"[W]hat ...[Mr. Hubin]... has advanced might seem equitable in the abstract. Might even be fair in the abstract, if the next step followed and that is that judges felt free, or magistrates, or whoever is making these initial determinations, to then balance it out in a way, is this an example of shared parenting as Justice Stratton pointed out where it's just shared parenting mostly for the benefit of the cocktail hour where you can say you have shared parenting where in reality mom's taking care of the kids and father if he doesn't have a golf game he shows up and spends some time...with his kids, because that is..there are those kinds of shared parenting as well."
Do those of us in the Families for the FairWay Campaign deny that there are cases of shared parenting of the sort Justice Pfeifer describes? Of course not. There are also cases of sole custody where both parents are sharing the parenting responsibilities equally. The question before the court concerned what is to be the presumption in a shared parenting case. By deciding the Hubin case as the Court unanimously did, they determined that every court must begin by presuming that in every case of shared parenting, one of the parents has shared parenting "mostly for the benefit of the cocktail hour where" s/he can say that s/he has shared parenting. Every court must begin by presuming, that is to say, that all of the child rearing expenses happen in one household in every shared parenting case, just as every court must presume this in every sole custody case.
To employ a sex-based distinction would probably be unconstitutional and would certainly violate most Ohioan's sense of justice. But it is clear which parent Justice Pfeifer thinks the court should presume has shared parenting "mostly for the benefit of the cocktail hour." The situation we need to build our presumptions for, he says, is the one "where in reality mom's taking care of the kids and father, if he doesn't have a golf game, he shows up and spends some time...with his kids."
Justice Pfeifer thinks that this is so prevelant that we should build our legal presumptions around the assumption that it is always true. Apparently, the other six justices agreed. (Perhaps this says something about the fathers they know and/or are.) If fathers are going to be treated equally by this Court, the justices need to learn that we are fathers first. We don't miss time we can be with our children so we can play golf. What's keeping us from our children is not the fairway; it is the unfair way the courts have treated our parental concerns.
What to do!
If you're teed off by the stereotypes and resultant presumptions of the Ohio Supreme Court and want to drive it home to them, join us in the Families for the FairWay Campaign. It's easy, and fun. There are two ways to join in: the first way is easy and inexpensive to do from anywhere in the world; the second way takes real balls.
If you join the Families for the FairWay Campaign by doing either of these activities, please sign my guestbook and tell me what you've done.
Families for the Fair Way: Activity 1
Download and print one of these letters and send a copy to each of Ohio's Supreme Court Justices. The addresses are below. (Click on the spinning golf balls for a copy of the letter.)
Letter from a dad. Letter from a child.Letter from a wife. Letter from a friend.Or, write your own letter and send it to each of the justices.
Families for the Fair Way: Activity 2
(Warning: This takes REAL Balls!)
Get seven golfballs (doesn't matter if they're old and not very useful anymore--these are going to the justices of the Ohio Supreme Court, after all). Using a permanent red marker, mark each of them with the universal sign for 'no' as shown here:
Then, send them to each of the Ohio Supreme Court justices. Include one of the letters above, if you want to really drive the point home to them.
Addresses of the Ohio Supreme Court Justices:
The Honorable ___________________The Supreme Court of Ohio30 East Broad StreetColumbus, Ohio 43266-0419
