Date: Wed, 30 Jun 99 08:57:45 PDT From: kevinsheahen@consolcoal.com (Kevin Sheahen) Subject: Fatherlessness Children by Design To: Letters@post-gazette.com Cc: papi@access.hky.com, pghdads@aol.com Letter to the Editor Dear Mr. Craig, The primary cause of fatherlessness in our society today is not walk-away dads but disenfranchised dads. As an activist working for the rights of children of divorce to equal, unfettered access to BOTH parents and to the rights of fathers, I can attest from firsthand experience to the anguish fathers feel when the courts and the mother, with a nonchalant swipe of the hand, stonewall a father right out of his children's lives for no other reason than the whim or preference of the mother. I can further attest to the relentless efforts many fathers put forth to right this horrible wrong and to regain their proper place and a meaningful parental role in their children's lives. I know of countless fathers who have literally gone dead broke through legal fees and high child support orders trying to get a deaf, dumb and blind court to see its error in relegating them to the status of 'visitor' in the lives of their children. And most importantly, I can bear witness to the immeasurably destructive effect that court-imposed fatherlessness has on the children of these unnecessary custody wars. The endless open wound to these children's psyches of "almost" having a father (i.e., every other weekend, or less, "visitation"), tears at these children constantly, and inexorably tears them down. A child's loss of a father through court edict is no less a loss than that by death. Legislation such as SB 175 advocating a presumption of joint custody, serve to educate a schizophrenic society which, on the one hand decries fatherlessness, and on the other, routinely and brutally enforces it through its misguided laws and courts. Kevin Sheahen President, Greater Pittsburgh Chapter of National Congress for Fathers and Children 37 Seneca Road Pittsburgh, PA 15241 854-4799 email: pghdads@aol.com -------------------------------------------------------- Name: Kevin Sheahen E-mail: Date: 06/30/99 Time: 08:57:46 Sr. Mechanical Systems Engineer My Kids Dad voice mail 412-831-4443 fax 412-831-4975 -------------------------------------------------------- __________________________________________________ . Pennsylvania Parenthood Initiative . . PAPI . . It takes to Parent a Child, . . the Children deserve them both! . . . . listserver: papi@access.hky.com . . admin-requests: majordomo@access.hky.com . __________________________________________________ From ccc17@hp715aew.ccs.ppg.com Wed Jun 30 10:52:24 1999 Received: from internet.ppg.com (internet.ppg.com [172.16.1.1]) by hp715aew.ccs.ppg.com with SMTP (8.8.6 (PHNE_17135)/8.7.1) id KAA01312 for ; Wed, 30 Jun 1999 10:53:13 -0400 (EDT) Received: from access2.hky.com ([206.24.8.9]) by internet.ppg.com with SMTP id KAA26543 (SMTP Gateway for ); Wed, 30 Jun 1999 10:53:11 -0400 Received: (from mail@localhost) by access2.hky.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) id KAA12198 for papi-list; Wed, 30 Jun 1999 10:53:01 -0400 X-Authentication-Warning: access2.hky.com: mail set sender to owner-papi@access.hky.com using -f Received: from access.hky.com (access.hky.com [206.24.8.10]) by access2.hky.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id KAA12195 for ; Wed, 30 Jun 1999 10:52:58 -0400 Received: from gateway.ppg.com (gateway.ppg.com [199.221.65.2]) by access.hky.com (8.9.1/8.9.1) with SMTP id KAA24190 for ; Wed, 30 Jun 1999 10:52:56 -0400 (EDT) Received: by gateway.ppg.com id KAA26358 (SMTP Gateway for papi@access.hky.com); Wed, 30 Jun 1999 10:52:24 -0400 Message-Id: <199906301452.KAA26358@gateway.ppg.com> Received: by gateway.ppg.com (Protected-side Proxy Mail Agent-1); Wed, 30 Jun 1999 10:52:24 -0400 From: ccc17@hp715aew.ccs.ppg.com (Albert E. Whale) To: papi@access.hky.com Subject: PAPI Fatherlessness Children by Design Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 14:52:24 GMT X-Mailer: Forte Agent 1.5/32.451 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Mime-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by access2.hky.com id KAA12196 Sender: owner-papi@access.hky.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: papi@access.hky.com X-UIDL: eccd03749bf8d76367a15ba9bfcf4091 Date: Wed, 30 Jun 99 08:57:45 PDT From: kevinsheahen@consolcoal.com (Kevin Sheahen) Subject: Fatherlessness Children by Design To: Letters@post-gazette.com Cc: papi@access.hky.com, pghdads@aol.com Letter to the Editor Dear Mr. Craig, The primary cause of fatherlessness in our society today is not walk-away dads but disenfranchised dads. As an activist working for the rights of children of divorce to equal, unfettered access to BOTH parents and to the rights of fathers, I can attest from firsthand experience to the anguish fathers feel when the courts and the mother, with a nonchalant swipe of the hand, stonewall a father right out of his children's lives for no other reason than the whim or preference of the mother. I can further attest to the relentless efforts many fathers put forth to right this horrible wrong and to regain their proper place and a meaningful parental role in their children's lives. I know of countless fathers who have literally gone dead broke through legal fees and high child support orders trying to get a deaf, dumb and blind court to see its error in relegating them to the status of 'visitor' in the lives of their children. And most importantly, I can bear witness to the immeasurably destructive effect that court-imposed fatherlessness has on the children of these unnecessary custody wars. The endless open wound to these children's psyches of "almost" having a father (i.e., every other weekend, or less, "visitation"), tears at these children constantly, and inexorably tears them down. A child's loss of a father through court edict is no less a loss than that by death. Legislation such as SB 175 advocating a presumption of joint custody, serve to educate a schizophrenic society which, on the one hand decries fatherlessness, and on the other, routinely and brutally enforces it through its misguided laws and courts. Kevin Sheahen President, Greater Pittsburgh Chapter of National Congress for Fathers and Children 37 Seneca Road Pittsburgh, PA 15241 854-4799 email: pghdads@aol.com -------------------------------------------------------- Name: Kevin Sheahen E-mail: Date: 06/30/99 Time: 08:57:46 Sr. Mechanical Systems Engineer My Kids Dad voice mail 412-831-4443 fax 412-831-4975 -------------------------------------------------------- __________________________________________________ . Pennsylvania Parenthood Initiative . . PAPI . . It takes to Parent a Child, . . the Children deserve them both! . . . . listserver: papi@access.hky.com . . admin-requests: majordomo@access.hky.com . __________________________________________________