I am writing this petition not only as an individual deeply affected by the current state of child custody laws, but as someone whose life was changed by my hero: my father. He was an initial custodial father, with no significant criminal history, who dutifully and lovingly cared for me. Despite his devotion, the courts decided to deny my father custody stating it was the best interest of the child to be with the mother. All the while, my biological mother, a woman with a documented history of being in abusive relationships and had a drug and alcohol addiction, was awarded primary custody.

This case is not an anomaly. Child custody laws across the United States have shown a bias against fathers, despite evidence suggesting that children who foster close relationships with their fathers have better psychological health and higher self-esteem. According to the U.S. Census Bureau of 2013, only 1 in 6 custodial parents are fathers, showcasing a systemic bias against male parents

My plea comes from personal experience but aims to challenge these systemic biases. I survived my mother’s abusive household only because my father chose to make the ultimate sacrifice and save me from a dangerous and toxic environment. We need to ensure that our family court systems prioritize the child's best interests over gender biases. We need to adjust these laws to make a fair assessment of each parent's abilities, without any prejudice or favor, while recognizing the courage of fathers like mine who have gone above and beyond their call of duty.

Yoshi is a minority father that lives in Davenport, Iowa with no significant criminal history that had his daughter taken away from him and the mother was granted full custody. He is now only given 4 hours a day of visitation 2 days a week with only 1 additional 4-hour day every other weekend against his daughter’s mother who is white with a domestic abuse conviction and additional documented domestic abuse (some of which everyone witnessed videos of online seeing her trying to hit him with their daughter in his arms as he’s trying to protect her).

The mother works 5 days a week requiring the child to be put into childcare for a minimum of 5 days per week due to the mother's work schedule. The father is available to care for the child during these hours however the judge refuses to allow him to do so. Specifically disallows overnight stays with the father even though the father has been the primary parent of the child for 90 out of the previous 107 days.

Child support has been awarded to the mom to pay for childcare even though the father is available to take care of his daughter. Everything about this case is unfair. It is about race, gender and sadly who Yoshi is as a successful bar owner and among other businesses in the community and not himself as a father. Being successful and a good father shouldn’t be the reason your child is taken from you. The system needs to stop failing children before it's too late. Being with the mother isn’t always what is best. You can watch him simply on Facebook every day and see the connection he has with his little girl. He isn’t the only one suffering right now. So is his little girl. 

By signing this petition, you are paving the way for a child to have a fair and loved upbringing. Help us amend the laws that separate children from their fit fathers. Please sign this petition to push for the revision of discriminatory child custody laws.

(Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, 2013)