LAKE FOREST, Calif., June 4 /PRNewswire/ -- As Father's Day approaches, we
 hear the first distant rumblings of a new movement for women-second wives,
 women married to men with children from previous relationships.
     According to many second wives, their husbands' ex-spouse interferes with
 visitation or denies any access to the children at all.
     The family courts often do nothing to enforce the fathers' visitation.
 Second wives and their allies find this ill treatment of good fathers
 intolerable.  They feel our society's alarming trend toward "fatherlessness"
 must be reversed.
     Dianna Thompson, Director of the American Coalition for Fathers and
 Children and the Second Wives Crusade says, "Many fathers have become
 'Deadbolted Dads,'" a term coined by author Gail Sheehy, in the NY Times,
 referring to divorced dads finding themselves locked out of their children's
 lives with no way to get back in.
 
     Research supports the women's claims.
     -- Sociology Professor David Popenoe wrote in "Life Without Father,"
        "...if present trends continue, the percentage of American children
        living apart from their biological fathers will reach 50 percent early
        in the next century."
     -- Children's Rights Council estimated that 5,600,000 children's
        "...access/visitation to a non-custodial parent is interfered with by a
        custodial parent."
 
     Chicago based attorney Jeffery Leving, author of "Father's Rights,"
 suggests that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's new ad
 campaign to convey the importance of fatherhood might, in actuality,
 perpetuate negative male stereotyping which can escalate "gender wars."
     "The slogan for their new ad campaign, 'They're your kids.  Be their dad,'
 seems to target the wrong audience and incorrectly communicate that many dads
 shirk their paternal responsibilities and are therefore irresponsible," said
 Leving.  The slogan that I see as a better fit for promoting the importance of
 fatherhood is "They're your kids, mom.  Let their father be their dad."  The
 big problem is visitation interference, powerless dads, and a partially
 ineffective system, not irresponsible fathers," explained Leving.
     Thompson said, "With so many Dads calling me in despair about not being
 able to see their children, I find it ironic that in LA County more than 350
 men a month are incorrectly named as fathers, according to the LA Times.  The
 system financially awards children to fathers who are not the fathers, while
 keeping dads from having relationships with their own children.  This is
 outrageous.  We must change this."
 
 

SOURCE  American Coalition for Fathers and Children