This is a plea of love and compassion and basic human rights. Help us unite for one common goal, with an actual purpose and solution. While I fully agree we need to be out there making noise and being seen, we must find a way to come together and know what we want beyond a doubt. This will be sent to almost everyone holding a political seat of power by Change.org they have confirmed contact information of everyone listed as recipients. I have listed as many as they allow. 30 different men/women, governors/senators, I make no personal stance on who should help as I only seek change by any means possible. Please join us by reading, signing, and most importantly sharing this link: Change.org/FathersHaveRights

   I would like to point out that I do not wish or ask that we take anything away from mothers or request any money as I will personally handle this out of my own pocket, you're more than welcome to help this site promote our cause, however, all I am asking is that you share and sign. This is purely an attempt to place certain protections for all fathers. Good, loving, dedicated fathers. This is not an attempt to allow their responsibilities to escape them either. I hold nothing but love in my heart an I want to reiterate that this is not an attack on mothers or anyone. If anything, added protections may lead to more fathers being more responsible and help to keep them in their child's life. Walking away is never an option but sadly it happens. Please read this through its entirety and make a decision to actively stand against the injustices we face in a system that simply refuses to recognize our ability to love and serve our children and their best interest equally.

    I know that evil exists. People can be atrocious at times. However, there's those of us that have done nothing but dedicate ourselves to making the lives of our children better than the ones we were afforded, to leaving a legacy our children can be proud of, and yet we are still having to fight tooth and nail for the bare minimum.

   So why is it, that in some states even married fathers are barely even heard?

   Unmarried fathers, like myself specifically, have literally no say in any matter related to their child even when they were present for the birth, on the child's birth certificate, and have spent years bonding, celebrating, nourishing, teaching, loving and caring about ,these children. Our entire worlds (being our children) can be taken from us without any justification, notice, or laws to protect us and our children. Forcing kids to endure the abuse that can arise from both, a short and long term relationlong-termure from one or even both parents when rights and money, honor, and pride are put into question both privately and publicly.

   I am attempting to be a voice specifically for fathers like me. Who, along with so many other men and women, we have witnessed the injustices that can be dealt within family courts.

   A mother can ultimately decide to end a relationship at a moment's notice or none at all. They can just pick up and leave, move on to another life with someone else or even force the father out in the best interest of the child. Take the child away completely without any real justification or explanation other than emotions and convenience and the idea they hold of what their new life should be like. Sometimes these matters can be resolved through cooperation and proper planning and seeking the right help. Other times, fathers must immediately take action or risk being considered less than valuable in the overall outcome and well being of their children. While I myself sought legal aid in these matters immediately. Others may not be able to afford this right away. It can take many months to save for and all the while, the children suffer and that time is ultimately lost forever and used against us. 

**The following excerpt is taken directly from the Father Rights Movement home page.** 

You can browse through it yourself at https://fathersrightsmovement.us/facts/

"Children who have equal and meaningful contact with two fit parents:

• Are LESS likely to drop out of school;
•
• Are LESS likely to run away from home;
•
• Are LESS likely to become pregnant or have an abortion;
•
• Are LESS likely to commit suicide;
•
• Are LESS likely to seek, or create an abusive relationship;
•
• Are LESS likely to commit crimes;
•
• Are LESS likely to turn to drugs or alcohol;
•
• ADJUST better to separation than children with one custodian;
•
• Are MORE likely to have successful relationships;
•
• Are MORE likely to have healthy sleep patterns and general health."

   Whether we marry the child's mother or not it makes us no less of a man and it certainly doesn't change the amount of love we have for our children. This should be considered a personal choice between couples and should not be considered in court when deciding custody or the well being of a child. 

   I urge you to consider reform and more clarification in these matters immediately.

   While all the world's problems can't be solved with just a simple pen. I do believe this one could be. Fathers who dedicate themselves to their children willingly without any outside interference and show respect to the other parent should not be allowed to be bullied, abused, and/or exploited by a particular system made up of legal council and courts that has learned the lengths we go to keep our relationship as strong as possible and maintain contact. That also knows we will fight until we have nothing left to give and by mothers for personal gain or because of failed relationships and the personal interest or opinions of the court. The system is bias to its own agendas, whether that be profit or because of the never ending manner in which cases are handled. Nobody wins in these cases except the attorneys and the districts in which these robberies take place. This violates our rights as human beings. It is a way to leach money and income that would be better suited providing for families and children but are instead being taken by 3rd party entities, courts and the attorneys, with the only alternative being to sign our rights away or go to jail. This is similar to intrapment, it shoentrapmentawful. Proper change and procedures could save millions of children from having to endure some of the most emotionally, psychologically damaging, and hurtful things that a child or teen can endure. It can cause unwarranted resentment on both sides and pain that can carry well on into adulthood and have a ripple effect on everything they do in life. 

   Finally, I request that our leaders - Past, Present, and Future, honor this Petition in its entirety to begin advocating and making changes in legislation both federally and at statewide levels. Recognize the patterns and help expose the potential fraud that can and does happen every day and continues to haunt the lives of fathers and their families.

   These protections should cover the following fathers and only begin with but not be limited to:   

• Fathers who attend the birth, are acknowledged as the father by the mother, are allowed by the mother to sign the birth certificate are awarded split legal custody from that day forward. With the condition that there is sufficient witness to this event. Be it the doctor, medical staff, or a specially assigned representative of the hospital.

   This allows both parties to maintain peace of mind. If the relationship fails the father isn't going to be subjected to the injustices, heartache, mental anguish, and depression that come with being forced to spend long periods of time separated from the very being they helped create and possibly even deliver into this world. This happens all to often simply because the marriage did not occur or was simply not an option at the time.

   An while I personally believe in the principles that stand alongside the institution of marriage, I do not feel as though it should dictate whether a father, has any rights or not at the time of birth. This is a personal choice made in private between two individuals.

   Neither party should be discriminated against or denied their God-given right to their own flesh an blood based solely on marrital status, this also violates our rights and is a form of religious discrimination for profit.

• Men who are willing to accept a child as their own, take sole responsibility with the mother to care for and support the child while living in the same household with the child and mother. Can show that there is a loving and nurturing bond that has formed between the child and father regardless of relation.

These men should be honored as heroes of our youth, stepping up to raise a child with love, support, and the same unending compassion regardless of the relation is truly a beautiful thing to see. 

• Fathers who are unknowingly deceived & were never notified by the mother that they could possibly have created another life with them. These men, providing they are able and willing, should be able to gain the same rights as well.

   Mothers are equally important and I full-heartedly believe they matter just as much. All I am asking is that fathers who are not being contested at the time of birth be afforded the same rights. To prevent issues like PPD (post-partum depression), relationship failure, and a multitude of other issues that form later to disrupt thats childs growth and development along with the relationship made with that parent.

   Having the knowledge that fathers are equally valued and honored would only force mothers to decide before a child is born if she wants that father to have equal physical and legal custody. If not, she must immediately provide adequate reasons along with proof that this would not be in the child's best interest. Equal time should be the standard and enforced until proven it should not be the case. Mothers should not be able to withhold a child from their father until he has the ability to seek legal aid. This is a violation of our rights and should be punishable in the same way a father is held accountable for unpaid support and parents that disobey court ordered visicourt-ordered less.

   Co-parenting is a two-way street and double standards have become the standard.

   I end my plea here, for now. I do believe I speak for the majority of unmarried fathers who seek the ultimate relationship - a strong, healthy, ongoing, and consistent one with their child. We have been unlawfully and automatically discriminated against as men in so many cases. Our very rights have been violated by allowing anyone to declare war on that and be aided by those who only seek to profit from our hardships. 

   I sincerely thank you for your time. This is my first attempt of many if I see no change coming. I look forward to addressing you again if that ends up being the case. I strongly hold onto hope that we can get these issues addressed so that no other loving fathers have to endure the pain of losing a child who is still alive. I urge you with every fiber of my being to research the issues I speak of and hear some stories from fathers who have been adversely affected by the outcome of courts decisions that we believe drag these matters out sometimes with the sole purpose of padding the pockets of attorneys and other monetary beneficiaries of the long process that is family court. We deserve to be heard like anyone else.

   We are FATHERS from all walks of life, every color, race, and religion and we will never quit fighting for the love of our children.

   I encourage you to take a few moments to visit the Father's Rights/Fighting Fathers support groups on Facebook and Twitter, see some of the stories and learn about just how difficult it can be for us from thousands of other men and women. I promise all it takes is a few minutes and may open your eyes and hearts to those of us who quietly endure something that most would perceive unbearable.

   Right now, 24.7+ Million children live in a home without their biological father in the United States. An while necessary in specific instances just as it is with mothers too, this equates to 1 in 3 children whose parents relationship failed, live without having unhindered access to their father. Only 1 in 6 fathers have consistent access and or custody of their children. Nearly half of the fathers who do not have any rights and are not mandated to pay their children's mother, still pay some amount of child support or maintain some other form of support.

Some 21+ loving, caring, heartbroken fathers end their lives every week because of the burden of financial responsibility, lack of support, loss of status, and limited access to their children.

If you or a loved one are currently being affected in this manner and have doubts as to whether you want to continue on, seek help through one of the father's rights groups on Facebook as there are plenty of men and women who will hear you out and offer a helping hand. Or contact your local emergency services or the national suicide hotline @ 1-800-273-8255. Do not give up! We are here for you. I will continue this for all my life in honor of all those who feel this pain, have yet to be here, and those who did not survive the fight. Your lives, voices, and memories matter.