Comments from Mr Frank Hicks, AFRA's current President

AFRA has been in existence for little more than a year and we have already come a long way, but we have much to do yet.  We welcome your participation and the free expression of your ideas in AFRA. Anyone is  welcome to contribute new ideas and to our group effort for justice.

Why do we need an AFRA, you might ask? We need AFRA because the institutions we have for dissolving marriages in America, and particularly in Alabama, are woefully inadequate and patently unfair to fathers and the children of divorced families. When we have a system that routinely takes away the parental rights of fathers over 90% of the time, something is seriously wrong.  The system is patently sex-biased.  Where else do we as a society condone such sex discrimination?

With the current emphasis on child support collection, and financial returns for the bureaucrats who earn a living collecting it, no one in government seems to care that there is so much more to being a parent than sending child support! Politicians, judges, lawyers, and others hypocritically decry the continuing decline of the American family, while at the same aiding and abetting that decline. They do that time and again by enacting, implementing, and enforcing laws which contribute to destruction of familial bonds after divorce. Laws which separate good, loving fathers (and some mothers, too) from their families simply for the "crime" of being divorced.

We often hear that "parents get a divorce, but parents don't divorce children". Tell that to the parents who've had their children taken away from them by the courts. Tell that to the non-custodial parents who've had their children's affections alienated by the custodial parent. Tell that to the non-custodial parents who've had their meager "visitation" denied them by the custodial parent. Tell that to the non-custodial parents who've had their children taken far away by the custodial parent. We might not want to admit the truth, but the divorce system often "divorces" fathers from their families in reality against their will, and to the detriment of the children.   How can this be "in the children's best interests'?.

AFRA is dedicated to providing support to those fathers and non-custodial mothers. We want to help them retain and regain their rights as parents. We are here to help those who have lost their children to divorce cope with the inevitable loss and alienation that occurs. We do not want to see any more newspaper headlines where some distraught father has committed suicide or killed someone because they had nowhere to turn and no one to listen. We need to be there for them and their children.

AFRA is fathers, grandparents, wives, brothers and sisters who realize the current divorce system is broken and in desperate need of repair. We know social change of this magnitude doesn't come quickly or easily. We must overcome the stereotype of the "deadbeat dad", and current political correctness if we are to succeed. We need YOUR support. Our goals may take years or even decades to achieve, but we must not let that deter us, for our cause is just! We welcome you to our struggle for equality and justice.   Please join us!

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