Championing Fathers' Rights: An Interview With Samera Habib, Founder of The Dadvocates, P.C

Respected family law attorney Samera Habib is the founder of The Dadvocates, P.C., a law firm that focuses on men’s and fathers’ rights. She is licensed to practice in California and Colorado and commits her practice to child welfare advocacy, advocating for the involvement and promotion of fathers and fatherhood in the lives of children, and understanding the cultural complexities of criminal defense, custody cases, and other family law matters particularly gender-related matters. Samera was honored by the American Family Institute of Family Law as one of its ten best attorneys. Her experiences afford her a unique understanding of Islamic, Arabic, and Middle Eastern cultures, and she is celebrated for her preparedness, ingenuity, and top-notch trial skills in the courtroom.

How did you become focused on fathers’ rights advocacy in your practice?

I was initially part of a law firm that represented mostly mothers, and my experiences within the family law system from that side revealed that so many fathers caught in the system are fighting for basic access to their children, spending tens of thousands of dollars to get so much as a dinner visit. In today’s family courts, mothers are often given full temporary custody upon mere claims of concern about or lack of fitness of a father, and the most litigious among them need only make safety allegations to secure permanent full custody with little to no proof. Over and over, I saw this play out, and it seemed inequitable. The only time a father will secure 50-50 of their children at the inception of a custody case is if the mother agrees, and that is rarely the case.

I couldn’t understand why a father was required to spend tens of thousands of dollars navigating the complicated court process to get something as basic as every other weekend. The fight for even that little bit of time is a process that often lasts long past the two-year mark and involves so many expensive and unpredictable experts who hold way too much power and sway with the court. I have always been an advocate for the underdog, even from a young age, and in modern-day family law courts, most often that role is represented by the father. Advocating for dads fits naturally with my personality and passion, and I saw that it was a need I could fill.

How did you start your career in family law?

In 2010, I interned for the most prominent family law judge in Colorado, the Honorable Angela Arkin, who is recognized nationwide for her expertise and published scholarly articles explaining the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act, a legal principle that has been adopted by 49 states, including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and Guam. Before meeting her, I knew nothing about family law, and I was overwhelmed with the weight and importance of this field of law, I was surprised by the number of legal professionals, experts, and important political figures who treat it as insignificant or annoying. A divorce and custody case touches every facet of a person’s life, from assets and income to mental health and children, and attorneys handling these cases must have expertise in the subject area. I committed to rigorous study and did my best to learn everything there was to know about family law.

When I went through my divorce, I was without anticipation or warning accused of being an unsafe parent by the same person who had pursued his career over family and left me in the role of primary parent. It was a hard pill to swallow to watch the courts buy into a narrative that I was unsafe when I was the day-to-day presence of my children. I was young and had very little money, but I was required to pay what amounted to well over $100,00 over two years for experts and other services to prove my basic competency as a mother, something I thought was evident by the fact that the children had been healthy in my care. I had been in my children’s lives every day, and the legal process seemed to overlook this and to place the need for litigiousness over the obvious fact that the children suffered from no issues whatsoever and were to the contrary, very successful and cared for. The custody evaluators should have focused on how the children were doing, but instead, the process became a competition between me and the father, focusing mostly on whether or not the baseless allegations against me were my fault. To me, this process became a farce, and my experience made me step back and approach family law with empathy toward parents who were present, contributive, and suddenly found themselves without a voice in family court. As a custody evaluator, I try my best to relay the good things about each parent rather than follow the standard blueprint of maligning both parents viciously and then choosing the one I disliked the least. It is destructive to a parent’s mental health to put them through this vicious process and I want to see it greatly reformed or abolished.

What unique quality does Dadvocates, P.C. bring to your field of family law?

In our practice, the goal is to get fathers equally involved and afforded the rights that are theirs under the law—access to their children, and an opportunity to be present and actively involved in decisions and opportunities relating to their children. We are not an anti-woman firm, by any means, After all, I have been a mother and a woman long before becoming a fathers’ rights attorney. What we are is a safe space for fathers who are seeking involvement to elevate their voices and receive equitable representation in custody and family law disputes, and the most powerful voice to advocate for that is someone who appears to be a member of the other team. Importantly, we teach fathers to work with mothers and continue to be a functional family after divorce or separation, but now in two households. We advocate for families, in every shape and form, including those who determined it better to do it alongside each other rather than from the same home. Ultimately, the success of our endeavors creates a healthier experience for the children, and that should be everyone’s goal from the outset. If anyone says that advocating for fathers proves bias, then I encourage them to consider the ample evidence about the mental and emotional health issues that children without their fathers face in life and how the negative effects of not having a father can be seen well into adulthood. Involving fathers is a basic tenant necessary to effectuate the best interest of the child.

What has been a highlight of your career over the last five years?

The highlight of my career has been opening our second branch in Los Angeles and building a reputation in Southern California as leaders in the fathers’ rights movement, especially in the face of extremely one-sided oppressive domestic violence laws that are sweeping California. The standard to be met for a domestic violence restraining order is very low the victim must subjectively feel afraid, and the offensive or questionable action can be as minimal as disturbing the victim’s peace. A DVRO has catastrophic consequences for a parent because once it is entered, sole physical and legal custody of the children is awarded to the victim, regardless of how involved the other parent was up until that point. As one can imagine, this is mostly harming fathers and giving mothers an easy route to the elimination of the father’s role in their children’s lives. In Colorado, we are now known throughout the state and are sought after to represent fathers statewide. Currently, we are sharpening our skills in using AI to bolster our work with solid legal research, which allows us to continue our growth in a way that serves more fathers with the same stellar representation. We hope to open offices in San Diego, San Francisco, and New York soon.

Key Takeaways

• Attorneys need to build relationships in the community and maintain those relationships even during busy times. Just as we support our clients, it's important to support ourselves in our professional growth.

• The primary goal of our work is to provide fathers with safe and healthy access to their children. The satisfaction that comes with success is immeasurable, especially when a father has been separated from his children for prolonged periods.

• Reliability is important when representing clients in family law. Identify key individuals who can help you succeed.