http://www.glennsacks.com/the_betrayal_of.htm

By Glenn Sacks
      When Gary, a San Diego-based US Navy SEAL, was deployed in Afghanistan
in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, he never
dreamed that his service to his country would cost him his little son.
Gary's son was not taken from him by a terrorist or a kidnapper. This
17-year Navy veteran with an unblemished military and civilian record was
effectively stripped of his right to be a father by a California court.

      Gary's story, which was the subject of a two-part Fox News feature
called "SEAL, Sorrow" earlier this year, is not an unusual one. Under the
Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, if a parent takes a
child to a new state, that new state becomes the child's presumptive
residence after six months. Because a normal military deployment is six
months or more, if an unhappily married military spouse moves to another
state while the other spouse is deployed, by the time the deployed spouse
returns the child's residence has already been switched. Since courts lean
heavily in favor of a child's primary caregiver when determining custody,
the spouse who moved the child is virtually certain to gain custody through
the divorce proceedings in that new state.

      Because of the strict restrictions on travel by active military
personnel, the cost of legal representation, and the financial hardships
created by child support and spousal support obligations, it is very
difficult for returning service personnel to fight for their parental rights
in another state. Many struggle even to see their children, much less remain
a meaningful part of their lives, and the bond between the children and
their noncustodial parent is often broken for years, if not permanently.

      Gary has not been able to see his son, who now lives abroad, in nearly
nine months. When he calls he can sometimes hear the three year-old ask
"when daddy come?" and "where's daddy?" in the
background but he is often
prevented from speaking with him.

      According to nationally-known family law attorney Jeffery Leving,
author of Fathers' Rights , there are three solutions to the problems facing
military fathers. First, the federal Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act
of 1940 needs to be amended to specifically prohibit the spouses of active
duty military personnel from permanently moving children to other states
without the permission either of the active duty military spouse or of a
court. (The primary purpose of the Act, whose origins go back as far as the
Civil War, is to protect active armed forces personnel by mandating that
civil actions against them be delayed until after their return from
service).

      Second, California laws, which currently do little to prevent a
custodial parent from moving children far away from the noncustodial parent,
need to be changed to prohibit any permanent removals done against a
deployed military parent's will. Third, the UCCJEA needs to be amended to
state that the presumption of new residence does not apply if the children
are taken in this wrongful fashion.

      Gary has lost nearly $100,000 so far fighting for his son and may soon
be forced to declare bankruptcy, which in turn will destroy the top secret
security clearance he needs for his job. Worse yet is the emotional
devastation wrought by his separation from his son and the knowledge that he
may never see him again. He says:

      "My love for my son cannot simply be brushed aside as the courts seem
to believe it can. I can remember holding my little son's hand like it was
yesterday. I can remember his cry. I hear it every time I hear another child
crying."

      "Sometimes I wonder what I risked my life [in Afghanistan] for. I went
to fight for freedom but what freedom and what rights mean anything if a man
doesn't have the right to be a father to his own child?"



--
Men are everywhere that matters!





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