HB229–The Best Bill You've Never Heard Of

February 25, 2025–HB229–The Best Interest of the Child Protection Act 2025–is an awesome bill that would be great for Alabama kids. It’d be great for Alabama families dealing with the strain of divorce. It would be a good thing for the entire population of our State.

Naturally, you probably haven’t heard about it.

You haven’t heard about it because it doesn’t come with a price tag of hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s not a hot-button issue for the Big Mules or social conservative groups (although it should be). It’s just a good, solid bill that plugs a gaping hole in Alabama law and helps ordinary people at a difficult time in their lives.

Here’s what HB229 does:

—It maximizes a child’s time with BOTH parents during a separation or divorce

—It creates a statewide set of guidelines for all 67 counties to follow

—It creates a presumption that joint custody is in the best interest of the child

—It requires each parent to submit a parenting plan, either individually or jointly, in all cases

—It allows a parent to submit a petition for relief if they believe that joint custody is not in the best interests of the child

Most of us have heard horror stories of one parent, usually a father, getting the short end of the stick in custody battles. Family courts are traditionally biased towards mothers, for good or ill. This often results in one parent only seeing their child four to six days a month, but HB229 would go a long way towards fixing that.

No one with any sense is going to argue that an intact family isn't the best situation for a child. Sadly, the reality is that marriage is a coin flip. It’s 50/50, with half of them ending in divorce. That’s a lot of kids, and a lot of parents—usually dads—that are being poorly served by Alabama law as it now stands.

There are about 40,000 more Alabama kids every year that are court-ordered to have limited contact with one parent (standard visitation). HB229 won’t miraculously fix that, but it’s a large step forward.

The America First Policy Institute has estimated that children with limited or no contact with one parent account for:

--63% of youth suicides

--71% of all substance abusers

--85% of all youths in prison

--70% of school dropouts

--about 70% of teen pregnancies

Putting aside the human cost, what’s the dollar amount this is costing us every year? We’re about to pass a bill to borrow another $500 million to build prisons—how many of the inmates that will go there had little or no contact with a parent growing up? What is the current system doing to crime rates? What about the cost in lost economic potential?

Maybe one of you can help me estimate that—I can’t count that high, even if I take off my socks.

There are lots of soft, feel good reasons to support HB229. It’s good for parents and kids, and makes Alabama a better place to live for us all.

It also has the potential to save us a buttload of money long term—and I mean the larger wine butts of 126 Imperial gallons, not those puny little ale butts (only 108 gallons)—so there’s a completely pragmatic, mercenary reason to support the bill.

I know I’m not supposed to mention little things like that, but somebody has to. I don’t care why this bill is supported, so long as it passes.

Right now, HB229 is sitting in the House Judiciary Committee. If I’m reading Alison correctly, it's not on the list for the Judiciary Committee meeting at 1:30 PM, Wednesday, Feb. 26. HB53 is on the list, and it’s a similar bill that would also create a rebuttable presumption that joint custody is in the best interest of the child. HB53 is a good bill, but I believe HB229 is a more thorough bill.

The Members of the House Judiciary Committee are Jim Hill (Chair), Tim Wadsworth (Vice Chair), Chris England (Ranking Minority Member), Cynthia Almond, Russel Bedsole, Bryan Brinyark, Prince Chestnut, David Faulkner, Patrice McClammy, Philip Pettus, Ben Robbins, Matt Simpson, Jerry Starnes, Shane Stringer and Ontario Tillman. (I’ll link the main House contact page below.) A polite email or call to them expressing your support for HB229 might not be amiss.

HB229 was introduced by Rep. Kenneth Paschal and is co-sponsored by Reps. Wood (D), Whorton, Rehm, Butler, Harrison, DuBose, Moore (P), Pettus, Estes and Brown. HB53 is sponsored by Rep. Patrick Sellers.

Kudos to all of them for putting their support behind these bills. Both are good, and will benefit Alabama’s kids, families, and especially Alabama’s Dads!

That being said, I’m hoping we get HB229 instead of HB53, because HB229 is a better bill for Alabama.

Contact your State Representative at: https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/house-of-representatives-sublanding

Read HB229: https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/files/pdf/SearchableInstruments/2025RS/HB229-int.pdf

To learn more about HB229 and why it’s the bill we need, go to: https://www.sharedparenting.org/alabama

Dr. Bill Chitwood is a retired Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatrist who does political consulting and media relations. He is the author of Beyond Maga, available on Amazon under his pen name, Doc Contrarian. He can be found on Substack and social media as @DocContrarian.

Opinions expressed in the Alabama Gazette are the opinions and viewpoints of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Alabama Gazette staff, advertisers, and/or publishers.