For Utah parents, hurdle to divorce could advance

[alp227]

Source: AP

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) —A few nights a week in Utah, rooms in courthouses typically reserved for deliberating juries fill up with parents looking to divorce. And among the first lessons they are taught is a simple, if not emotional, one: Keep the kids out of it.

"Cocoon your child," instructor Neal Gunnarson tells the group of parents.

Utah was the first in the nation in 1994 to require that couples complete what's now a two-hour, $55 seminar before courts will finalize a split. Now, a lawmaker is proposing to require that couples take at least part of the course earlier, hoping that it can reduce a divorce rate among those couples with children.

"If you've gotten so far down the road that you feel like you're pretty much done, you're not going to rethink something that you've spent that long moving toward," said the bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Jim Nielson.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/utah-parents-hurdle-divorce-could-advance

[MADem]

1. Hmmm.

Is this seminar for EVERYONE, or just people with kids? If the latter, good intentions notwithstanding, it seems like they are imposing an extra burden/expense on people who have produced children.

Does it apply if the kid is a stepchild of one of the parents?

I have to say, I laughed when I read this bit:

When a participant was asked what her husband's name was, Gunnarson said, she replied: "Satan."

[Sienna86]

2. Illinois requires one time parenting class before divorce

I think it's a good idea, it won't do miracles but if a parent is genuinely open to learning, it can help.

[marshall]

3. This can be a very productive effort

All that energy that is being channeled to fight marriage equality can be redirected back protecting children from feuding parents.

[SoapBox]

4. Isn't this big gov'ment over-reach?

I get the point but it's funny to me that the big government haters (Mormons/GOPers) would pass this (Mormons/GOPers).