Iowa children poised to join elite club

Iowa’s lawmakers are poised to make the state’s children winners. They have a great opportunity to help Iowa’s kids have better a chance at a good life by passing a simple law that nearly everyone supports. The Hawkeye House and Senate are both preparing to pass a wonderful bill supporting shared parenting so that children can more easily spend quality time with both parents after the parents separate.

It seems so obvious that children should see both parents equally, or as close to equal as possible, that it is hard to believe it is not the law already. In fact, poll after poll shows that in excess of 80% of Americans want shared parenting to be the law. However, not only is shared parenting not the law (yet) in Iowa, it is not the law in 49 other states.

In 2018, Kentucky became the first state to pass an explicit equal shared parenting law although Arizona also has a law that encourages shared parenting. The law passed the House 81-2 and unanimously in the Senate. After it passed, BOTH parties tweeted proudly about the shared parenting bill becoming law. How often does that happen? Further, Kentuckians have expressed huge support for the law, domestic violence has dropped and the state even declared the law’s signing day as Shared Parenting Day. Kentucky and all of its children are benefiting from shared parenting.

Now, it is Iowa’s turn to join the winners’ club. HF 202 in the House and SSB 1003 in the Senate are shared parenting bills based on Kentucky’s law and appear ready to finally be the Hawkeye state’s shared parenting breakthrough. Both recently passed sub-committee hearings with a combined vote of 5-1 in favor. Now, the entire Senate and House are expected to pass them. Bill manager Representative Brian K. Lohse and Nick Dreeszen, Families United Action Network Executive Director, deserve praise for spearheading this effort.

But, before we get too confident that Iowa’s kids will win, we need to realize that Iowa House and Senate committees have passed shared parenting bills 17 times only to see the bills fade. These great bills have not failed due to lawmakers voting against them. In fact, the shared parenting bills are winning every time and have an undefeated record of 17-0. The problem is they keep running into Covid problems, lawmaking sessions running out of time or many other problems.

The lawmakers, voters and, of course, children want shared parenting. The problem is this wonderful bill just has not been a high priority in the past. Let’s make this year different. Let’s ask state lawmakers to make Iowa’s children and the shared parenting bill the priority. Iowa’s kids deserve to join the winners’ club. Please contact us and we will help you contact you lawmaker. Email Nick Dreeszen at FUANetwork@gmail.com.

Matt Hale is a National Parents Organization Board of Directors member and led the effort to pass Kentucky’s shared parenting law.