Showing posts with label child custody. Show all posts
Showing posts with label child custody. Show all posts

Saturday, May 15, 2010

5th try to protect child custody for troops

5th try to protect child custody for troops

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday May 14, 2010 12:18:53 EDT

An Ohio congressman is hoping the fifth time is a charm in his efforts to give special child custody protection to service members.

Four times, the House of Representatives has passed legislation sponsored by Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, to prevent past, present or future deployments from being used against a service member as the basis for determining or changing child custody arrangements.

Four times, Turner has run into opposition from the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Defense Department, and his legislation has been rejected.

Turner is back. On Wednesday, the military personnel subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee agreed to include his legislation in the 2011 defense authorization bill. He expects it will pass the committee, again, without any dissent and will also easily pass the House.

It remains unclear if anything has changed in the Senate or Defense Department that will end years of opposition.

Turner said his legislation is “straightforward” in trying to protect service members from losing custody of a child solely because of their military service. Fifteen states have laws that provide varying degrees of protection, he said, but there is no single standard, and nothing prevents an ex-spouse from jurisdiction-shopping to file for a change in custody in one of the states without any protections for a service member.
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5th try to protect child custody for troops

Monday, February 22, 2010

New push to protect custody rights of troops

New push to protect custody rights of troops

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Feb 22, 2010 11:08:30 EST

An Ohio lawmaker who has been blocked four times in his efforts to pass legislation to protect deployed service members from losing custody of their children has launched a new two-pronged effort to try to get his proposal into law.

Republican Rep. Michael Turner will try once again to attach to the annual defense policy bill provisions designed to prevent courts from denying child custody to service members while they are deployed. Turner hopes a promised meeting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates will result in objections to his legislation being dropped.

As a backup plan, Turner also has introduced a separate bill, HR 4469, that falls under the jurisdiction of the House and Senate veterans’ affairs committees. This gives him another avenue if he cannot overcome objections from the Defense Department and Senate Armed Services Committee, which have been the roadblocks to date for his legislation.

Turner’s bill has been referred to the House veterans’ affairs subcommittee on economic opportunity, which plans to include it among other bills discussed at hearings this year.

His new bill would protect existing child custody orders for troops deployed in support of contingency operations, which is a more limited approach than some of his previous attempts.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/02/military_childcustody_022210w/

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Soldiers Deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan Wars Also Fight for Child Custody

Soldiers Deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan Wars Also Fight for Child Custody

Ann Scott Tyson


Washington Post

Dec 30, 2008
December 30, 2008, Fort Lee, Virginia - Army Sgt. Stephanie Greer was serving with a vehicle-maintenance unit in the volatile Iraqi city of Ramadi, part of President Bush's "surge" strategy to stabilize the country, when she learned of a far-off and most unexpected battle: Her estranged husband was going to fight her for custody of their daughter.

Greer had temporary custody of Mackenzie when she began her second deployment to Iraq in early 2007. Her husband was to care for the 7-year-old while Greer was overseas, but soon he challenged that arrangement in divorce proceedings. "He said I was unstable because I was deployed or training too much," she said.

As a result, throughout her 15-month combat tour, Greer had to mount from 4,000 miles away a legal campaign to keep her daughter.

"If I had not deployed, I know I never would have faced this situation," said Greer, 39. "I don't think it should be held against you, and I don't think my time away, or me deploying, affects my ability to be a mother or provide for my kids."

If she expected support in that position from the military, she was disappointed. Instead, the message she said she received from her superiors was: Deal with it.
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Friday, May 30, 2008

Rep. Steve Buyer kills bill to protect deployed in child custody cases

Bill would safeguard child custody rights

Measure dropped from ’08 defense act
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday May 30, 2008 16:50:39 EDT

A controversial measure that would protect deployed service members from losing custody of their children because of their military service was approved by the House in a pile of veterans-related bills passed in a pre-Memorial Day rush.

The bill, HR 6048, is a response to several cases in which state courts changed service members’ child custody arrangements, sometimes without notice, while the members were deployed.

“Many cases have come to light where service members who have been deployed have had their military service used against them in custody hearings,” said Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, the chief sponsor of the bill, which would amend legal protections in the Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act.

“Recently, my office learned about a service member who, during her custody proceeding, was told by a judge that the mere possibility of her deployment weighed against the best interests of the child in denying her custody,” Turner said.

“Much is asked of our service members, and mobilization can disrupt and strain relationships at home,” he said.

His bill, he said, would provide them “peace of mind that courts will not take away their children” while they are deployed.



Other bills passed by the House would:

• Provide the annual cost-of-living adjustment in veterans benefits in December.

• Authorize construction and renovation of veterans facilities.

• Expand substance-abuse treatment and counseling for veterans.

• Ensure the housing needs of disabled veterans are met.

• Study the effectiveness of vocational rehabilitation programs.

• Authorize the Department of Veterans Affairs to advertise in national media to inform veterans about benefits for which they may be eligible.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/airforce_vabills_053008p/