Military Dads Have an Advocate in Radio's Glenn Sacks
by Jim Brown
April 22, 2004
(AgapePress) - A columnist and Los Angeles radio talk-show host says military service costs some men their children. He says a federal act dealing with members of the armed forces needs to be amended to address family law problems that can arise when a serviceman is overseas.Men's and father's issues columnist Glenn Sacks contends that no state is doing enough to protect the rights of military fathers. According to Sacks, since the average military deployment is six months or longer, a problem can arise if a military spouse moves to another state while her spouse is deployed.
Sacks says at that point, the soldier's links to his children could be severely damaged. "She's going to be able to file for divorce in the new state [and] get custody [of the children]," he says. "The guy? It's very difficult for him to fight for his rights as a father in the court in another state -- plus he's going to be getting hit with heavy child-support burdens."
In such a situation, according to Sacks, the odds are it may be years before the dad is ever able to reestablish regular contact with his children -- "if he's allowed to at all," says Sacks, adding that it is an incredible price to pay for men who are overseas defending their country.
The talk-show host says restrictions on military personnel's ability to travel, as well as financial hardships created by child-support obligations, make it difficult for servicemen to fight for their parental rights in another state. That is why Sacks believes the Federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act of 2003 must be amended.
"[T]he act needs to specifically prohibit permanent moves to other states without the permission of either the spouse or of a court," he says. "So if the [father] is away and a mother wants to move the children to another state, she can do that -- but that's a temporary move. All of the divorce proceedings, custody matters, all that will have to be adjudicated in the original state."
Sacks says as America's military commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan persist, such family law issues need to be addressed.
