WHO WE ARE: THE VOICE FOR FAMILY LAW REFORM
National Parents Organization, a charitable and educational 501 (c)(3) organization, is focused on promoting shared parenting, where both parents have equal standing raising children after a separation or divorce. National Parents Organization recognizes that preserving a strong bond between children and their parents is critically important to children’s emotional, mental, and physical health.
NPO WASHINGTON STATE AFFILIATE: A COMMUNITY OF LOCAL ACTIVISTS
Here at the local NPO Washington state affiliate, our focus is to reform Washington State family court rooms to equally protect the Constitutional rights of all parents. The most important starting point is for local parents and voters is to pressure their Washington legislature representatives to pass legislation that:
1. Creates the default presumption of 50/50 shared custody for fit parents when separating and/or divorcing.
The starting point for parents entering legal negotiations needs to be that both parents have equally protected residential custodial time with their children so that children have equally protected access to both their parents.
2. Make residential credit an adjustment to the Washington State Child Support Schedule (WSCSS) worksheet calculations (as prior to 1991) instead of a discretionary deviation by the court that is denied to over 87% of shared parents.
Parents that share significant residential custodial time of their children also significantly share the financial expenses (housing, clothing, food, and transportation) of raising their children. Both homes deserve equal financial protection.
The Washington State NPO affiliate chapter advocates for legislation that updates the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) statutes that guide our local family courts. We are local parents that are determined to improve the family court system to make it more fair, predictable, and truly reflect the best interests of children.
Our goal is to equally protect custodial rights of parents and equally protect both homes financially with an equivalent per diem amount of child support. Fit parents that split apart with the predictable starting point of equally shared custody and an equitable child support obligation do not have the same incentives to fight over custody and child support and that is truly in the best interest of all children.