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Divorced Dad Leading Nationwide Effort for Virtual Visitation Save Email Print
Reporter: Dana Brueck

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A bill passed in the legislature allows courts to give parents the opportunity to keep in touch with their kids -- electronically.
One Wisconsin dad is leading the effort in a number of states. He's a computer security consultant who refused not to see his daughter on a regular basis.

Divorce put more than a thousand miles between Michael Gough and his young daughter.
"I knew I had to find another way to keep in touch with my daughter," Gough says.
So, this determined dad found a way to keep a friendly face just a click away when his ex-wife planned a move from Utah to Wisconsin.
He asked Utah courts to allow virtual visitation by way of a web cam.
"It turned out that I ended up doing a demonstration in court for the judge so that he could see how easy it was do," Gough says, "Utah was the first state in 2004 to pass it as a law."
Since then, Gough has moved to Wisconsin, where he has successfully lobbied for Senate Bill 244. It says a court may grant a reasonable amount of electronic communication between a child and a parent when not physically with that parent.
"The bill also states it is to supplement 'in-person' time, not replace it," Gough says, "Nothing replaces 'in-person' contact with a child. Nothing can replace that hug."
Tom Glowacki practices family law.
"We'll hear the arguments about the reasonableness of this or that cost, or, as I said, people trying to, despite what the law says, use it as a substitute for actual physical placement," Glowacki says.
But Gough has heard most, if not, all of the concerns, including parents' worries about safety.
"If you're gonna give children access to the Internet, you have an obligation to monitor them as a parent," he says.
Gough runs a website to answer those questions.
He says, "I don't want children not to have access to parent."
The bill also prohibits the courts from using electronic communication as a factor in determining whether a parent may relocate with a child. The governor is expected to sign the bill into law by April 20th.

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