Who will read Rhode Island children their rights?
Some parents file for divorce; other parents agree to divorce. Children, however, have divorce thrust upon them — along with all the life-changing plans and decisions in which they have no say.
This, we might call a “fact of life,” which is a philosophical way of saying we won’t do anything about it.
In Rhode Island, we should.
Rhode Islanders under 18 — i.e., 20% of our population, approximately 211,000 persons — constitute a class, arguably a caste, in our state.
This caste of persons has no central meeting place, no committees, no elected leaders. They cannot mobilize; they cannot unionize. Without the vote, this caste has no political power or influence whatsoever.
In cases of divorce and child custody, this caste of persons may never meet or even know the names of the attorneys and judges who determine their fate.
This caste may also be unaware that the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees them equal protection under the law.
When a Family Court has no programming — none — to help prevent children of divorce, separation, and child custody from being subjected to alienating parental behaviors (which not a few clinicians refer to as a form of child abuse), then members of that caste are not being protected.
If the R.I. General Assembly fails to enact legislation such as H7983 — authorizing Family Court to establish, in one county, a pilot program of mandatory education modules for parents involved in cases of divorce, separation, or child custody — then members of that caste are not being protected.
I submit that under those circumstances, this caste of persons is being denied their Constitutional rights.
Children who are subject to parental alienation and high conflict in divorce are at risk for depression, anxiety, eating disorders, impaired academic performance, and even substance abuse and self-harm.
This is why nearly every U.S. state, on either the state, county, or district level, has laws requiring divorcing parents of children under 18 to take an education module (usually a four-hour class) in how to reduce the stress and psychological toll of divorce on children.
In Rhode Island, we have no such law. Our Family Court doesn’t require divorcing parents to take a class, watch a video, or so much as read a pamphlet on the effects of divorce on children.
Would Rhode Island children of divorce be satisfied, knowing that? Would they agree that the best thing to do for their protection is nothing?
In 1993, the Massachusetts legislature passed a bill virtually identical to H7983 and implemented a pilot program with — as the administrative assistant to the MA Family Court Chief Justice told me — “no budget.”
Claims, then, that we don’t have the resources here in Rhode Island for such programming do not hold water.
The R.I. General Assembly should pass H7983. Family Court should implement a pilot program. We should all work in concert for the interests of children who have divorce and separation thrust upon them. They, too, have rights.
If we fail to defend the rights of children, we may as well argue that they don’t have any.
