News: Fathers’ Rights, Child Support, Custody

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ZANESVILLE - A national organization seeking to bring attention to the issue of child custody cases rallied Thursday in downtown Zanesville. Local Fathers 4 Justice members organized their first rally in Muskingum County to not only support fathers in the county, but to help shed light on a subject they say needs more attention.

Fathers 4 Justice is a national organization that was established in 2005 in Minnesota, organized with the intent to “defend the millions of American families who suffer at the hands of domestic judges, attorneys, social workers and other profiteers engaged in child custody matters.” The group, while in support in of fathers, mothers and children, wants the courts to give fathers parenting rights instead of automatically turning it over to mothers in custody cases. “Our goal is to promote equality in family courts,” said John Fowler, Fathers 4 Justice national board of directors member. Fowler, a Licking County resident, has been a member of Fathers 4 Justice since 2005 and is the Ohio coordinator. He said nationally, the group has a presence in 20 states and is expected to be present in all 50 states before the end of February. Dressed as a superhero, Judi Smith-Phelps stood across from Fowler at the corner of Main and Fifth Streets chanting at cars as they passed. “We like to put in humor because it’s such a serious topic,” Fowler said. Participants were dressed as Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. “We receive very positive reactions from 99.9 percent of the people we see,” Fowler said as passing car horns honked. “Happens everywhere we go.” Phelps said 80 to 90 percent of the time, the father “gets the short end of the stick” and in most cases, custody is awarded to the mother. “The courts are full of child custody issues,” Phelps said. “We want to get the attention of judges and legislators. They need to take action because it has a wide spread impact across the nation.”

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