The Center for Children's Justice - Pennsylvania Chapter

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As you probably figured out from the title of this web site, the author lives in Pennsylvania and is facing an UNCONSTITUTIONAL family court system. There is a tremendous need for change in the Family Court System as it pertains to divorce, custody, and child support not only in Pennsylvania, but nation wide.  Since I live in Pennsylvania, I am going to start here and try to gain the attention of our ELECTED officials through this web site and an attempt to get people to call them and write demanding fair treatment. (Contrary to popular belief, it is NOT elected Representatives and Senators that make the domestic relations laws in Pennsylvania, it is all done by judges and lawyers behind closed doors).  The people that are elected should be the ones making up fair legislation with public hearings so that whatever the courts may impose is fair to both parents in a relationship that did not work out especially when children are involved.  Good, fair legislation would also put a limit on the discretion of judges in normal cases, who currently do whatever they want and are accountable to no one (just try contacting the judicial conduct board after your constitutional rights are trampled by one of them and see how quickly you are ignored in Pennsylvania).  This is creating an "out of control" branch of government (the judicial branch) that clearly has a corrupt agenda.

Court ordered destruction of families is common in Pennsylvania. In the case of a divorce or separation, it is common for children to be court ordered "away" from one parent (most of the time the father) while granting what they call "primary custody" to the other (usually the mother). Research and common sense have shown that this practice is clearly NOT in the "best interest" of the child or children like they claim it is.  The only valid reasons I can see that the courts are unfair to men and fathers is because it makes them money from the federal government and generates revenue due to increased litigation.

The courts and the laws are totally unfair to fathers and in rare cases, mothers who have had their children taken away by the courts and "awarded" to the other parent without due process or any finding of fact whatsoever.  This is NOT JUSTICE, it is the blatantly UNCONSTITUTIONAL.  It is obvious to us why they are doing this.  The courts do this to make sure one parent (usually the father) pays outrageous, unreasonable court ordered amounts of money to the other.  This was done in an effort to get "single mothers" off of welfare but the other reason that they don't like the general public to know about is that the state receives a percentage of every dollar collected in "child support" as a federal kick back.  For every dollar that the state can TAKE from one parent and give to the other, the federal government gives the state money as TANF (temporary assistance for needy families) funding (welfare money)  I still haven't found out what these federal funds are used for.  If this federal money is being deposited into some sort of general state fund that includes something such as the pension fund of our elected career politicians, then we have big trouble.  If a reader of this website can tell me where this federal TANF money is being deposited, please e-mail me so we can expose this.

When I had my first experience with Domestic Relations, I didn't know a lot about the laws and retained a lawyer to "protect my rights".  After this lawyer got her retainer and I had a few meetings with her, I discovered that nothing about my "rights" was even mentioned.  I didn't have time to do the research myself to find out what my rights were and as a result I was a victim of the "system".  It happens to almost every father at the initial "custody conference".  They don't want you to know anything about your rights, they just want you to settle for every other weekend and one night a week and pay your "child support" like a good slave.  I was basically "PUSHED" into a decision to settle for this arrangement because I didn't know that any other arrangement existed.  Now that that part is over, it can not be changed without either the mother agreeing to change it, or the court appointing "professionals" to come into my home, and her home and evaluate each and every person that lives there and make a recommendation to the judge on who should have primary custody and you all know who that will be regardless of what is better for the child.  This is the case even though all I want is equal custody and there is absolutely no need for the court to appoint anybody for anything.

I would have to pay for all these UNNECESSARY "professionals" to do this or my case is dismissed.  HOW DO THEY GET AWAY WITH THIS STUFF???  From what I have been told it was all enacted as procedural rules by the supreme court.  There you have it, the judicial system writing it's own laws.  Again, how do they get away with this type of extortion and what is it going to take to make things fair?  Out of the three branches of government in Pennsylvania, it seems one has total control of the entire process and that breeds CORRUPTION.

Support money is supposed to be spent on the support of the child. An exaggerated amount of money that is supposed to be for the child goes right into the other parent's bank account and all of this "support" money can be spent on what ever they want to spend it on. Then they ask for fortification at the Domestic Relations office because of "security" reasons.  Could it be that people aren't going to take the abuse any longer by a government entity out of control?  In Pennsylvania, the more the court ordered non custodial parent makes, the more the courts take and give to the other parent. There is no accountability whatsoever to the parent that is paying as to where this money is spent or what it is spent on. This causes problems between parents that will definitely affect the child in a very adverse way.  The unfair laws will continue to cause problems until this issue is addressed by our legislators (NOT JUDGES AND LAWYERS) and corrected.  There are no safeguards in place such as the ones used for the welfare food stamp program that only allows this government handout to be spent on food items and necessities only.  According to the "guidelines", it costs over $800 a month for things my son needs.  My ex came to court with a list of expenses that total a little over $60 a week that she spends on my son.  My half of that is a little over $30.  Where are they coming up with these unreasonable guideline figures and why are people letting them just TAKE this kind of money from them???  Again, we know why they are extorting the unreasonable amounts of money.  I already made that very clear.

The courts have absolutely no consideration for what the parent that is ordered to pay is left to live on.  I believe the guideline theory is that the non-custodial parent is supposed to have money taken from him or her so that it can be given to the parent that is awarded "custody" for things like housing expenses, transportation, electricity, and so on.  You know....I can see trying to balance the costs between parents of things like food and clothing, but NOT the "custodial parent's" rent, car payment and all that other stuff that must be factored into these unfair "guidelines".  This is what causes the over inflation in supposed costs of raising a child.  Nobody gives the parent that is the unfortunate victim of the family courts free money to pay the mortgage and car payment when they have the child.

Someone made the choice to file for divorce and most of the time, according to statistics, it is the woman who files because they have so much to gain.  Now...as far as the child or children go, after a separation, there are TWO households to support not ONE.  There is no consideration given to the fact that the court ordered non-custodial parent has to provide a second home for his children and himself and this is WRONG.   It is common for a father to be told "sell your car or house if you can't afford it after paying your child support". What sense does it make to financially destroy one parent of a child while the other gets to enjoy life with the child or children and an extra income on top of it all? How is the parent that is ordered to pay an amount of money that is clearly in excess of their portion of what it realistically costs for necessary "support" items for a child supposed to live a normal life and provide a second home for his children whenever he is so graciously allowed visitation by the courts? Where is the justice in the family court system?  As far as I can see...THERE IS NONE.

Look at the big picture and if you are not familiar with SOCIALISM and COMMUNISM please take the time to read up on it.  The courts and their procedures have turned my life upside-down with the way divorce, custody, and so called "child support" are handled and have ensured that life didn't go on for me. If I didn't have my family to help me financially when the whole thing started, and later my wife to help me (I am happily re-married now), I would be either living with my parents at over 30 years old, or homeless due to the government imposed SLAVERY.

Our government, due to pressure from radical feminists, man hating lesbians, and hateful, vindictive ex wives, has developed a trend in taking everything from men in divorce and giving it ALL to women.  I had it done to me in the custody part of things, and so have hundreds of millions of other men in this country. There is going to have to be changes because there are so many people that are fed up with the unfair treatment, something is gong to happened.  I know deep down that if true Americans are pushed far enough by a tyrannical, unethical, corrupt government; they will eventually respond and take back the government.  There is a breaking point and hopefully soon, fathers just aren't going to take the government imposed slavery and abuse anymore. If you want proof, just go into your favorite search engine and take a look at the web pages on the internet that are for "fathers rights, women for fatherhood, SECOND WIVES GROUPS, children's justice, divorce law reform …..and the list goes on and on.  Also visit my links page to learn more.

I try to be very active (this isn't easy when I have to work 2 jobs in order to pay my bills after having what they call "child support" taken from my paycheck) in trying to get the people that the citizens elect, our elected Representatives and Senators both state and federal, to listen to what is going on in the real world and make some changes to the unfair laws. They need to realize that we KNOW what is going on and it is time for the party to END and for the courts to start dealing in true JUSTICE like they were meant to do.  These "laws" in Pennsylvania were not made the way traditional laws are supposed to be made. The latest "child support guidelines" were made up behind closed doors by a judge and a panel of lawyers. This is NOT how laws are supposed to be made but they seem to get away with it. At the very least there should be public hearings so that the real people that will be affected can have their voice heard. That is what this country is supposed to be based on isn't it?  As it stands now, there is nothing that can be done about these "laws" short of organizing the militia and going to Harrisburg, and it seems that very few elected representatives are listening.   The way the child support guidelines were made up in Pennsylvania leads a lot of people to believe that it was done for the benefit of the lawyers and special interest groups that came up with these "guidelines". Why? Please read on as I demonstrate why.

Here is a common situation. A man or woman decides that they do not want to be married any longer. Most of the time the woman will go and file for divorce because her lawyer has advised her that she can take her husband to the cleaners and it will be a big financial advantage to her to file for divorce. So, she is now encouraged by the lawyer. This is almost always the case. OK, now the long ugly divorce is over and the woman is awarded most of the family assets along with half of her ex husbands pension (why they are "entitled" to that in Pennsylvania is beyond me) that he worked all of his life for. This gets even better. She gets the house, and is awarded "primary custody" of the three children. The man is now homeless and has been ordered to pay over 1/2 of his NET income to his ex wife in child support, alimony, and even sometimes her legal fees on top of his legal fees, which are usually enough to leave anyone broke. What does he do? Simple, he does what he is forced to do. The father, who has been left with nothing after he worked his whole life to get where he was, now has less than half his pay to live on and is forced to move in with his parents, or a friend. He is getting tired of working a high stress job for about minimum wage so he quits his job and goes to work "off the books" or "under the table" and now it appears that he has NO INCOME. The government and courts have just CREATED another deadbeat so that they can take his driver's license and throw him in jail.

What good does all this do for the "best interests of the children"?  Exactly...NO GOOD.  Also, keep in mind the broken up family we are talking about here is a middle class family.  Think about that for a minute.  How much does the man of the house legitimately earn?  30k? 40k?  Half of that is 15k left for him to live on????  What would you do?  Quit your job and find an income that can not be TAKEN by the courts is what anybody would do when they are faced with a situation like this and it is totally understandable.

Meanwhile, all the lawyers and other "professionals" are making a ton of money from both parents (more from the man in most cases).  Some of these "professionals" such as the ones in the "psychology" profession, or so called guardians (another court appointed lawyer), are "assigned" to the case by a judge at the expense of the father or man in most cases without him even having a choice in paying these people.  He didn't hire these people yet he is forced to pay them.  This will take place again if the father ever decides to petition for a change in custody.  He will have to pay all these court ordered "professionals" in order to have his case heard.  Most courts are inaccessible to anyone in this type of case who wants to try and save what little money they are left with by not hiring a lawyer and if you don't have the money to pay the court appointed "professionals" you might as well forget about even trying.  Forget about even trying even if the "custodial" parent is damaging to the child and abusive.  If you don't have the money to pay...it doesn't matter.  They are told up front "you need to hire a lawyer".  Can you see why these so called laws and courts are unfair to one party?  Follow the money.

It seems that the genius that made the child support laws up seems to think that the same lifestyle has to be maintained after a divorce (that is what I hear all the time as the excuse for child support that is set at a ridiculous level).  How can you do that when you no longer have two incomes going into one house?  YOU CAN'T!  Style of living will have to DECREASE (no rocket science here) for both parents because the same amount of money has to support not one but two separate households unless they shack up with someone and add a second income to their new household.  Many separated non-custodial parents are forced to either move back with their parents or get a "room mate".   Are those people that stupid that wrote these child support guidelines?  The answer is NO they are not...they have an agenda, and we know about it.  How long do they think we the people are going to allow them to do this to us?

Here is the simple solution to the problem.  Please read on.

STOP punishing fathers and YES, in some rare cases mothers, for a relationship that didn't work out. STOP leaving them broke and unable to even provide for their own basic needs. STOP court ordering them to pay over half their earnings to support not only their child or children, but their EX and his or her live in boyfriend or girlfriend.  START ordering equal parenting time and put an end to primary custody as it is known today (one week with one parent, one week with the other) or however it best works for the child and both parents, IT'S OUR RIGHT. STOP child support totally. Each parent should be responsible for his or her own expenses when it is his or her time with the child.  Treat each parent equally and stop rewarding women for having children, separating from the children's father, and for some, even going to the extent of false accusations of abuse to ensure they get custody and the huge PAYCHECK that comes with it. It is time for EQUAL treatment, and NOW is the time.

To summarize the above paragraph, enact UPREPA as law in all 50 states.

I firmly believe that this, in time, would all but put an end to most of the fatherless children in this country and would change a lot of things in society. If people know that they would not be able to gain anything by getting divorced, either they would think a lot harder about getting married or having children or would stay married or together and work their problems out. The only "special interest group" that would be hurt by these changes is the one who caused all of the problems in the first place, the greedy lawyers, social workers, psychologists, and many others who make their living in occupations that feed on society's pain and suffering.

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This web site is strictly for your information about what is happening in our state; Pennsylvania.  Information and opinions on this website are NOT "legal" advice but ARE friendly advice from people who have been through the local domestic relations office and are very familiar with the crimes against humanity that office is getting away with strictly for PROFIT at the expense of fathers and their children.  Feel free to copy and repost any information on this site unless said information is credited to a web site other than Pennsylvania Family Court Reform (this website).  In this case, you must ask permission from the author, and since it's been our experience that most of the people that support our cause are good people, they most likely won't have a problem with it.  It's time to reclaim our state and our rights as Americans that are being trampled and ignored by a select portion of our state government, who's sole interest is PROFIT from federal grants for "child support" collection, at our expense... our JUDICIAL branch.