Are you kidding me?!?!?!
I’m posting early in the morning because this one kept me awake for most of the night.
Senate Bill 932 sponsored by Senator Wright and it’s companion bill House Bill 141 sponsored by Representative Leek, are making their way through the Florida legislature, The Bills would amend the Florida divorce statute to provide that:
“The court may not grant a parent time-sharing with a minor child if the parent is required to register as a sexual offender under s. 943.0435 or a sexual predator under s. 775.21″ unless the court makes a “specific finding in writing that the registrant poses no significant risk of harm to the child and that time-sharing is in the best interest of the child.”
WHAT THE F…?!?!?!
So if you have a sexual offense in your past, no matter what it was, no matter if it was years or decades before you get married and start a family, and you happen to get divorced, even for reasons completely unrelated to the offense, the court may not grant you time sharing (custody) with your own children unless the court specifically finds in writing you present no significant risk of harm to the child?
So if you get divorced you automatically lose your children and it’s up to a judge whether you can see them again and the burden on the judge is for them, not a qualified practitioner in risk assessments, but the judge, to make a specific written finding that you present no significant risk of harm to the child?
We have seen plenty of cases where a judge has a bias against someone on the registry or found that even a “negligible risk” or “less than 1 percent risk” is not “no risk” or “zero risk”, even though “zero risk” does not exist on the risk assessment instruments.
Anyone who is on the registry and has minor children, whether presently married or divorced, should be very concerned. If this horrible bill passes it will change the dynamic of families of registrants immediately.
Below are the links to the bills:
https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2021/932
https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2021/141
Look for a CALL TO ACTION this coming week.
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What prompted the introduction of this bill?
A similar bill has been floated in SC in the current session.
Ideas and bills get floated state to state due to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and you can see it going from state to state. The statute of limitations is an example.
East answer; To create problems where there are no problems. It keeps them working and earning our tax dollars.
This has the ability to spill over into other limitations in other FS. As a grandparent on the registry who has daily contact with a grandchild (we homeschool him) this is just another layer of punishment.
Making it impossible for the Judge to use best judgement when dealing with visitation of a minor is just another poke in our face.
Where do these “lawgivers” come up with these ideas? Maybe they stay up all night as well.
A child needs their father. Even if the father is divorced and registered.
A child needs to be protected from a father that abuses them. But abusive is not the same thing as divorced and registered. Abuse is already illegal.
I would like Florida to be a family-friendly state. The state should not be in the business of family separation unless there is a danger to the child. This law would create, for the first time, a state presumption that being divorced + registered makes one a danger to ones own child, amirite?
Thanks for considering my talking points. Feel free to use them if you find them persuasive.
Do we know of ANY case in which a FL registered SO abused their own child post-divorce?
If not, we might point that out.
Point out facts? That really is funny. They have no concern for facts or reality.
I noticed that child custody arguments are one avenue by which divorce decrees can be modified. With a vindictive spouse and the wrong judge, could custody be retroactively denied or dramatically altered?
Yes. Absolutely
We had a citizen required to register pardoned by our outgoing Governor Jay Nixon several years ago. After trying to discuss the issue of them being told they had 30 days to move as they were 10 feet too close to a Catholic church and school. They had been living there for years and years. After attempting to talk to their state legislators and getting into a debate with the senator’s chief of staff who pissed me off I called the editor of the Kansas City Star. After telling him the sheriff’s deputy said they had 70 more letters to deliver to families in the county. That caught his attention and he sent a reporter out. The issue evolved from the school to the divorce and Earnest Leap was pardoned. It was front page news in the Star.
I have been through this so I can speak from experience on this.
When you go through a divorce very seldom are you on good terms with your ex. If you are on the registry or even just accused of any thing your ex is going to use that to their full advantage anyway whether there are any laws to their advantage or not.
Judges always rule on the side of caution. If there is anything at all that that might enable someone to later be able to point a finger at them and say “ I told you so” They are never going to take a chance, Their job and reputation is at stake.
All this law will do is give the judges a way out to do what there doing anyway. Now they can just say I didn’t have a choice , so nobody can later say you were not looking after the best interest of the child. Now they don’t have to rule on facts at hand ,they don’t have to look at facts , Just use laws.