Dianna Thompson
Columnist and Author

Dianna Thompson is the executive director of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children and is a nationally recognized expert on families, stepfamilies, and on divorce and child custody issues. The leader of America's "second-wives" movement, Dianna has made dozens of local and national television appearances, including the NBC Today Show, CNN, Fox News Live, Montel Williams, MSNBC, and Court TV. She has also made hundreds of radio appearances, including on National Public Radio, ABC News Radio, CBS News Radio, Radio America, Talk America, the Jim Bohannon Show, the Dennis Prager Show, the Lionel Show, the Bill Handel Show, the Jason Lewis Show, and the Tom Leykis Show.

Dianna's work has appeared, or has been quoted in, hundreds of major newspapers and magazines, including Time Magazine, Redbook, Jane Magazine, Insight magazine, the ABA Journal, Playboy, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Times, the Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Washington Post, the Miami Herald, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Christian Science Monitor, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, the Sacramento Bee, the Tulsa World, the Houston Chronicle, the Orange County Register, the Seattle Times, the Newark Star Ledger, and the Associated Press, Reuters, Knight-Ridder and UPI news services. Dianna's work has appeared, or has been quoted on, hundreds of websites including ABCNews.com, CBSNews.com, CNN.com, Foxnews.com, WorldNetDaily.com, Newsmax.com, RushLimbaugh.com, MSNBC.com, Salon.com, JewishWorldReview.com, GOPUSA.com, iFeminists.com, CatholicExchange.com, CybercastNewsService.com, Yahoo.com, American-Partisan.com, and MensNewsDaily.com.

Thompson is frequently asked why a woman would be a leader of the shared parenting movement. Thompson believes that children's needs can only be fully met when both parents are actively and positively involved in their children's lives.

Thompson advocates shared parenting because it accords equal rights and responsibilities to both parents while promoting the best interests of children after a divorce. The presence (or absence) of a father in a child's life is the largest factor in predicting whether a child will graduate high school, attend college, become involved in crime or drugs, or get pregnant before age 18.

Thompson believes that the greatest and least recognized force behind America's epidemic of fatherlessness is the way in which judges routinely deny fathers shared parenting, ignore access and visitation denial complaints, and allow custodial mothers to move away with their children. Dianna works closely with local and national lobbyists and policy-makers from California to Washington, DC to ensure fair and equitable policies for men, women, and families. Dianna has testified in several states in support of shared parenting legislation, on child support legislation, and legislation to combat paternity fraud.

Positions held:

• Radio Show Host of the weekly radio show "Families Under Seige with Dianna Thompson and Jane Silk" broadcasted in 40 markets on Radio America out of Washington DC.
• Founding director, vice-president & executive director, American Coalition for Fathers and Children
• Founding director and active director of the Second Wives Crusade
• Former Editor, Fathers and Families magazine
• ACFC News & Media Bureau Spokesperson
• Former Chairman, Family Law Reform Committee (Los Angeles)

Editorial positions:

• Author of the social policy article "Child Support and Second Families" in the book Choices in Relationships: An Introduction to Marriage and the Family by David Knox and Caroline Schacht. Published by Wadsworth Publishing Company of Belmont, California, 2000
• Fathers & Families Magazine (Editor & Writer)
• Editor of the "Shared Parenting Tool-Kit" the ACFC's guide to divorce related issues

Public Speaking Engagements:

• 3rd Annual Fathers conference. Sponsored by the California Department of Social Services, Office of the Attorney General and Governor Wilson.
• Master of Ceremonies at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington DC - January 2002
• Speaker at the National Coalition For Free Men event titled, "Gender Feminism and the Voices Not Heard: Has America Gone Deaf In One Ear?" June 2002

Producer/Promoter (Events):

• Picturing Equality (largest Father's Day candlelight vigil in history), special guest speaker Dr. Laura Schlessinger.
• ACFC National Shared Parenting Conference 1998, Washington, D.C.

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© 2002 Dianna Thompson

• Photo of Dianna Thompson courtesy of the author

COPYRIGHT © 2001 BY THE AMERICAN PARTISAN. All writers retain rights to their work.