Military News
02-22-2010, 11:30 AM
02-22-2010 12:06 PM
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.
Specifically, the bill would prohibit a court from modifying an existing child custody arrangement while a service member is deployed, although it would allow temporary changes that are deemed to be in the best interest of the child.
At the end of a deployment, custody arrangements would have to revert to what they were before deployment, and courts could not consider a parent’s deployment or possible deployment as a factor if custody arrangements are modified.
Defense officials argue that there aren’t enough cases of courts removing service members’ custody rights to warrant a change in law, and that custody matters generally are covered by state, not federal, law.
Turner disagrees. “They said, first, it doesn’t really happen,” he said. “I gave them a number of news accounts explaining that, of course, it does happen. Secondly, they said that custody historically is not a matter of federal law. I provided them with a copy of the 65 pages in the federal code that relate to Indian tribes and the instructions to state courts on how to deal with custody with respect to Indian tribes. They said, then, it was states’ rights. You do not have one state that is objecting to our legislation.”
Gates has made no promises to change the Pentagon’s stance. But Turner took the mere offer of a meeting as a sign of progress.
“Military parents don’t expect to find themselves fighting two battles: fighting for their country while at the same time fighting to keep custody of their children,” he said.
More... (http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2010/02/military_childcustody_022210w/)
[Clicking on more will open up a popup box with the complete news story from the news source. MilitaryWoman.org is not responsible for content.]
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.
Specifically, the bill would prohibit a court from modifying an existing child custody arrangement while a service member is deployed, although it would allow temporary changes that are deemed to be in the best interest of the child.
At the end of a deployment, custody arrangements would have to revert to what they were before deployment, and courts could not consider a parent’s deployment or possible deployment as a factor if custody arrangements are modified.
Defense officials argue that there aren’t enough cases of courts removing service members’ custody rights to warrant a change in law, and that custody matters generally are covered by state, not federal, law.
Turner disagrees. “They said, first, it doesn’t really happen,” he said. “I gave them a number of news accounts explaining that, of course, it does happen. Secondly, they said that custody historically is not a matter of federal law. I provided them with a copy of the 65 pages in the federal code that relate to Indian tribes and the instructions to state courts on how to deal with custody with respect to Indian tribes. They said, then, it was states’ rights. You do not have one state that is objecting to our legislation.”
Gates has made no promises to change the Pentagon’s stance. But Turner took the mere offer of a meeting as a sign of progress.
“Military parents don’t expect to find themselves fighting two battles: fighting for their country while at the same time fighting to keep custody of their children,” he said.
More... (http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2010/02/military_childcustody_022210w/)
[Clicking on more will open up a popup box with the complete news story from the news source. MilitaryWoman.org is not responsible for content.]