Skelton defends military parents

During my years in the U.S. House, I have witnessed examples of political statesmen putting aside party divisions in order to advance the best interests of the nation. One such case is House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Ike Skelton’s continued advocacy of custody rights for U.S. military parents. 

Beyond the risks associated with serving in the military, there are the challenges to military families presented by parents’ long deployments away from home. While Skelton has taken action to preserve military families’ quality of life, he remains concerned that military parents still lack necessary protections to prevent their military service from disadvantaging them in child custody cases.

In 2007, Lt. Eva Slusher, a 19-year military veteran and member of the Kentucky National Guard, informed Congress of the two-year ordeal she underwent to regain custody of her daughter after returning from a lengthy military deployment. She observed: “Soldiers are protected under the Servicemember’s Civil Relief Act, or so I thought; an employer has to give me back my job after I return from a deployment, but they don’t have to give me my child back?”

Upon learning of Slusher’s and other similar cases, Democrat Skelton has worked with me, a Republican, to pass legislation in the House to protect child custody rights of military parents. With his support, legislative language was included in the 2008 and 2009 defense authorization bills. Last year, the House passed a stand-alone bill which was later attached to the 2009 defense bill, again with the active assistance of Skelton. This legislation has continued to stall in the Senate.

Despite these efforts, the Department of Defense continues to resist implementing basic child custody protections for our servicemembers. In response, Skelton has incorporated legislation in the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act to make clear that military parents’ rights are not diminished.

Rep. Michael A. Turner

R-Ohio