At its core, the shared parenting bill that overwhelmingly passed the Missouri Legislature and heads to Gov. Jay Nixon is common sense: Children need two parents, not just one, especially in instances of divorce.
What’s more, HB 1550 doesn’t stop at common sense. It’s based on a growing body of evidence showing that children desperately want and need shared parenting, not the current status quo of sole custody, when their parents divorce.
Plus, this bill represents a solution for all. It doesn’t favor women. It isn’t partial to men. Instead, it’s family-friendly and encourages judges to give children what they most want and need — shared parenting. With shared parenting, the roles that mothers and fathers both play in their children’s lives receive equal respect, and rightfully so.
I feel so blessed to have you as my father and I’m thankful for the wonderful life you have given me. In honor of Father’s Day, I would like to celebrate you: a magnificent man, a loyal, loving husband, a devoted father, and a true friend.
Please know that my list of gratitude is endless and continues to grow with each passing day.
Thank you for falling madly in love with Charlene Campo and marrying her 41 years ago. Thank you for showing me that news headlines are not the norm; men can actually love women faithfully and unconditionally – for a lifetime.
Thank you for knowing you wanted to be a father.
Thank you for providing me with a never-ending sense of physical safety and emotional security whenever I’m with you, even if we are with my husband.
Thank you for constantly showering me with heartfelt hugs and kisses. And to this day, thanks for squeezing my cheeks so hard I sometimes yelp, “Ouch, Dad!”
Thank you for crying in front of me when I was 9 years old when you found out your father had died.
Thank you for encouraging me to play on the boy’s baseball team because there was not a girl’s baseball team for my age group.
Thank you for leaving work early to watch me play sports, and thank you for always cheering so loud that I knew it was undeniably your voice emanating from the bleachers.
Thank you for teaching me the importance of health and exercise.
Thank you for raising me to be a die-hard Boston sports fan, and thanks for allowing me to watch you cry when the Red Sox lost to the Mets in the 1986 World Series.
Thank you for being an overprotective father from the time I was an infant until present day. For the record, there was no way I was going to fall into the Grand Canyon; we were on an observation deck! However, the grip you had on the back of my T-shirt still impresses me to this day.
Thank you for teaching me the power of humor and how to effectively tell a joke.
Thank you for teaching me the significance of “knowing my audience”, and when appropriate, the power of dropping a well enunciated f-bomb in proper company.
Thank you for changing the massive surgical bandage after my surgery because Mom could not stomach the site of the stitches, the dried blood, the swelling, and the black, purple and yellow discoloration.
Thank you for always telling me I am beautiful.
Thank you for working two jobs for 18 years to provide our family with a comfortable lifestyle. Thank you for always kissing me on the cheek to say goodnight when you came home from your bartending shifts at 2 A.M.
Thank you for teaching me the importance of humility, and the remarkable power of emotional and financial generosity.
Thank you for stressing the importance of education. When you went back to college for your second master’s degree, you showed me that it is never too late to change careers.
Thank you for telling me to “shake it off” when you knew I was not in dire physical pain.
Thank you for embarrassing me and Liz when you picked us up for spring break during our freshman year of college. The image I have of you incessantly yelling, “Girls, daddy’s here!” for the entire length of Evergreen Drive—with half of your body leaning out the station wagon window—is permanently seared into my memory.
Thank you for teaching me about politics and political parties. Thank you for resisting the urge to convince me to vote for your candidate.
Thank you for never lying to me.
Thank you for loving your brother and teaching me the importance of loving those who are not like you. Thank you for showing me that a person’s sexual orientation is part of their soul and should never affect the love you have for them.
Thank you for loving and accepting Uncle Joe’s husband.
Thank you for loving and accepting my husband.
Thank you for loving and accepting me and always making me feel like I am good enough.
Thank you for showing me what is means to be a good man, a great teacher, an extraordinary husband, and an outstanding father for the past 37 years of my life.
Over the years I have been most inspired by the work of Omar and David Inguanzo from their group Children’s Rights and would call o all like mined folk to join us and make the break through 3000th member by this Easter!
I am also honoured to be regarded as a cause leader within the group.
“A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.” ~ MLK Jr.
Along with other campaigners such as Donald Tenn, David Carlin, Anthony Lemons, Second Class Citizen.org and many more who know the massive challenges that still lie ahead through out the USA. Here in the UK there seems a modest groundswell towards reform and feel I would like to see this hope extended to other associated fighting for justice in Family Courts and reforming child welfare organisations to start acting as they are expected to !
Along with everyone throughout the USA I would call on those in Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Greece…….and beyond to use this group as an umbrella organisation to promote our causes generate information not only among ourselves but that can be lobbied through the media , local and national press and radio ,and onto our reluctant political masters!
Few social policies seem to do as much universal good as paid paternity leave: Study after study has shown that when a father plays an active role in a child’s early years, he or she will end up healthier, achieve greater academic success, and even make more…Read More
An estimated 24.7 million children (33%) live absent their biological father. We asked Democratic and Republican Primary Candidates ~ How can you address the fatherlessness epidemic? ~ Of students in grades 1 through 12, 39 percent (17.7 million) live in…Read More
The Family Court System in our country is failing our children at an alarming rate, children are being ripped from the arms of fit and loving parents every minute of every day, all to fill the pockets of the “system!” Judicial Kidnapping is rapid, CPS has…Read More
Divorce should not alienate children from either parent, absent proven legitimate abuse. Children with involved parents do better in school, less likely to get into trouble. Being a single parent is difficult work, 2 parents allow for both parents time…Read More
Bias and abuse of discretion cannot be tolerated when it comes to the “Best Interest” of our children. More eyes are needed on the Judges to ensure they are doing the work of the Court, any nothing more. Reform is needed on many levels, especially in the…Read More
1. Judges and Attorney’s need mandatory education about personality disorders and a child’s age appropriate developmental needs- particularly Antisocial and Narcissistic since these are the most damaging to children. 2. A Trial Court should be mandated to…Read More
Why do we remove fit parents from the lives of children every day? Is it because the Courts have remained stuck in outmoded thoughts or is it because we have a current system of law that punishes fit parents for no wrong doing? A single question that has…Read More
The Cause “Stand Up For Zoraya” celebrates the love fathers have for their daughters, inspiring them to embrace the important role they hold in their daughters’ lives and to provide the love, nurture, and emotional support that only they can give.
Stand Up For Zoraya is the voice of the child Since January of 2009, we’re happy to populate the Internet with information that is helpful, supportive, and conducive to fostering father-child relationships, reducing or eliminating Parental Alienation, for the betterment of our children’s psychological and emotional health, and for the future health of our families and societies.
In addition, Stand Up For Zoraya hopes to shed light on and reform an antiquated loopholes in our Legal Adversarial system in Family Law that degrades a father’s role. My fight my battle is not mine alone. I will not stoop to your level God knows my heart. I refuse to live in sadness I know God will make things right. I leave it in God’s hand.
Power UP for national Parents Day holiday – IT’S THE LAW!
Mothers Day, Fathers Day, etc….. but PARENTS Day is the most powerful of all for family rights, by express command of federal law! Parents Day is an official federal holiday, just like New Years Day, Presidents Day, Christmas, and the rest. Every federal holiday is based on a particular federal statute authorizing/enacting said holiday… The *entire* statute for Parents Day is short and sweet, yet ultra-powerful for… See More
FREE MEN:
From the notion which a) ignores the rigid definition of their roles and b) insists they are culturally favored. From the tendency to evaluate themselves and each other by the degree to which they meet an impossible ideal. From conditioned competitiveness and the fear of sharing failures, anxieties and disappointments with one another. From a mistrust of their feelings and instincts and an over reliance on logical thought processes. From the notion that violent action confirms and enhances their manliness. From a relative ignorance of their bodily functions and disdain for their body’s warning signals. From their conditioning to pacify and protect women, thereby inhibiting them from expressing their true feelings. From the pressure to be what they are not in preparation for their success role. From an over reliance on their jobs for a sense of identity. From conflict between their polygamous sexual conditioning as youths, and society’s expectation that they will overcome that conditioning after marriage. From preoccupation with sexual technique and from imperatives to concentrate on satisfying their partners sexually, seemingly at the expense of their own sexual pleasure. From the social barriers and pressures which stand in the way of their establishing close emotional friendships with other men. From the inclination to turn their wives into permission giving mother figures. From the need to prove their worthiness as protectors and providers. From feelings of inadequacy in matters of child care and child rearing. From feelings which inhibit them from developing a closer more emotional relationship with their children. From divorce laws which presume the naturally superior capabilities of women to care for children and which stereotype men as wallets. From national conscription practices which play on their traditional role as protector of the family and society. From harsher treatment under law for criminal violations than the treatment accorded to women in matters of arrest, conviction and sentencing. From the notion that as a class they oppress women any more than women as a class oppress them, or than society in general oppresses both sexes through stereotyping.
Award-Winning and Prize-Winning Author of Access Denied, The Wretched, The Roots of Evil, The Ghost of Clothes, Omonolidee, First Words and Unzipped: The Mind of a Madman, The Deeper Roots of Evil, UFO, Cinema, Realm of Rhyme along with numerous short stories, poems and articles.
Stand Up For Zoraya 
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