Introduced by Delegate Nick Charles on Thursday, HB1036 redefines when an emergency detention hearing can take place.
PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md. – A new Maryland law introduced Thursday could change the way courts respond to child custody hearings. A Maryland father said it is just what is needed for all parents to play a legally active role in their children’s lives.
“I just want to be my daughter’s father,” Marcus Trent said.
Being a father to girls has been a longtime dream for Trent. After he and his daughter’s mother separated, she moved from Maryland to Virginia, more than 60 miles away.
“I couldn’t play with her, hang out with her, anything that we did before we broke up,” Trent said.
Trent said he and his daughter’s mother had no intention of being parents in separate homes, but breakups are happening. In the absence of a custody order, it took five months for a judge to appear, as emergency hearings are reserved for vulnerable children.
“There are no laws protecting unmarried parents,” Trent said.
Del. Nick Charles, representing Prince George’s County, introduced House Bill 1036: Child Custody Relocation of Child Expedited Hearing on Thursday.
“This law changes and redefines what constitutes an emergency hearing, and that is a child walking 40 miles from where their child currently lives,” Charles said.
A bill is introduced in Maryland, HB1036: The Child Custody-Relocation of Child-Expedited Hearing. Right now, a parent can move the child miles from home when the parents separate. If passed, it would allow for an emergency hearing .@wusa9
— Megan Rivers (@MegMRivers) February 24, 2022
The bill is currently in a subcommittee. It then goes to the Family Courts Committee, is presented to the full House, second and third readings and debates, and then presented to the full Senate.
Charles said this will allow parents to work in the child’s best interests.
“This emergency hearing doesn’t affect the court one way or the other as to who should get custody, it just allows the courts to hear the situation,” Charles said. “There is a lot of interest in this bill.”
Charles said he hopes his bill will get into the Senate before March 23.
Trent continues to push for what he calls fair custody. He founded a group dedicated to educating parents about their rights and started a petition with more than 500 signatures in hopes that more parents would speak up about what’s best for the children who are at the heart of the fight to stand.
“My daughter is our family’s first grandchild, our family’s first girl, and that has a ripple effect,” he said. “I’m so proud to be a father.”
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