Given the coronavirus upending our way of life, Americans are depending on elected and appointed officials to safeguard our health and economy. However, we as citizens also have the responsibility to stand up for our American way of life. This means we have to be even more vigilant about protecting our freedoms and the rule of law.

When it comes to the social justice issue of shared parenting, our momentum in Missouri before the crisis was right on target to pass this session. There is still no reason that passage shouldn't still occur.

Are Crawford County parents less important to their children’s well-being than those in counties like Ashtabula, Carroll, Clermont, Holmes and Tuscarawas? That seems to be the message Judge Sean Leuthold is sending to divorcing parents in Crawford County.

Imagine two children, Amy and Brittany. Both live in Ohio: Amy in Bucyrus and Brittany in New Philadelphia. Unfortunately, both girls’ parents are divorcing. This will be a rough time for the girls but, fortunately, all four of the parents are good, loving parents — divorcing each other, not their daughters — and each wants to remain fully engaged in their daughter’s lives.

Lars brings on Jim Clark, with the National Parents Organization to discuss how parenting agreements after divorce should be handled. Clark explains to Lars about how a 50/50 shared custody agreement with the children can reduce the number of issues the kids may face in the future given that the agreement isn’t followed properly. Listen below for more.

Last week Kansas joined a growing list of states supporting shared parenting when the Senate passed SB 157 by an overwhelming margin of 39 to 1.

Statewide polling last year showed Kansans supported the pending change by an amazing factor of 40 to 1. These results were verified last week at the Capitol with widespread support among men and women, Republicans and Democrats and across every age and racial group. SB 157 would create a presumption favoring shared parenting time for temporary child custody orders if both parents are considered capable.

Why must kids miss out on certain family relationships when parents separate? It’s cruel for children, who love both parents, to suddenly lose access to everything they once knew when their parents no longer want to live together. Does a child's love and need for both parents suddenly end when parents decide to separate?

I respond to the Tuesday Dispatch editorial “Time to rethink how, or even whether, we elect judges in Ohio?” Voters seldom have the information they need to make wise decisions concerning judicial candidates, but there’s help concerning domestic relations judges.

More than 30 years of research on child well-being strongly supports the conclusion — endorsed by common sense as well — that children of separated parents do best when parenting responsibilities and time with the children are divided roughly equally.

New child support guidelines go into effect this January. The Kansas Judicial Branch defines guidelines as, “rules judges follow to decide how much child support each parent is to pay toward raising their children.”

They’re meant to make a fair and balanced way to determine how much money is owed. Upon examining the facts, we find the guidelines are causing homelessness and the separation of children from poorer parents.

Kentucky’s monumental passage of a shared-parenting bill last year has been deemed the most popular vote in the state.

According to an Aug. 30 opinion piece in the Louisville Courier-Journal, the Administrative Office of the Courts has issued a report that shows a reduction in domestic court cases by 11% and a reduction of 445 cases of domestic violence since the full law took effect. Missouri, the Show-Me state, has clearly been shown.

What would you do if your child, who had been getting a D- on report cards, brought one home with a C- instead? Would you rejoice and say that’s good enough? Or would you view it as a decent start with plenty of opportunity for improvement?

That is exactly the kind of improved position Virginia is in, thanks to a legislative push from the Virginia affiliate of the National Parents Organization.

WHAT WOULD you do if your child, who had been getting D- grades on report cards, brought one home with a C- instead? Would you rejoice and say that’s good enough? Or would you view it as a decent start with plenty of opportunity for improvement?

That is exactly the kind of improved position Virginia is in, based on recent legislative action by your Virginia affiliate of the National Parents Organization.