Local lawmakers successfully push passage of 'joint-custody' bill

Two local Republican lawmakers successfully pushed for passage of a bill aimed at giving divorced parents more equal custody over their children.

The Missouri House voted 154-2 earlier this week to prohibit courts from presuming a parent is more qualified to be a guardian based on his or her gender.

The Senate passed the legislation on a 28-0 vote two weeks ago.

The measure awaits Gov. Jay Nixon’s signature to become law.

State Rep. Kathy Swan and state Sen. Wayne Wallingford spearheaded the legislation.

Both crafted nearly identical bills to make joint custody the default setting when a couple goes to court.

Swan said she was excited the “shared parenting” provision won legislative approval as an amendment to another bill in the House.

“This language can reset the default in child-custody proceedings where some courts routinely award significantly less parenting time to fathers,” Swan said.

She added, “We need to not only speak in terms of ‘shared parenting’ versus ‘child custody,’ but need to take steps in Missouri to view each case through the lens of what is truly in the best interests of each child, including meaningful contact with both parents.”

Earlier in the session, Swan voiced support for shared custody.

“Considering if you have fit and willing parents, it makes common sense for children to maximize their time with both parents,” she said.

Wallingford said during the session federal statistics show single-parent homes account for 63 percent of teen suicides, 70 percent of juveniles in state-operated facilities, 71 percent of high-school dropouts and 85 percent of children in prison.

“Most fatherlessness is not caused by abandonment; it’s created by an outdated court system,” the senator said.

State Rep. Donna Lichtenegger, R-Jackson, credited passage to the efforts of Swan and Wallingford.

She said Swan crafted the original bill.

“She did all the work on it,” Lichtenegger said of the House measure.

Lichtenegger, who also backed the measure, said judges in the past often favored mothers over fathers in child-custody matters.

Divorced father and Jackson resident Mike Seabaugh welcomed passage of the legislation.

“I think this is great,” he said.

His youngest daughter testified before the Missouri Senate earlier this year in support of the legislation.

Seabaugh has full custody of his two daughters, 16 and 18 years of age, but it took him years to gain custody.

As the Missouri Legislature began this last week of the session, Seabaugh said he wondered whether the measure would win passage this year.

Now that it has, Seabaugh said he is optimistic the governor will sign the bill into law.

“Now, I think,” he said, “the presumption will be that custody should start at 50-50 unless there are reasons that it shouldn’t.”

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641