When Ayden Wright was one month old, his mother sued his father, Rustin Wright, over custody, child support, and visitation.
That lawsuit began a nearly 20-year legal odyssey during which Wright fought courts over jurisdiction, and fought Ayden’s mother over his role in Ayden’s life.
Wright and other non-custodial fathers say they are often left to the mercy of judges, lawyers, and law enforcement who are either indifferent or antagonistic to their parental rights.
They’re pushing for more states to abandon the traditional adversarial family court system of awarding child custody in favor of shared parenting, an approach that begins with the presumption that parents will share care and responsibility for their children as equally as possible….