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. That is how the Constitutional rights of both parents to direct the upbringing of their child(ren) are equally protected.
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.