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HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Dear Reader,
All of us at ACFC wish you the best for 2008. We are making a number of changes during the coming year and want to take a moment to share with you what is taking place.
The Office of ACFC President
The most significant change going into 2008 takes place with respect to the office of ACFC President. As many of you know, Dr. Stephen Baskerville has returned to academic pursuits, taking a position as associate professor of government at Patrick Henry College in Virginia.
Over the past four years as ACFC President, Stephen has published numerous articles and scholarly reports on the plight of parents in the family courts, as well as producing significant commentary on domestic violence and the child support bureaucracy. Click here to read Stephen's latest paper on child support printed in the Independent Review.
With the publication of his recent book: 'Taken Into Custody: The War Against Fathers, Marriage and the Family' Stephen has once again exposed the system which profits by separating parents and children. As a result of his teaching load, responsibilities connected to promoting the book, desire to continue devoting time to writing and coupled with the end of his term in office, he is not seeking reappointment as President of ACFC. He will remain active with the organization, continuing to serve as a member of the Board of Directors. All of us appreciate his contributions over these past years and look forward to his future articles and commentary.
The ACFC Board of Directors (David Roberts, Dr. Stephen Baskerville, Michael McCormick, Dr. Stephen Walker, John Maguire and Jim Semerad) have been working on this transition for several months. We were guided in our search by the principle that ours is an issue which knows no bounds. It is neither the domain of conservatives or liberals, poor or wealthy, and pays no attention to ethnicity or sex. Our issues cross all demographics and our goals are shared, and should be supported, across all sectors of our society. Our desire was to bring forward a candidate that was first and foremost a strong Shared Parenting advocate. Thereafter, we were looking for someone with excellent credentials academically and professionally. We sought a leader who would present the case for Shared Parenting in a manner appealing to all sectors of our society.
Welcome Dr. Linda Nielsen
Our search committee members considered and discussed the position with several candidates and are pleased to announce ACFC's new President for 2008, Dr. Linda Nielsen.
For the past two decades Dr. Nielsen has been a proponent of Shared Parenting. She is a tenured faculty member at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. Her background as a social researcher combined with her training as an adolescent psychologist, make hers a voice which cannot be ignored in the expanding debate over the need for Shared Parenting and the important necessity of a Fathers contribution in child rearing.
In 2004 Dr. Nielsen authored the book, 'Embracing Your Father' which encourages and provides practical advice to young women wanting a deeper relationship with their fathers. As a professor in Wake Forest's women studies program she teaches a course titled "Fathers and Daughters." Unique in the nation, this course challenges young women to break out of stereotypical thinking about Fathers and 'requires/encourages' them to develop a deeper relationship with the most important man in their life, their Dad. To learn more about this book click here.
In 2005 PBS released a documentary on this important work and it's life changing impact on the women who have passed through the course. We are working to secure permission to rebroadcast this film through the ACFC website and hope to bring it to you shortly.
Dr. Nielsen is already having a positive impact on our issues. She has completed a straight forward, easy to use, two-page brochure summarizing the research which makes the case for Shared Parenting and kids crucial need for father involvement. Look for this brochure in an upcoming email.
It is our pleasure to welcome Dr. Linda Nielsen. Click here for highlights of Linda's biography.
Media Campaign Supporting 'Taken Into Custody.'
We thank all of you who have supported the fundraising campaign to raise money for Dr. Baskerville's book publicity tour by ordering autographed copies of his book. To date, approximately $4,000 dollars have been raised. This month we signed a contract with Spence Media which will secure an additional 25 interviews throughout 2008. It's not too late to continue supporting this effort. Click here if you would like to order autographed copies of 'Taken Into Custody.'
Looking Forward to 2008
As we look ahead to 2008 a number of positive developments are underway. On January 4th, 2008 the Reverend Ron Smith has organized a National Fatherhood Summit in Grand Rapids, Michigan. If you can be there, please attend. ACFC Vice-Chairman Dr. Stephen Walker and I will attend. Click here for details.
After the conference Dr. Walker and I will spend a week traveling and meeting with legislators throughout the region for the purpose of promoting family law reform and Shared Parenting.
On January 14th in Charleston, West Virginia, Men and Women Against Discrimination will be hosting a sneak preview of Angelo Lobo's documentary for community leaders and legislators. Former 3 time NFL Superbowl Champion Tim McKyer, Dr. Linda Nielsen, Dr. Walker and I will also participate.
ACFC will be rolling out an updated website in mid January. On it you will find many more resources and opportunities to become involved in Shared Parenting and family law reform.
We will continue meeting with federal legislators in the effort to bring forward several family friendly bills.
Above is just a sample of what's on tap for early January.
The Liberator
You should have recently received the latest print edition of ACFC's Shared Parenting Quarterly: 'The Liberator.' Managing Editor John Maguire has decided to pursue several other interests and will no longer serve as managing editor, although we look forward to his continuing participation as an ACFC Board member. Under John's skillful direction, and with your support, ACFC has placed over 1,000,000 pages of printed materials into the hands of every state and federal legislator over the past several years. This is an astounding and outstanding accomplishment and we thank John for all his efforts.
Winter Liberator Ready to Roll
We are pleased to welcome Kelley Dupuis as the new managing editor of The Liberator. Kelley brings an extensive writing and journalism background to the paper. We think you'll like his style. He's just wrapping up the Winter edition of the paper and it should be in your mailbox before the end of January. If you are not receiving The Liberator, you can. It's as simple as becoming a member of ACFC. Click here to join.
In Conclusion
We are excited by what's in store for the New Year. What we are doing at ACFC represents a limited portion of what is going on in the movement to promote Shared Parenting, Family Law Reform and Family Preservation. Many organizations and people are making constructive contributions. While we may not communicate as often as some would like, be assured that ACFC is vibrant and active. We cannot always report on the work we are doing, but we are working....as are many of you.
I am regularly asked to comment on why it seems to take so long for change to come about when the solutions to our problems are evident. Very simply, I believe the American Family is currently being subjected to 'LAWFARE.' Unlike open warfare, the most obvious example currently being what is transpiring in Iraq, 'lawfare' is, quietly and not so quietly, being waged in Congress and state legislatures around the country on a daily basis.
Lawfare takes the form of government and special interests who do not view your family relationships as private; deserving of deference and protection from intrusion. Instead those interests see your family as being unable to function without their assistance. Their motivations may in many instances be reduced to greed and profit, but are masked as actions designed to be 'in the best interest of the children.' In other instances we are reaping the unintended consequences of what was originally conceived as well intended policy.
Regardless of the the form or motivation of the interest, we need to understand the components of 'lawfare' and put them to work. We need to organize, move public opinion, develop active and passive support for our positions and then translate our positions into policies and statutory schemes. Once this has been done we MUST engage the political process. This entails making allies of legislators and the many people already working in the bureaucracies who know 'the system' is broken, but do not yet sense the popular support which will allow/encourage them to come forward FROM INSIDE THE SYSTEM.
Here is a brief example of how we make progress by continuing to work the system inside and out. Over the past several years, ACFC quietly lent encouragement and supported an effort in Congress to make government spending more transparent to the American people.
You might ask what that has to do with our issues? We know federal money is feeding special interests arrayed against Shared Parenting and family law reform. In other words, your tax dollars are being used to keep you away from your children and undermine family stability. Unfortunately this spending was cumbersome to track, and some agencies just didn't want to report how your money was being used. In a bipartisan effort we endorsed, two Senators, Coburn and Obama introduced a bill which would require agencies to report on just exactly who, and just exactly how much, of your money they received.
As your representatives (through ACFC) we were invited earlier this month, along with the leadership of other supporting organizations, to attend the 'rolling out' ceremony in the White House Old Executive Office Building (yes, the building that caught on fire two weeks ago). Now citizens have a new website available at http://www.usaspending.gov/ which allows us to know exactly how our money is being spent. Do you want to know how much money your state is getting from the Feds to collect Child Support? How much is going into VAWA related programs, and who's getting it? Who's getting the funding to run supervised access and visitation programs? It's all there and it helps us 'connect the dots' as we make the case for Shared Parenting.
To be successful everyone needs to participate. The good news is that there is something for everyone to do in our movement. We will be coming forward soon with more opportunities to get involved. You can help right now by clicking the link below and forwarding this email to others. We are always grateful for your donations. Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Michael McCormick, Exec. Dir.
ACFC 
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