Now This Should Have Already Been Done . . . .

Some of you may remember the post that I made several days ago regarding military members loosing custody of their children while they are deployed:
Deployed troops battle for lost child custody

Rusty emailed me a link to the following article. Now this is what the law should have stated all along. I am THRILLED that they are doing something about this. Hopefully they can get it passed Very quickly. Our troops deserve peace of mind when they are deployed to serve our country.

Lu

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Article from: http://www.militarytimes.com/

House: Protect custody for deployed parents
By Rick Maze - Staff writerPosted : Thursday May 17, 2007 22:16:39 EDT

The House of Representatives moved Wednesday to protect deployed service members from losing legal custody of their children.

An amendment to the 2008 defense authorization bill, approved by voice vote, prevents states from making permanent custody changes while a service member is deployed on a contingency operation. It also prohibits a court from considering a military member’s deployment as a reason for denying custody.

Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, who sponsored the amendment, said he is trying to provide some peace of mind to deployed parents.

“My amendment provides certainty to service members deployed in a contingency operation that their child custody arrangements will be protected,” Turner said. “In some cases, courts are overturning established custody arrangement while the custodial parent is serving our country in a contingency operation, such as Iraq or Afghanistan.”

His amendment is modeled after a change in law passed by Michigan in 2005.

Under the amendment, no court may modify or amend a previous child custody judgment, or order or issue a new order while a service member is deployed, with one exception: The provision allows a temporary custody order “if there is clear and convincing evidence that it is in the best interest of the child.”

Additionally, if the motion to change custody is filed before or after a deployment, no court may consider absence for deployment when determining what is in the best interest of a child.

“Much is asked of our service members, and mobilizations can disrupt and strain relationships at home,” Turner said. “This additional protection is needed to provide them peace of mind that the courts will not take away their children because they answered the country’s call to serve.”

The defense policy bill passed the House on Thursday but still faces a long road to becoming law. In the Senate, the armed services committee will write its version of the bill next week, with plans for the full Senate to pass the bill by early July. At that point, differences between the House and Senate bills and objections from the Bush administration will have to be reconciled before a final bill is passed and becomes law.