NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO WORK ON FAMILY LAW ISSUES

WHEREAS, national NOW bylaws (Article IX, Section 3) call  for the formation of advisory committees to work on special  issues of importance to women in matters of justice and equality; and

WHEREAS, the misuse of federal spending and judicial abuse constitutes a lack of justice and equality; and

WHEREAS, an increasing problem is occurring due to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)  aggressive effort to divert even more money from TANF programs, which serve  families (especially women and children) and marriage promotion and fatherhood initiatives have been substituted; and

WHEREAS, in 2004 NOW routinely received phone calls from women who have been subjected to gender bias, and adversely treated by the family courts; numerous studies, both past and present, confirm this to be true; and

WHEREAS, past NOW resolutions call for the creation of an activist organizing kit,  a questionnaire to capture evidence from women's court experiences and a grassroots court watch program among other actions;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that NOW will form a national advisory committee to work,  and to further advise the NOW national board of systemic changes, or harmful legislation  that adversely impacts women in the family court system, and impedes justice and equality in the courtroom; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that upon formation of this committee, it will advise and work with every  state  NOW's  child custody committee, task force or anyone individual NOW member dedicated to working on this issue under the NOW umbrella.

BE it FURTHER RESOLVED, that this committee will demand , and call for a  federal investigation into HHS spending regarding the diversion of TANF to the funding of  marriage promotion and fatherhood promotion; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED,  that upon the formation of the advisory committee,  in an attempt to gather new strength and more aggressively work toward a solution,  the members of this committee will work  to share and gather new information on the causes of bias against women in the family courts, and to gather existing information, and share this information to raise the awareness of NOW members, leaders, lobbyists, the media and the community; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that upon the formation of  this committee, a list will be compiled of the chairperson  for every state  committee or task force working with  family court issues and  action taken to ensure that all are aware of NOW's commitment to the issues of gender bias, and work with states to resolve the ongoing problem by facilitating the collection of data through court watches and other programs designed as necessary by the committee, and give other assistance as needed or allowed.

Karen Husain