To this Texas dad, children are truly worth fighting for.
When Robert Garza and his ex-wife parted ways, he unknowingly stumbled into about 15 years of family court, more than 43 false allegations, and almost $700,000 of financial loss.
He’s putting forward a new legislative proposal called the ‘Three Strikes Law’ to “prevent parental alienation” by making sure that children keep regular contact with both divorcing parents.
“It will definitely impact a lot of Texans. It will help about 30 million people,” said Garza.
Parental alienation mostly happens in child custody battles when a child doesn’t want to be with one parent due to the other parent’s manipulation, “such as the conveying of exaggerated or false information,” according to Psychology Today. It’s one of the common factors in interference with child custody.
What is ‘Interference with Child Custody?’
According to the Texas Penal Code 25.03, interference with child custody can occur when a parent intentionally keeps or entices a child to be away from the other parent against a judgment or order, including temporary orders. If violated, it would be a state jail felony punishable by six months to two years in prison and a maximum of $10,000 fine.
A 2018 analysis shows that Texas fathers are awarded 33% of custody time on average, or about 120.5 days a year, compared to 245 days for mothers.
Garza’s experience with parental alienation and interference with child custody prompted him to propose the “Three Strikes Law.” He said that many families have been stuck in the family court system without reaching a final trial due to the high costs of “child support, legal fees, guardian ad litem services, psychological evaluations, home studies, child therapy, parent facilitators, and now, ‘additional court-mandated programs’.”
The drawn-out legal process has, according to Garza, resulted in escalated conflicts, parental alienation, and unwanted interference with child custody.
“When it passes, it will revolutionize family courts. It’s going to stop a lot of the fighting, it’s going to stop a lot of the bad behavior. It’s going to give a $500 fine to the offending parent the first time, the second time, and then the third time, it becomes a state jail felony.”
The Texas father said the “Three Strikes Law” would be the only tool for law enforcement to deal with the offending parent. He said that the legislation would also deter manipulation from the offending parent and allow the child to develop quality relationships with both parents.
According to The Clay Center, children’s emotional and mental well-being can be negatively affected by a “divisive divorce process” and witnessing conflicts between divorcing parents.
Garza explained that the “Three Strikes Law” was only one of the many steps he has taken to propose reforms in family courts and minimize the struggles of many divorcing parents.
The Passing of “Time Taken Time Back” Law
Robert Garza made headlines last year as the father behind Senate Bill 718, known as the “Time Taken Time Back” law, which was successfully passed by Governor Abbott in 2023. He worked with Sen. Angela Paxton on the Texas legislation.
The law compensates noncustodial parents with lost time with their children that was wrongfully taken away in divorce because of false allegations and family court orders. Garza said the law is now going through several states, helping parents nationwide.
Garza was among the Texas fathers whose children were kept away from due to false allegations of abuse and temporary court orders.
According to the Texas dad, military parents can also benefit from this law. He said that a parent who had been deployed during a divorce could face false allegations of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by the other parent. If the allegations are found to be untrue, the “Time Taken Time Back” law can compensate military parents for the time they had lost with their children due to the false allegations.
“They were deployed to go defend our country and come back in our country’s acting this way towards them, even with false allegations. This bill will absolutely help, because it returns the time that was taken only by precaution by the court, and when you know that you’re going to get that time back at the end of when they investigate it and it gets ruled out. It makes all the world of difference from just being like, let’s just move forward – then you miss their Christmas, their New Year’s, their Thanksgiving, or even their birthdays.”
Larrison Manygoats and Marina Fatina contributed to this report.
