Fathers' and Children's Equality
FACE
Who We Are
Fathers' and Children's Equality, Inc. (FACE) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, all volunteer, educational organization, and support and self-help group for noncustodial parents and their families. We are not lawyers or psychologists or social workers. We educate the public regarding our areas of interest pertaining to families. At the highly stressful time of transformation of their family structure, we educate our members as to their rights and responsibilities as parents, help them effectively represent themselves in court, and show them how to manage their own cases, regardless of whether or not they choose to use a lawyer.
Our areas of interest and expertise are:
- Services for male victims of domestic violence
Where can family court litigants learn everything they need to know? Court employees will say "I can't give you legal advice." Some court employees are interested only in getting information from you to enforce orders, but won't give any information to you. The court's on-line pro se documents tell you how to file papers, but not what you need to write in those papers. The judge will say "I'm not your lawyer," and urge you to hire one. Your lawyer, as an "officer of the court," is sometimes prohibited from telling you everything you should know and, in some cases, will withhold information because it is not in his best interest for you to know too much. Advice on the internet is usually unreliable, incomplete or inapplicable. Your friends who have not been through family court will tell you the way they think things should be, or tell you what you want to hear. Where can you get the information you need?
That's where organizations like FACE come in. We are not lawyers, but we do have First Amendment Rights to Freedom of Expression, so there are no limitations on what we are allowed to tell you. We are just a group of family court litigants with hundreds of years of collective court experience helping other litigants. Some of us have represented ourselves in court, usually successfully. Some of us have just used what we learned to help us manage our cases and manage our lawyer/employees. Sure, we've made mistakes, but we've learned from them. You, too, can learn from our past experience and not make the same mistakes we did.
The best way to learn about FACE and what FACE does is to attend some of our meetings, and meet and network with some of our members and other contacts. Send your full name, full address including zip code, and phone number to info@facenj.org , and we'll add you to our emailing list. Please also tell us how you learned of FACE.
The United States Supreme Court has upheld the Civil Right of similarly situated persons to band together, form a self-help group like FACE, assist each other with their common problems and legal issues, and/or hire or recommend lawyers to represent them, free of threat of being charged with Unauthorized Practice of Law. See: N.A.A.C.P. v. Patterson, 357 U.S. 449 (1958), N.A.A.C.P. v. Button, 371 U.S. 415 (1963) and Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen v. Virginia ex rel. Virginia State Bar, 377 U.S. 1 (1964).
Although the name of the organization is Fathers' and Children's Equality, membership is not limited to men. FACE offers its services to all non-custodial parents and their loved ones regardless of gender. More than half of the initial calls and emails FACE receives are from women, and approximately 20% to 30% of our members and supporters are women. These include not only non-custodial mothers, but also grandmothers, aunts, cousins, second wives, girlfriends, daughters and all the others effected by separation from extended family members.
Laws, court rules, court procedures and court customs are different from state to state. FACE is based in New Jersey. Our legal expertise is primarily in family court in New Jersey and, to a lesser degree, a few other nearby states. Although FACE welcomes all new members, we strongly suggest that you find and join and participate in a support group in the state that has jurisdiction in your case. If no such group exists in your state, we will welcome you to join FACE, and also recommend that you join one of the national noncustodial parents' rights groups. If you can't find such a group, contact FACE for referrals.
WHY we are
Fatherlessness impairs children's ability to learn. Fatherless children score lower on cognitive tests, and 71% of high school dropouts are fatherless. Fatherless children are 40% more vulnerable to sickness and 30% more likely to be injured in an accident.
Children learn from their fathers to put limitations on their own behavior. There is a correlation within a community between the percentage of fatherless households and the rates of violent crime and burglary. Five out of six delinquents with an adult criminal record are from homes where the father was absent. 60% of America's rapists, 72% of adolescent murderers, and 70% of long term prison inmates grew up without fathers.
More than 80% of the adolescents in psychiatric hospitals are from fatherless homes, as are 75% of chemical addicted children, 90% of teenage runaways, and three out of four teenage suicides.
Fatherless adolescents, having grown up without healthy male role models, tend to make irresponsible decisions in their relationships with the opposite sex. Fatherless girls too often have difficulty distinguishing the difference between affection and sex, and account for 71% of teenage pregnancies. Adults raised without fathers are far less likely to ever develop a healthy, loving, long-term relationship with a member of the opposite sex.
No research exists showing that one parent is better than two, nor that sole custody of children offers benefits that joint legal and shared physical custody does not. Yet our family courts continue to ignore all of these facts. They "award" primary residential parent status to the mother in about 90% of cases, reduce their father to a "visitor" and a paycheck, and claim to have done so "in the best interest of the child."*
Children are not property to be owned nor prizes in a game. They are human beings. FACE supports every child's right to a full, loving, nurturing relationship with two parents, four grandparents, and all of the aunts, uncles and cousins on both sides of the family, regardless of the parents' marital status. This right to enjoy a parent-child relationship has been recognized as a Liberty Interest and upheld as a Civil Right by the Supreme Court of the United States.
The trend toward fatherlessness is destroying our families and the social fabric of our nation. Join FACE and find out what you can do to reverse it -- in our laws, in the courts, and in your family.
* Nowhere in the law is "in the best interest of the child" defined.
Who we are NOT
As you surf the web, you may find other websites that promise to solve all your family court problems and give you the information you need to "win"* your case. They say just send some money (usually a few hundred dollars or more) and they will send you a packet of documents containing winning strategies, or papers you can file to "restore your rights," or (for some more money) access to them as "legal consultants." Some will offer their services as "paralegals" and say they will write and file your papers, or maybe even present your case to the court for you.An envelope-full of photocopies of magazine articles and webpages from a stranger far away is not a solution. It's a SCAM, often perpetrated by an "organization" of only one person, who would take advantage of others in their moments of desperation or helplessness. New Jersey law does not recognize or authorize "paralegals" (except in certain circumstances, working for and under the direction of a licensed attorney). A non-lawyer who accepts money to prepare legal papers or represent you in New Jersey is committing the crime of Unauthorized Practice of Law (N.J.S.A. 2C:21-22), a crime of the fourth degree, and is subject to fines, incarceration and/or civil damages.
THERE IS NO QUICK FIX; THERE IS NO MAGIC WAND. A satisfactory resolution to child custody and other family court issues takes education, proven winning strategies that have worked in your state, tenacity and vigilance. Deal only with legitimate support groups.
* Actually, no one "wins" in family court -- not mom, not dad, not the children. The only winners in family court are the judges, the lawyers, the psychologists, the social workers, the child support workers, etc., etc. They are the only beneficiaries of the multi-billion dollar family destruction industry.
FAN-PAC - Family Advocate Network Political Action Committee
FAN-PAC is a group of concerned citizens formed for the purposes of:
- Proposing and supporting legislation to make the laws more family-friendly, and
- Supporting legislators and candidates for legislative office who will support changes in the law that will assure every child of an ongoing parent-child relationship with both parents following the separation or divorce of the parents.
FAN-PAC's bill A912 has been introduced in the 2022-23 session of the New Jersey Legislature. It already has 15 sponsors. When passed into law, this bill would create a rebuttable presumption of equal shared physical custody of children following the divorce or separation of their parents. As unbelievable as it may seem, such a presumption of shared custody is not in New Jersey's law today. FAN-PAC has been instrumental in the introduction of these bills with bi-partisan support in both the New Jersey General Assembly and Senate.
Find out more about FAN-PAC at www.fanpacnj.org or on Facebook. FAN-PAC needs constituent-members in every New Jersey legislative district. Join FAN-PAC to help change the laws so children can keep both of their parents. Contact FAN-PAC founder and president Rafael Franco at fanpacofnj@gmail.com .
Family Advocate Network Political Action Committee is an independent organization. You do not need to be a FACE member to participate in this political action committee.
FACE IS A SELF-HELP GROUP. WE ARE NOT LAWYERS. WE DO NOT GIVE LEGAL ADVICE. WE CAN NOT AND DO NOT REPRESENT ANYONE IN COURT. If you find a competent, capable lawyer who fully understands your and your children's rights, who is willing and able to tenaciously fight to secure those rights, who completely understands the facts in your case, and who you can afford to pay, you should hire that lawyer and seek that lawyer's advice. If you cannot find or afford to pay such a lawyer, we urge you to seek all available resources to aid yourself in securing these rights.
This page last updated 4/11/2022.
