ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, November 26, 1996 TAG: 9611260119
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Members of a legislative subcommittee refused Monday to fully support a bill that would make it easier for divorced fathers to gain a share of custody of their children.
But the ad hoc panel, created to review the joint custody bill, stopped short of killing the measure, referring it to the full House Courts of Justice Committee without a recommendation. The committee meets Dec.20.
The proposed bill would create a presumption in state law that joint custody is in the child's best interest unless it can be proven otherwise, as in the case of neglect or abuse.
``Let's not elevate the consideration of joint custody [to the same standard] as the best interest of the child,'' said Del. Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton.
The state Senate passed the bill last winter, but the House of Delegates committee held it over for further study.
Sen. Mark Earley, R-Chesapeake, said Monday that there should be a fundamental assertion by the courts that two actively involved parents are better than one.
``We have to tell [parents] as a society that we expect them to put the best interests of the children first and not take the child away from one another,'' Earley said.
Fathers' rights activists contended some judges are automatically biased in favor of the mother.
``We don't go to court to get our parental rights. We go to court to lose them,'' said Murray Steinberg of Richmond, a member of the Children's Rights Coalition.
Steinberg said he believes the state should adopt a formal policy ``to assure minor children of frequent and continuing contact with both parents, through the mechanism of joint legal and physical custody.''
Nikki Reed, a Virginia Beach mother who voluntarily shared joint custody of two small sons with her ex-husband, said judges have little information on the suitability of either parent.
Reed said joint custody with her former husband has not always been easy, but ``allowing him equal access, he has grown as a parent.''
No one spoke against a legal nudge to award joint custody, but the Virginia Poverty Law Center and the state chapter of the National Organization for Women have opposed Earley's bill in the past.
Opponents of the bill say there is nothing in Virginia law to prevent judges from considering joint custody now.
LENGTH: Medium: 53 linesby CNB