Fathers Flood KABC Phone Lines

Calls from disenfranchised fathers flooded the phone lines at KABC radio in Los Angeles during the Al Rantel Show on December 23, as Rantel and men's issues columnist Glenn Sacks discussed what Sacks called "the greatest unrecognized problem in America today"--the way divorced fathers are prevented from being a part of the lives of their children.

Calls from disenfranchised fathers flooded the phone lines at KABC radio in Los Angeles during the Al Rantel Show on December 23, as Rantel and men's issues columnist Glenn Sacks discussed what Sacks called "the greatest unrecognized problem in America today"--the way divorced fathers are prevented from being a part of the lives of their children.

Caller after caller spoke movingly about the way they had been driven out of their kids' lives and the pain of spending another holiday season without the children they love. Don said he lives 10 miles from his three daughters and has not been allowed to see them in two years. Dave, a father of two daughters, has fought 15 years to be a part of their lives. Barbara, a second wife, said her husband has not been allowed to see his daughter for four months. Dan fought nine years to be able to see his children. Several fathers explained how their exes had done everything they could to turn their children against them.

Rantel called what is done to these fathers "heartbreaking" and "inhuman." Sacks noted, "upon a divorce we take away everything that a father has loved and has sacrificed for, without even bothering to ensure that he can still see his children, much less remain a meaningful part of their lives. Then we hand him the bill and call it 'justice.'"

For more information on access and visitation denial and the plight of divorced dads, see the following columns, co-authored by Sacks and Dianna Thompson, executive director of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children:

• "Fathers Bear the Brunt of Gender Bias in Family Courts" (Insight magazine, 8/19/02)
• "'Virtual Visitation' is no Substitute for a Father" (Boston Globe, 7/12/02)
• "Why Are There so Many Women in the Fathers' Movement?" (Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 6/21/02)
• "High-Profile ‘Deadbeat Dad' Raids Won't Fix Child Support System Badly in Need of Reform" (Newark Star-Ledger, 9/6/02).

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