Illinois Family Law Study Committee

The Illinois Family Law Study Committee is a private group of stakeholders that meet to formulate legislative proposals related to family law which will be presented to the Illinois General Assembly. Their meetings are conducted in the Judicial Center located at 160 North La Salle Street in Downtown Chicago. Since this committee is comprised of private stakeholders on their own time it is not open to the public.

Their most recent meeting was conducted on Saturday 12 April 2010. Although closed to the public I still hoped to get some time with committee members. There was also to be a rally in conjunction with the meeting. So, I'd at least have that to attend. So, Friday I began preparing. As usual I was up until around 1:00a.m. So after five and a half hours of sleep I arose, worked out a bit and then headed to Chicago.

Illinois Fathers held a 'Save our Families Rally' in front of the Judicial Center from 9:00 until 11:00 while the committee met from 9:00 until about noon. About thirty supporters attended the rally which was covered by film and print media. There was a good mix of mothers, fathers and children in attendance.

I was impressed by the organization of Illinois Fathers which was formed just over a year ago. Following the committee meeting we were able to have lunch with some of the advisors to the committee and get feedback. We had observed that the anti-male DV ladies were first out of the building and appeared disgruntled. We found out why: their attempts to prevent children from having the loving care and support of two parents by continuing to spread their cacophony of lies was basically ignored.

The DV backlash is a trend that I am seeing across the country. The truth is winning out over their lies. Many of these female only DV organizations are run by women who have not been victims of DV but are only involved because of the financial incentives. Their refusal to acknowledge or advocate half of all DV victims shows their true motives.

On another positive note the committee was very receptive to the idea of the 35% parenting time plan. This is a parenting time plan that is gaining popularity across the country. One of the benefits of this plan is that it can be used for high conflict cases. This plan basically has the parent who shares the parenting rights and responsibilities retrieving the child from school on Friday afternoon and returning to school Monday morning. This parent also gets the child for one weekday overnight each week through the same process.

The committee will meet again of 22 May 2010 the day after the Domestic Relations Committee of the Indiana Judicial Center will receive public input in the Indiana Supreme Court Chambers. Members of Illinois Fathers said they plan to attend that hearing. I am hoping that Indiana will be able to provide a better showing of support in Chicago next month.

Chicago is the city I have spent the second most amount of time in and always enjoy going there. I especially like the driving there which is in stark contrast to the ponder every move and check out the scenery attitude of Indy drivers. The ones on our roads, not the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that is.

I was certainly disappointed that no one from Indiana who had children with them this weekend wanted to go. There is so much to do in downtown Chicago for children. I take my son every few years. I give a great walking tour to anyone who is up to a five to ten mile stroll. The Navy Pier is always a must visit attraction. I think I'll bring some of my school friends next time.

Anyone interested in attending either the DRC meeting in Indianapolis on 21 May or the Illinois Family Law Study Committee meeting on 22 May please contact me.


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