David L. Levy

David Levy (born c. 1936) is a pioneer in the field of children's rights. In 1985, Levy co-founded The National Council for Children's Rights, later renamed The Children's Rights Council, which he served as Board President until October 2009. He was the CEO from its inception until he became Board President on July 25, 2008. CRC is a global non-profit organization dedicated to assuring a child the right to two parents and an extended family, regardless of the parents' marital status. Levy is President emeritus of CRC. He published "Revolt of the Animals", a fantasy novel, in 2010, and is nearing completion of a book on "10 Ways to Help Children Avoid Crime, Drugs, Teenage Pregnancy and Gangs," to be published in 2012, He also provides supervised visitations in the Washington, D.C. area and consults on custody related topics in the U.S. and abroad.

Early life

A native of Yonkers, New York, Levy attended the University of Florida where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1958 prior to matriculating to the University of Florida Law School from which he received his juris doctorate in 1961. He spent a year in Israel (1969–1970), and upon his return to the U.S., he wrote freelance articles for The Washington Post and other publications.

Career

As President of CRC, Levy directed the Board of Trustees to strengthen families and reduce the trauma of divorce to children through supporting legislation and programs which favor Shared Parenting (joint custody) mediation, liberal access/parenting time, and emotional and financial child support. Levy edited CRC's quarterly newsletter, "Children”. Levy was responsible for CRC's 16 national conferences that attracted judges, lawyers, researchers, educators, elected officials, and custody reform activists. Levy also helped to guide the organizations access and visitation centers that provide neutral drop off and pick-up of children and supervised access (visitation).

Honors & Achievements

Levy was named one of the "25 Most Influential People in our Children's Lives" in Children's Health magazine, October 2009 issue.^[1] Others named in the article include Sasha and Malia Obama, Arne Duncan, Melinda Gates, and SpongeBob SquarePants. Levy is quoted in the article as stating "The trend is slowly moving in our direction--President Obama talks a lot about absentee fathers who need to take responsibility. (But) he may not realize that there are millions of parents who want to be involved (in their children's lives), but the road is blocked."^{[citation needed]} Levy had an article published entitled "Lending a Hand One Child at a Time: The Children's Rights Council's Child access and Transfer Centers" in The American Journal of Family Therapy, Volume 37, Number 5, October–December 2009 issue, Routledge Publishing Company. Levy received a "Lifelong Achievement Award" for his "untiring efforts on behalf of the Children of America" from the National Child Support Office in September 2000. Levy and CRC received the 1996 "Distinguished Service to Children" award from Parents without Partners International, and the "1996 Legislative Achievement" award from the National Parents' Day Coalition. In 1989, Levy received the Prince George's County Civic Association award for convincing Prince's George County, MD to hire the first access (visitation) mediator east of Michigan. He is listed on "Who's Who in America."^{[citation needed]}

A noted author, Mr. Levy has written a myriad of articles on the subject of child custody and divorce mediation which have been published in prominent legal journals as well as noted in general interest publications. He edited the CRC book "The Best Parent is Both Parents," (Hampton Roads Publishing Co., 1994). He also authored the novel "The Potomac Conspiracy" (Major Books, 1976). Among his professional affiliations, Levy was admitted to the Washington, D.C. Bar and the United States Supreme Court Bar. He was a board member of the Supervised Visitation Network and Stepfamily Association of America. Active in community affairs, Mr. Levy is the Social Action Vice President of the Tifereth Israel Congregation, Washington, D.C. He served as President of the Beth Torah Congregation from 1984 through 1986 during which time he was responsible for implementing a fundraising drive which turned the financially imperiled congregation into a financially viable organization (1985).

References

1. ^ The 25 Most Influential People in Our Children's Lives

External links

• Children's Rights Council
• David L. Levy, J.D. - Custody Consultant
• Washington Post, Maryland's Broken Custody System
• Divorice Without Dishonor, Book Review by David L. Levy, J.D.
• The Best Parent is Both Parents, edited by David L. Levy

Persondata
Name	Levy, David L.
Alternative names	none
Short description	lawyer, child advocate, fiction and non-fiction author, and writer of articles in professional journals.
Date of birth	c. 1936
Place of birth	New York City
Date of death
Place of death