New push to protect custody rights of troops

New push to protect custody rights of troops

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Feb 22, 2010 11:08:30 EST

An Ohio lawmaker who has been blocked four times in his efforts to pass legislation to protect deployed service members from losing custody of their children has launched a new two-pronged effort to try to get his proposal into law.

Republican Rep. Michael Turner will try once again to attach to the annual defense policy bill provisions designed to prevent courts from denying child custody to service members while they are deployed. Turner hopes a promised meeting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates will result in objections to his legislation being dropped.

As a backup plan, Turner also has introduced a separate bill, HR 4469, that falls under the jurisdiction of the House and Senate veterans’ affairs committees. This gives him another avenue if he cannot overcome objections from the Defense Department and Senate Armed Services Committee, which have been the roadblocks to date for his legislation.

Turner’s bill has been referred to the House veterans’ affairs subcommittee on economic opportunity, which plans to include it among other bills discussed at hearings this year.

His new bill would protect existing child custody orders for troops deployed in support of contingency operations, which is a more limited approach than some of his previous attempts.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/02/military_childcustody_022210w/