A group of Floridians is calling for changes to the family court system.
The sun beat down on the steps of the old Capitol building as rally organizers Tina and Ray Granstrom set up signs. Mr. Granstrom is divorced and says the family court’s custody rulings keep him from an active role in his childrens’ lives.
“I’m not a visitor, I’m a loving father,” Granstrom says, “and yet the family court calls me a visitor.”
Libertarian candidate for governor, Adrian Wyllie joined the organizers. He says family court punishes good parents unnecessarily.
Wyllie says this leads to “fathers that have absolutely no role in the children’s life, and these are good fathers. And mothers, though a rarity it happens as well, who are shut out of their children’s lives. Not for any real cause, not for neglect, not for mistreatment, but by arbitrary decisions of a court that has too much power.”
Wyllie suggests the civil court is a better place to decide matters like divorce. But the event was a thinly attended affair, with just the Granstroms and Wyllie showing up.
