• Fathers & Families can often be found on Beacon Hill, meeting with individual legislators and testifying at legislative hearings with the guidance of our lobbyists, The Suffolk Group. We have established ourselves as the voice of responsible and loving fathers.



• We have filed six bills in the current session of the Legislature, and lobby continuously for their passage.



• in the 2007-2008 Massachusetts Legislative Session, there are over 6,000 bills currently filed by other parties and we monitor them to identify all bills that affect fathers and children.

Click here for the Ballot Initiative page.

• Access to their children’s school records became a little easier for non-custodial parents when Governor Romney signed Senate Bill 2206 (SB 2206) in 2006. Under the new law, “any parent who does not have physical custody of a child shall be eligible for the receipt of information unless said parent is currently denied legal custody of the child, denied visitation, or is currently ordered to supervised visitation, based on a threat to the safety of the child , or whose access to their child is currently restricted by a temporary or permanent protective order”. The old law required a non-custodial parent to prove that he or she was not denied custody as a threat to the children or former spouse before being granted access to student records. Now non-custodial fathers in Massachusetts can start requesting and receiving their children’s school records…it’s the law
  
  UPDATE 9/06: The change in the parental access to student records law is included in the September 2006 issue of the Massachusetts Commissioner of Education's Update. For a full version click here.
  
  UPDATE 9/06: The final law allowing non-custodial parents to have access to student records is detailed in “Chapter 71: Section 34H. Noncustodial parents; receipt of information for child enrolled in public elementary or secondary schools; notice to custodial parent”; for a full version click here
  
  Full text of SB2206
  Related Boston Globe article - May 2005
  Click here for our Student Records Bill page.
  

• Click here for an up-to-date historical profile of all bills filed by Fathers & Families for the 2007-2008 Massachusetts Legislative Session. Note that links to our position papers are for the current 2007-2008 legislative session and links to our testimonies pertain to bills filed in prior legislative sessions.
  


• Each of Fathers & Families' six bills has been sponsored by one or more members of the legislative leadership. A seventh bill on restraining orders was not refiled because the Mass. Supreme Court reached a decision that accomplished all that we had asked.

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• 2007-2008 - Shared Parenting Bill
  HB 1460 / SB 994 Act Relative to Shared Parenting
  This bill creates a rebuttable presumption of shared legal and shared physical custody of children during and after divorce. It is currently sponsored by more than 50 legislators. For more details click on the links below.
  Fathers & Families Position Paper
  Click here to use our standard shared parenting letter to write your legislator ("Word" format)
  Fathers & Families Testimony
  
  These 44 Massachusetts legislators are cosponsors of HB1460 in the 2007-2008 legislative session:
  

  Rep. Colleen M. Garry, 36th Middlesex – main sponsor
  Sen. Steven C. Panagiotakos, 1st Middlesex – main sponsor
  Rep. Cory Atkins, Fourteenth Middlesex
  Rep. Jay Barrows, 1st Bristol
  Rep. John J. Binienda, 17th Worcester
  Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire & Franklin
  Sen. Scott P. Brown, Norfolk, Bristol & Middlesex
  Rep. Thomas Calter, 12th Plymouth (Kingston) (new Rep.)
  Rep. Christine E. Canavan, 10th Plymouth
  Rep. Stephen R. Canessa, 12th Bristol
  Rep. Paul C. Casey, 31st Middlesex (Stoneham and Winchester)
  Rep. Robert K. Coughlin, 11th Norfolk
  Rep. Lewis G. Evangelidis, 1st Worcester
  Sen. Susan C. Fargo, 3rd Middlesex
  Rep. Michael E. Festa, 32nd Middlesex
  Rep. John P. Fresolo, 16th Worcester
  Rep. Anne M. Gobi, 5th Worcester
  Rep. Thomas A. Golden, Jr., 16th Middlesex
  Rep. Denis E. Guyer, 2nd Berkshire
  Rep. Geoffrey D. Hall, 2nd Middlesex
  Sen. Robert L. Hedlund, Plymouth & Norfolk
  Rep. Bradley H. Jones, Jr., 20th Middlesex (Lynnfield, Middleton, North Reading, Reading)
  Rep. Thomas P. Kennedy, 9th Plymouth
  Rep. Stephen P. LeDuc, Fourth Middlesex
  Rep. John A. Lepper, Second Bristol
  Rep. Paul J.P. Loscocco, 8th Middlesex
  Sen. Richard T. Moore, Worcester & Norfolk
  Rep. David M. Nangle, Seventeenth Middlesex
  Rep. Patrick M. Natale, 30th Middlesex
  Rep. Harold P. Naughton, Jr., 12th Worcester
  Rep. Robert J. Nyman, 5th Plymouth
  Rep. Jeffrey Davis Perry, 5th Barnstable
  Rep. Douglas W. Peterson, 8th Essex
  Rep. Elizabeth A. Poirier, 14 Bristol
  Rep. John F. Quinn, 9th Bristol
  Rep. Pamela Richardson, 6th Middlesex
  Rep. Richard J. Ross, 9th Norfolk
  Rep. Todd M. Smola, 1st Hampden
  Rep. Robert P. Spellane, 13th Worcester
  Rep. Thomas M. Stanley, 9th Middlesex
  Rep. David B. Sullivan, 6th Bristol
  Rep. Eric Turkington, Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket
  Rep. Joseph F. Wagner, 8th Hampden
  Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, 2nd Suffolk

  
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  These 9 Massachusetts legislators are cosponsors of SB994 in the 2007-2008 legislative session:
  

  Sen. Steven C. Panagiotakos, 1st Middlesex – main sponsor
  Sen. Scott P. Brown, Norfolk, Bristol & Middlesex
  Sen. Stephen Buoniconti, Hampden
  Rep. Thomas A. Golden, Jr., 16th Middlesex
  Rep. David Linsky, 5th Middlesex
  Sen. Richard T. Moore, Worcester & Norfolk
  Rep. James Murphy, 4th Norfolk
  Rep. David M. Nangle, Seventeenth Middlesex
  Sen. Bruce Tarr, 1st Essex and Middlesex
  

  
  

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• 2007-2008 - Out-of-State Moveaway Control Bill
  HB 1639 / SB995 Act Clarifying the Removal Statute
  This bill elevates the importance of the father-child relationship in evaluating whether an out-of-state moveaway is in the best interest of the child. For more details click on the link below.
  Fathers & Families Position Paper




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• 2007-2008 - Trust Fund Protection Bill
  HB 1707 Act to Protect the Intentions of Settlors or Donors of Trusts
  This bill protects grandparents who create trusts for their children from having family court judges give the assets to divorcing in-laws instead of the intended recipients. For more detail click on the links below.
  Fathers & Families Position Paper
  Fathers & Families Testimony




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• 2007-2008 - Dad Care vs. Daycare Bill
  HB 1459 Act Relative to Increasing Parental Involvement with Child Care
  This bill would allow fit fathers to care for their children in preference to outside caregivers. For more detail click on the links below.
  Fathers & Families Position Paper
  Fathers & Families Testimony

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• 2007-2008 - Paternity Fraud Prevention Bill
  HB 1655 Act Relative to Establishing Paternity
  This bill would prevent men with DNA evidence that they are not the father of a child from being required to pay child support. For more details click on the links below.
  Fathers & Families Position Paper
  Fathers & Families Testimony




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• 2007-2008 - Department of Revenue Administrative Hearings
  HB 2877 Act Relative to Department of Revenue Hearings
  This bill would require the DOR to provide an administrative hearing with certain due process safeguards in the case of an obligor or obligee dispute.

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• 2003-2004 - HB2094. 209A Restraining Order Reform Bill. Click on the following links for related documents.
  F&F Position Paper
  F&F Testimony

• HB5536. Connecticut. Anti-Relocation Bill. In relocation, or 'moveaway', cases, this bill would place the burden of proving that the relocation is in the best interest of the child with the custodial parent. This bill passed in the House and Senate on 5/2/06 and 5/3/06 respectively and is waiting for signature by Gov. M. Jodi Rell.
  Links to Full Text, Bill History, and other Documents

Surveillance of All Other Legislation

• This is the first time Massachusetts fathers and children have had a proactive force protecting their interests on Beacon Hill. Of the more than 8,000 bills field in the current session of the Legislature, Fathers & Families has identified about 150 that could affect fathers and children. Of these, about two dozen are important enough that we have submitted oral and/or written testimony for or against.
• Other bills we are monitoring concern such issues as
• Child support enforcement
• Custody and "visitation"
• Criminal charges against fathers
• Access to school records and notice
• Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) issues

Family Link

Family Link March 2004

• Research on Removals Shows Harmful Effects on Children
• What's Best for Children
• Over 100 Attend Fathers & Families’ Candidates’ Night
• International Support Builds for Shared Parenting
• FAF Expands – Dan Hogan Joins Staff as Managing Director

June 2003

February 2003

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