Lianna Mika Lianna Mika

“Without joint custody, children are the biggest losers”

Why must kids miss out on certain family relationships when parents separate? It’s cruel for children, who love both parents, to suddenly lose access to everything they once knew when their parents no longer want to live together. Does a child's love and need for both parents suddenly end when parents decide to separate?

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“Letter: Inform judicial candidates of parenting time study”

I respond to the Tuesday Dispatch editorial “Time to rethink how, or even whether, we elect judges in Ohio?” Voters seldom have the information they need to make wise decisions concerning judicial candidates, but there’s help concerning domestic relations judges.

More than 30 years of research on child well-being strongly supports the conclusion — endorsed by common sense as well — that children of separated parents do best when parenting responsibilities and time with the children are divided roughly equally.

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“Child support guidelines separating families”

New child support guidelines go into effect this January. The Kansas Judicial Branch defines guidelines as, “rules judges follow to decide how much child support each parent is to pay toward raising their children.”

They’re meant to make a fair and balanced way to determine how much money is owed. Upon examining the facts, we find the guidelines are causing homelessness and the separation of children from poorer parents.

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“Missouri shown the way to improve family courts”

Kentucky’s monumental passage of a shared-parenting bill last year has been deemed the most popular vote in the state.

According to an Aug. 30 opinion piece in the Louisville Courier-Journal, the Administrative Office of the Courts has issued a report that shows a reduction in domestic court cases by 11% and a reduction of 445 cases of domestic violence since the full law took effect. Missouri, the Show-Me state, has clearly been shown.

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“Opinion/Commentary: Decreasing child-custody conflict after divorce, separation”

What would you do if your child, who had been getting a D- on report cards, brought one home with a C- instead? Would you rejoice and say that’s good enough? Or would you view it as a decent start with plenty of opportunity for improvement?

That is exactly the kind of improved position Virginia is in, thanks to a legislative push from the Virginia affiliate of the National Parents Organization.

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“Parenting progress but not quite perfection”

WHAT WOULD you do if your child, who had been getting D- grades on report cards, brought one home with a C- instead? Would you rejoice and say that’s good enough? Or would you view it as a decent start with plenty of opportunity for improvement?

That is exactly the kind of improved position Virginia is in, based on recent legislative action by your Virginia affiliate of the National Parents Organization.

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“W.Va. needs to adopt shared custody”

With the release of National Parents Organization’s 2019 Shared Parenting Report Card, it remains clear that there is still much work to do in West Virginia. Many states are moving closer to shared parenting as the norm in family courts. However, West Virginia lags behind, receiving a grade of C-.

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“Ohio leaders behind times on issue of shared parenting”

National Parents Organization just published the 2019 NPO Shared Parenting Report Card, and the news for Ohioans isn’t great. The Buckeye state received a middling “C,” the same grade it received in the NPO study five years ago.

That’s no surprise.

In those five years, the Ohio legislature has made no improvements in our laws dealing with post-separation parenting. As a result, Ohio is behind the times; let me count the way

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“Shared parenting: Children can’t get enough”

As Wisconsinites, we can be proud of how separated Wisconsin parents address and fulfill their financial obligations for their children.

According to the Department of Children and Families website dialog box of current support obligations, Wisconsin parents ranked high compared to all 50 states. Although Wisconsin isn’t at 100% yet, the rate has been trending upward for years now.

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Lianna Mika Lianna Mika

“Ohio lags on shared parenting”

National Parents Organization (NPO) published the 2019 NPO Shared Parenting Report Card, and the news for Ohioans isn’t great. The Buckeye state received a middling “C,” the same grade it received in the NPO study five years ago.

That’s no surprise. In those five years, the Ohio legislature has made no improvements in our laws dealing with post-separation parenting.

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“New York’s a disaster for shared parenting”

National Parents Organization has just released its latest report card grading each state on its shared parenting statutes. New York and Rhode Island were the only states to get an F.

F is not for Family Friendly. F is for Failure.

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“Hawaii unable to make progress in improving grade for shared parenting efforts”

National Parents Organization (NPO) released a groundbreaking study in 2014, the first of its kind to analyze and rank each state on its child custody statutes. This Shared Parenting Report Card study was motivated by the impact that family courts have on children. The focus was on how each state addresses the promotion of shared parenting in its legislative statutes, and Hawaii’s “C-” grade that year was a bleak reflection of the lack of progress we’ve made towards better outcomes for our children.

Five years later, the 2019 Shared Parenting Report Card has been released, and Hawaii still has made no significant progress.

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“National Parents Organization releases 'report card' evaluating shared-parenting statutes of each state”

The National Parents Organization has released a “report card” evaluating the implementation of effective shared-parenting statutes across the nation — and only two states received an “A.”

The National Parents Organization, or NPO, shared its 2019 report Wednesday, as part of its continuing effort to “promote children’s well-being by making equal shared parenting the norm when parents are living apart.”

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“New York Gets An ‘F’ For Shared Parenting Of Children Of Divorce”

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A new report shows that New York is failing children after divorce.

Divorce is already hard enough, but when you live in a state that doesn’t recognize shared parenting.

“When a child loses access to a parent after divorce or separation, it’s really traumatic,” said Ginger Gentile, deputy executive director of the National Parents Organization.

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