About C.A.N

THE PROBLEMS:
One place an optimal environment does not exist is the family courts.
Can will educate and bring to the public this disastrous situation for
children and parents. We support mothers who are going through the
divorce, support or equitable distribution process of the courts of

Allegheny County because the courts are inherently bad for women and especially children. Women need support because their children need support. During the divorce process the family is torn apart, parents are pitted against each other in intensive, adversarial, drawn-out battles in trying to determine who is the best parent. This leaves children to sort out their own emotions at a time when their world is falling apart.
Children's fears about being abandoned, losing a parent, peer pressure and not having enough money have to be addressed developmentally by the parent who is the "primary caregiver" at the time of the divorce. Mothers are the natural nurturer and must be kept available to help children sort out their fears and help minimize the stresses the child(ren) are feeling at this time.

A lot of women gave up career opportunities and even their education, to be available to stay home and raise their children. Now the courts are showing bias toward the parent who is better able to monetarily care for the children and are ignoring their emotional needs. In Allegheny County the courts' only stipulation when deciding where the children are to reside is "The Best Interests of the Children", such a limited stipulation creates an open door for judicial bias and the judges often arbitrarily decide with each case what those best interests are.

THE GOALS
I. C.A.N. will support mothers to support children and child-raising during divorce, and educate them on how to be the nurturers they should be (even during divorce), help mothers maintain appropriate, optimal parenting during this process and provide a support forum of advocacy, information and emotional support to help women re-gain or keep control of their situation. C.A.N. will teach mothers to understand the family courts and the divorce process and will encourage pro-se representation in the hope that it will help mothers feel more in control of the process and more satisfied with their own cases. C.A.N. hopes that this will force the judges to listen to mother's plights and educate them as to the stark reality of these unfortunate situations. C.A.N. feels that a legally informed mother is the best advocate for her children.

II. C.A.N. intends to bring forward the injustices that now exist in the family courts that prevents mothers and women from receiving the financial support they need to effectively raise their children. C.A.N. intends to promote judicial fair play by educating legislators on the continuing bias towards women in the court system by means of involvement through gender bias studies.
III. C.A.N plans to promote reform of the antiquated and biased procedures of the family division to discourage the "Winner take all" approach of judges and attorneys.

IV. C.A.N plans to encourage everyone to take seriously the job of raising children to the best of our collective and single abilities, properly reflecting this maxim:
"A nation is judged by how it treats its elders and it's children".

THE PROCESS (How to Obtain the Goals)
Through education and research, C.A.N. will accomplish the above objectives.

JUDGES, LAWYERS, LEGAL SYSTEM
1. Explain the inequality of women in the workforce.
2. Alert judges/lawyers to their adversarial tactics which are inherently bad for children.
3. "Court Watch" to help judges keep from discriminating against women and mothers in the courtroom as oversight.
4. Educate judges/lawyers on child-centered residential schedules
5. Educate judges on psychology of the courtroom i.e. post traumatic stress syndrome
6. Educate mediators on power problems in mediation

	MOTHERS GOING THROUGH DIVORCE COURTS 1. Educate women for pro-se advocacy 2. How to parent during divorce 3. Educate women on court procedures, mediation, psychological evaluations, support hearing preparation, court forms and their use 4. Produce literature on these topics 5. Support women who have lost primary custody of their children and teach them how to work with the custodial parent to more effectively parent their children.
GENERAL COMMUNITY AND LEGISLATORS 1. Educate about SB 175 2. Lecture on involved fathers 3. Education /lecture on importance of families 4. Oversight of judges through Court Watch 5. Role of mothers/importance 6. Inequality of pay for women in the workforce 7. Video of mothers who have lost custody 8. Gender bias in the courtroom
Improving the system through change includes consideration of the following items: 1. Due process denied mothers which leads to feminization of poverty 2. Price tag on divorce causes women to lose 3. Expensive transcripts and necessity of having 4. Subtly force women to defend their choice of motherhood 5. So slow that women lose 6. Courts perpetuate the myth that women are hardship after a poverty rate of single mothers is 39% 7. Never receive fair share of assets 8. No way of getting unemployment after divorce when out of a job woman was a homemaker during marriage. 9. Judges are more supportive of men in E.D. cases 10. Meager child support guidelines 11. Conflict of interest between attorneys and judges, when brought to attention 12. Current divorce policies promote a systematic disinvestment in the next generation 13. No one to turn to.