Single parent families are currently excluded under Georgia family law.  Because they are excluded they have no rights established, because they have no rights established they have no rights to defend, because they have not rights to defend they are disenfranchised.

The word family is not explicitly defined under Georgia law, but the implied definition is a married mother and father living under one roof with a child.

The definition of “family” in Title 19 of the Georgia Code should not be an implied definition, it should be clearly defined. “Family” is too important of a word to not be clearly defined, especially since the average citizen refers to the statutes in Title 19 of the Georgia Code as “family” law; yet Georgia law contains no clear definition of the word “family”.

“Parent”, another very important word in Title 19 of the Georgia Code, is clearly defined as such: 

19-6-15

( a) 

(16) “Parent” means a person who owes a child a duty of support pursuant to Code Section 19-7-2.

The word “family” is equally if not more important than the word “parent “and it should be clearly defined in Title 19 of the Georgia code as well.  Further, the definition should be inclusive of all types of families to include single parent families.

 We are demanding that single parent families are equally represented under Georgia family law, and we are asking for your support in that effort.  Single parent families can only be equally represented under the law when they are recognized under the law as families.

Please sign this petition as an endorsement to the letter that we will send to Georgia lawmakers addressing this problem once we've reached our goal of 200,000 signatures.