norm. 

When he started volunteering for the National Parents Organization they were beginning the process of getting a piece of legislation passed.

This legislation would eventually become House Bill 528. This bill would mean that joint and equal custody would become the presumed choice when deciding custody.