On May 20, the House approved, by voice vote, the Military Child Custody Protection bill (H.R. 6048). Sponsored by Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH), the measure would amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (P.L. 108-109) to provide for the protection of child custody arrangements for parents who are members of the armed forces deployed in support of a contingency operation.
Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA) said, “This measure restricts the ability of a court to order change in a custody arrangement that predates the deployment of a servicemember. It mandates that once a deployment is completed, the custody arrangements will be reinstated if changed during the deployment. The bill also requires that a court may not consider the absence of the servicemember because of deployment as a factor in determining the best interests of the child. Importantly, this bill provides courts with the ability to order a temporary custody arrangement or to prevent the reinstatement of a prior custody arrangement when the servicemember returns upon a showing of clear and convincing evidence that it is in the best interests of the child. We are faced with a conflict between the protection of the rights of our servicemembers, which is a federal responsibility, and child custody issues, which are traditionally within the purview of our states. I believe that Mr. Turner’s bill strikes the necessary balance between these interests and provides an important safeguard for our servicemembers and their children, and I urge my colleagues to support the measure.”
Speaking in support of the bill, Rep. Turner said, “This bill was originally included as an amendment to the House version of last year’s [John Warner] National Defense Authorization Act [P.L.109-364] when it passed the House by voice vote. Imagine the stress and conflict in serving your country and fearing that a court will take your children away because of your service. In some cases, courts have overturned established custody arrangements because a custodial parent has served our country in…Iraq or Afghanistan. Recently, many cases have come to light where servicemembers who have been deployed have had their military service used against them in custody hearings. One such case was that of Eva Slusher. Eva spent nearly $25,000 and years trying to regain custody of her daughter after fighting courts that used her deployment as a factor against her. We have heard from other servicemembers who have had similar court battles. In fact, recently my office learned about a servicemember who, during her custody proceedings, was told by a judge that the mere possibility of her deployment weighed against the best interests of the child in denying her custody.”
