Rob at Say Anything, a person that I respect, has been very involved in the collection of the signatures on the petitions for the Shared Parenting Initiative. I’m not sure if he’s more involved than that or not, but he’s reporting today that the petitions are in and it looks like they have far more signatures than they will ever need to get it included on the ballot in November.
Way to go! I truly think that this is a great initiative and a needed change in the way that Child Custody and Child Support are determined.
A very basic rundown: Child Custody is Joint. Only exception to the rule? Parental unfitness. On either parents part. Added to that is the Child Support bit. Child support is not to exceed the amount needed for the basic care of the Child. No more excessive child support amount just because the non-custody parent makes a lot of money.
For a full explanation of the Initiative and the full text of the initiative visit the North Dakota Shared Parenting Initiative Website. (Click on About to see full text of initiative.)
UPDATE: Rob has posted the following on Say Anything:
the efforts to get all of those signatures has cost us a significant sum of money and now we’ve got a fierce media battle to face against bureaucrats and lawyers who don’t want to lose any of the funding or fees that fierce custody battles generate for them. So, basically, we need a little monetary help
If you can afford to give, please do. It is an important initiative that could lead to similar initiatives nationwide. Visit the Say Anything post and press the Paypal Donate button now. Any small amount is sure to help and all donations are welcomed.
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About Shane Ede
My involvement has been to design and host the website, and then collecting signatures. I’ve also been involved in responding to some of the criticism of the initiative in the media and elsewhere as, well, I’m kind of good at that sort of thing.
Mitch Sanderson is the guy spearheading the effort, and if this succeeds he deserves the lion’s share of the credit.
This thing is going to be on the ballot. Now we’ve just got to get people to vote for it come November.
By the way, the petition gathering effort has put us in some serious debt. If you or anyone you know could help out with a donation it would really help.