Preservation of Parental duties

Title: The Preservation of Parental Duties Act

Section 1: Findings and Purpose

(a) Findings:

• The role of a father in the upbringing of a child is essential for the child’s emotional, social, and psychological development, as recognized by multiple fields of study, including psychology, sociology, and education.
• The absence of a father's guidance during a child's formative years has been shown to contribute to a range of societal problems, leading to poor outcomes for the child in adulthood and negatively impacting society as a whole.
• The transmutation of fatherly duties into monetary obligations when a father is present, willing, and fit to perform his duties constitutes a violation of both the child's rights and the father’s rights and undermines the parent-child relationship.
• The Title IV-D system violates the child’s rights to be raised with the influence of their father and their rights to consortium with their father. By providing incentives that encourage the separation of children from their fathers, Title IV-D undermines the child's development and well-being.
• The systematic conversion of fatherly duties into financial obligations by Title IV-D agencies, under the guidance of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has led to the oppression and marginalization of fathers, contributing to negative societal outcomes.
• The practice of trading the father/child relationship as a financial instrument across state lines, and the use of federal databases to track and enforce these obligations, violates the principles of the XIIIth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibits involuntary servitude.
• The transmutation of the fatherly duties to a financial instrument when the father has not forgone his duties and subsequent damaging of the father-child relationship, and that damage being incentivized and instituionalized by Title IV-D, and further institutionalized by information tracking and trading, are the very badges and incidents of slavery prohibited by Amendment XIII.

(b) Purpose:

• To protect the right of fathers to perform their parental duties without having those duties converted into monetary debts.
• To preserve the rights of the child to be raised with the influence of their father and to maintain a close relationship with their father.
• To prevent the systematic oppression and marginalization of fathers by Title IV-D agencies and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
• To restore and preserve the integrity of the father/child relationship by ensuring that fathers who are present, willing, and fit to perform their duties and their children are not subjected to financial penalties or obligations in lieu of their parental involvement.

Section 2: Prohibition on the Transmutation of Parental Duties into Monetary Debt

(a) General Prohibition: No state or federal agency, including Title IV-D agencies, shall enforce or facilitate the conversion of a father’s duty to care for, raise, and provide for his child into a monetary debt or obligation when the father is willing and fit to perform these duties in person.

(b) Exceptions: This prohibition shall not apply in cases where:

• The father is demonstrably unfit to perform his parental duties due to issues such as abuse, neglect, or incapacity.
• The father has voluntarily waived his right to perform his parental duties in person.

Section 3: Enforcement and Accountability

(a) Withholding of Federal Funds: Any state that fails to comply with the provisions of this Act shall be ineligible to receive Title IV-D incentive payments or any other federal funds related to the enforcement of child support.

(b) Right to Legal Recourse: Fathers who believe their rights under this Act have been violated shall have the right to bring a civil action against the offending state or federal agency.

(c) Oversight and Reporting: The U.S. Department of Justice shall establish an oversight committee to monitor compliance with this Act and report to Congress annually on its enforcement.

Section 4: Severability

If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of the Act, and the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances, shall not be affected thereby.

Section 5: Effective Date

This Act shall take effect 90 days after the date of its enactment.

• [2024-08-18 Sun] move to own file, improve formatting
• [2024-08-18 Sun] worked on language of findings, purpose. Improve layout.