House Bill 528 — which determined that truly equal joint custody and shared parenting time is in the best interest of the child — passed in April of 2018 in Kentucky, making it the first state in the nation to have legislation in favor of co-parenting.
Owensboro native Jason Griffith began making a documentary capturing the monumental decision. He recently released a trailer and promises to release the full movie in the near future.
Griffith, who now resides in Lexington, owns a production company with his wife. He said in the documentary, sources range from legislators to physiological doctors to child support commissioners.
The law gives a child of divorce the presumption of shared physical and legal custody — something that was not found in any state’s legislation previously. While the bill does default to co-parenting, it also requires both parents to be fit caregivers
“We need to change the culture. When you change the course you change the game,” Griffith said.
For Griffith, the case is personal as he is a co-parent to some of his children. He knows the importance of having both parents in a child’s life.
He is hoping the documentary can help create the same law in other states and allow more children the opportunity to have both parents in their life.
“This is the fight that I’m willing to fight because my goal is to have every state with shared parenting, because it is the best interest of the child,” Griffith said. “If there’s nothing in there harming that child — from drugs to alcoholism to abuse — let that child have both sides of their parents.”
