Candidate Biography (submitted by candidate):

Geoffrey M. Hurlburt is the first member of his family to seek public office. He was born and raised in West Central Wisconsin. He is involved with children's issues working to effect positive change in communities expounding the benefits for children when they have equal access to their Mother and Father after family fragmentation by divorce or separation.

Educational/Employment Background Geoffrey M Hurlburt graduated from Chippewa Valley Technical College in 1994 with an Associate of Science degree in Histotechnology. He attained registration with the Board of Registry of the American Society of Clinical Pathology also that same year. Since that time he has worked in clinical and research laboratories expanding from basic histology into immunohistochemistry. These positions have taken him to Wayne Memorial Hospital in Goldsboro, NC, The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, ACL Laboratories in Chicago, IL and Charles River Laboratories in Durham, NC. Currently he is a Contractor at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Durham, NC.

Current Status He is a Single Father impacting children's lives by being active in Rolesville Elementary PTA in Rolesville, NC, attending Wake Forest United Methodist Church in Wake Forest, NC and as a Volunteer in the Wake County Public School System. Being able to impact children's lives for the better, overall, will deeply bring about stability in our society by strengthening education for children, reversing children in poverty and positively impacting the number of children who end up in corrections as adolescents and young adults. As a team Researcher, he contributes to forwarding the mission of the National Institute of Environmental Health Science to reduce the burden of human illness and disability by understanding how the environment influences the development and progression of human disease. The work of the NIEHS is on the cusp of the greatest discoveries of the 21st century.

Candidate Statement:

Children's rights to equal access is the Civil Right fight for in this new Century.

With 50% of marriages ending in divorce, 40% of our children born out of wedlock, 5 out of 6 custody cases decided, favor to Mother only and 1 in 3 children, 24 million, living with only one biological parent, the sirens are going off.

The Family Court Industry drowns out these screams. The Judiciary is not even accessible to people who have no savings or credit.

Why are the challenges set forth 30+ years ago still the same challenges facing the Black community today?
 
In the Black community 70% of those children are born out of wedlock, 56% of them do not live with both biological parents and 40% of them haven't even seen their other parent in over a year.

As a State, we need to guarantee a child's right to equal access to both of their biological parents absent child abuse or neglect. 

We do not want to continue to submit that a monthly dollar figure is more important that actual continuing and frequent access to both parents.

The best child support is equally shared parenting.

Our children will thrive
Our schools with thrive
Our courts and prisons will be less busy and have declining populations
We will have put ourselves on the Road to the end of Poverty in America

It is neither appropriate or correct to base policy on that a sole single family unit is in the best interest of the children of those broken families. It takes two parents to raise them, whether they have one home or two.