Stealing DadTalk's Thunder
This is something that would best be covered by DadTalk, but in the interim I'll go ahead and interject my one and one-half cents.
From AP/Yahoo:
Divorce put David List and his 2-year-old daughter on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and he worried that she would soon forget him.
She hasn't, though. List's divorce agreement guaranteed him "virtual visitation" — the chance to talk with his daughter through an Internet video connection — and he and Ruby Rose, now 5, usually connect at least twice a week. The chats sustain them in between their in-person visits, which come only a few times a year....
Advocates of virtual visitation want states to spell out in their laws that judges can make it part of a divorce agreement.
The benefits go beyond helping parents and children stay close, supporters argue. They say noncustodial parents are more likely to pay child support regularly if they can stay in touch, and electronic visits can help keep children from getting caught up in fights when bickering exes meet in person.
Utah made virtual visitation an official option in 2004, and similar legislation awaits the governor's signature in Wisconsin. Illinois, Missouri and Virginia lawmakers have introduced proposals, too.
"A telephone can only go so far," said Republican state Rep. Ruth Munson of Illinois.
The idea has its critics, though, who fear judges might use the option of virtual visitation as justification for ordering fewer real visits with children or letting one parent move away with the children.
"Real parents need real time. Real kids need real time," said David L. Levy, director of the Children's Rights Council.
"It can be a wonderful accessory, but the danger is that it will be used as a substitute for real visitation."...
Cheryl Hepfer, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and a Rockville, Md., attorney...said she has seen cases where virtual visitation helped keep the peace between exes because seeing the child's face eased the absent parent's fear that the child was being manipulated or monitored. She also called it "common sense" that parents using virtual visitation would be more willing to pay child support.
There is a whole website, InternetVisitation.org, that promotes the practice.
It's interesting to see how technology is one step ahead of the law in this case. By the time the law catches up, the technology will have changed.
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