| Dear Bill,
In 2010, America’s non-marital birth-rate topped 40% for the first time in our history. Our divorce rate is near 50%. Over 60% of our children spend some time with a single parent during their childhood.
Yet there has been no national campaign to reform our divorce laws since no-fault became the law of the land in the 1970s. Until now. The Coalition for Divorce Reform has recently been founded to lower unnecessary divorce for parents with minor children.
We have just launched our new website, www.divorcereform.info, with a dozen respected bloggers to help organize support for the Parental Divorce Reduction Act which is posted on the site. Below you will find the introductions to our first nine blogs.
The Huffington Post has announced our website and new organization. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/beverly-willett/the-most-pioneering-divor_b_863024.html
Please go to the site to learn more about the legislation we are proposing. We have political leadership in a dozen states committed to working for passage of this new Act which would require “divorce reduction education” for all couples with minor children before they could file for divorce.
We are looking for additional bloggers so if you are interested in blogging regularly or occasionally, please contact me directly at chrisgersten@gmail.com.
Please help us by posting on your Facebook and Twitter sites and email your email contacts about this new, all volunteer effort. We also have a Facebook page and would appreciate your clicking the “Like” button and letting your Facebook friends know about this as well. Here’s the link: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Coalition-For-Divorce-Reform/175335009188866
Here are excerpts from a few of the blogs. You may take these blogs and repost them or use them in any way you wish to educate people about the devastating impact divorce has on children and the need to reform our divorce laws.
The Impossible Dream: My Fight to Save My Marriage BEVERLY WILLETT
…….But I don’t want a divorce,” I cried. “I love my husband.” Twenty years wasn’t something I wanted to chuck overnight. Made of strong Southern female stock, I grew up believing the words “until death do us part” were non-negotiable. Family was paramount, and divorce virtually unheard of. “I don’t think there’s anything in life that can’t be forgiven,” my aunt said when I asked for her advice. To me, that pretty much covered the whole territory.
Why We Must Reduce Divorce: A Custody Lawyer Looks at the Big Picture Through the Fog of Battle JOHN CROUCH
……..I'm a divorce lawyer in Northern Virginia. Here's a sample of what I do for a living. I meet with a young lady who tells me, "My husband and I have decided we want a divorce. It will be uncontested, we're very friendly with each other, and the last thing we want to do is fight."
I ask "Have you agreed on the children's custody and visitation?" "Custody? We haven't talked about that”
Confessions of an Unabashed Marriage Saver, Michele Weiner-Davis
I have a confession; I am a psychotherapist who is an unabashed marriage saver. But it wasn’t always that way. When I began doing marital therapy in the late Seventies, I was a newlywed, twenty-something therapist charged with helping couples who were usually older than me and grappling with issues I had yet to face in my own life.
Denial: The Price of Our Children’s Best Interest, Kevin Senich
For too many children divorce defines childhood in America. For too many it is an experience shaping a horrific vision of marriage and parenting. For too many it is a nightmare from which they cannot awaken and for which their cries in the darkness go unheeded by their very own parents, parents whose denial, despite their love, compels them to ignore the cries of their own children. As parents, denial will not let us answer those cries of our children. One of us is not there; the other is not to blame. This can no longer pass for good parenting; no longer truly serve the best interest of our children.
A Challenge to protect 25 Million Years of Life, Seth Eisenberg
“In the next five years, five million American children will experience the break-up of their parents. As a nation, we could lose the promise and potential of 25 million years of life. Not because of war or famine, disease or natural disasters, but because of our own decisions. It doesn’t have to be that way.
A New Reason to Think Twice About Divorce, Cathy Meyer
According to a new book, The Longevity Project by Howard Friedman and Leslie Martin a parent’s divorce is a strong predictor of early death in adulthood. Think about it, your divorce can play a role in how long your child will live. And, according to the book, whether or not the divorce is high conflict or not makes no difference.
Children who experienced the divorce of their parents in childhood died about five years earlier, on average, than children who grew up in intact families. I can’t think of a better argument for the need for divorce reform.
Chris Gersten
Chairman
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