MMM One Week Away
It’s been 20 years since I attended the first Million Man March and a lot has transpired in my life since. I’m been working to elevate the […]
A Great Fatherhood Resource for Dads and Families
The argument against Georgia’s legitimation structure has often been framed around access: Fathers need the ability to parent, visit, make decisions, and participate. That remains true. But a recent JAMA Pediatrics paper forces us to add another layer.
In the event of paternal death, legitimation is a child protection issue. It’s about what remains legally intact when a father is no longer alive to argue, petition, explain, prove, or correct the record.
A child shouldn’t have to lose a father twice: once to death and a second time to an outdated law.
The question isn’t whether child support should be paid. It should.
The better question is whether our policies are designed to produce payment, presence, and child well-being or debt, disconnection, and punishment.
This isn’t an argument against child support. It is an argument for a smarter child support system.
Children have to be the anchor. Not adult pride. Not program numbers. Not public relations. Not whether dad feels validated or mom feels vindicated. The child’s well-being is the outcome. If the child is not safe, a healthy family cannot exist. But when the child is safe and there is a father who can be engaged responsibly, supported properly, and held accountable consistently, then fatherhood can become one of the strongest protective factors in that child’s life.
Television commercials have often depicted fathers in Black families as “missing,” failed to highlight their daily contributions, and reinforced the damaging perception that Black fathers are absent and disengaged. This falsehood doesn’t stay on the screen. It follows Black fathers into schools, hospitals, courtrooms, child welfare systems, social service agencies, workplaces, and even into their own homes, where children are still trying to understand how the world sees the men who love them.
It’s been 20 years since I attended the first Million Man March and a lot has transpired in my life since. I’m been working to elevate the […]