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American Thought Leaders

How the Family Court System Is Fueling a Fatherless Society: Mark Ludwig

American Thought Leaders

Jan Jekielek

Government, News, Politics

4.91.1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

“The science is out there: There have been 64 peer-reviewed studies that Linda Nielsen has reviewed. And they all come to the same conclusion—that children fare better with both parents.”

After experiencing firsthand systemic problems within the family court system, in which one parent, typically the father, is relegated to weekend visits with his children in divorce cases, Mark Ludwig founded Americans for Equal Shared Parenting to raise awareness about the need for children to have equal access to both parents.

“The opposition has done a great job of creating the narrative that this is just a bunch of angry dads who have anger management problems, conflict resolution problems, and maybe they shouldn’t even be a dad,” he says.

Ludwig travels the country advocating for a 50/50 rebuttable presumption—legislation that presumes both parents will share equal custody in a divorce, so long as they are fit, willing, and able.

“The No. 1 stability point a child needs is not where they live, but who they have a relationship with. And the stability of the relationship with both parents is more important than what house they live in,” says Ludwig. “I'll fight just as hard for mothers as I do fathers, because I’m not fighting for the mother or the father. I’m fighting for the child.”

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The number one stability point of child needs is not where they live, but who they have a relationship with.

0:06.0

And the stability of the relationship with both parents is more important than what house they live in.

0:11.0

After experiencing the family court system firsthand, Mark Ludwig founded Americans for equal shared parenting

0:18.0

to make equal access to both parents the default in divorce proceedings.

0:22.6

Too often, judges relegate one parent, typically the father, to a lesser role in a child's life.

0:28.6

The opposition has done a great job of creating the narrative that this is just a bunch of angry dads

0:34.6

who have anger management problems, conflict resolution problems.

0:38.3

Maybe they shouldn't even be a dad.

0:39.3

Ludwig travels the country advocating for what he calls a 50-50 rebuttable presumption,

0:45.3

legislation that makes 50-50 equal custody in a divorce the norm, so long as both parents are fit, willing, and able.

0:53.3

Now I'll fight just as hard for mothers as I do fathers,

0:56.0

because I'm not fighting for the mother of the father, I'm fighting for the child.

0:59.0

This is American Thought Leaders, and I'm Yanya Kellick.

1:02.0

Mark Ludwig, such a pleasure to have you back on American Thought Leaders.

1:08.0

Ah, thanks for having me back. I appreciate it.

1:10.0

So, Mark, when we interviewed five years ago, and this was actually one of the earliest

1:14.8

American Thought Leaders interviews, I remember it very well, you told me that I think 80%

1:21.0

of the people that go through some sort of divorce cases, one of the parents basically becomes the main custodian.

1:29.3

And that's kind of what we expect in a sense to happen.

1:32.3

Like, why is that an issue?

1:34.3

Yeah, until it happened to me, I wouldn't have thought there was a problem either.

1:38.3

If somebody would have told me one parent gets every other weekend, I would have thought, well, yeah, isn't that normal?

...

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