And with the amount of money he was ordered to pay his ex-wife, Klinger was forced to move back in with his parents.

“There would have been no way financially to maintain a home with the amount of child support and spousal support that I was paying,” he said.

During the custody battle, Klinger said, he constantly faced what he perceived as bias by the court.

“It’s like a circus,” he said. “Quite often, people’s minds are made up in advance, and if there are no signs of abuse or tremendous neglect, everyone automatically thinks the best place for a child is with their mother. That’s not always the case.”

At one point, he said, his attorney advised him: “It’s time to start a new family.”

According to Klinger, his situation is not unique. He said he’s heard of other men who are struggling with similar problems.

Now, they have a similar solution, a group called the Lebanon County Fatherhood Initiative, founded by Klinger and his new wife. The group’s mission is to enhance positive relationships between fathers and their children and encourage cooperative parenting by educating, empowering and encouraging fathers to stay actively involved in their children’s lives.

Klinger offers himself as a case in point for fathers struggling in the wake of a divorce. Now 44, he said his divorce after 11 years of marriage and the child-custody dispute that followed were the most severe things he has ever had to go through.

“There is nothing more difficult or frustrating or trying than that experience,” he said. “All fathers want to do a good job, and when you go through the divorce thing and you don’t get to see your children every night and every morning, it tries on you. It’s very difficult.”

Eventually, Klinger remarried, and he and his ex-wife moved about an hour away from each other, making it even more difficult for Klinger to spend as much time with his two sons, now 20 and 14, as he wanted to.

His new wife, Teresa Stump-Klinger, a family therapist, grew frustrated.

“I saw the struggles he went through, the bias that was against him, and was just very angry and frustrated at the way the system was set up,” said Stump-Klinger, a social worker at Harrisburg Hospital.

The couple helped found the Lebanon County Fatherhood Initiative in 2005. In addition to boosting relationships among fathers and children, the LCFI is also designed, according to its Web site, http://www.lebanoncfi.org, “to lead a society-wide movement to confront the problem of father absence.”

The LCFI is still in its infancy and has no office yet. Eventually, organizers hope to offer a place where fathers and their children can meet and to provide father-child counseling, father-child activities, legal-issue workshops, a young-fathers group and a stepfathers group.

The LCFI recently completed an incarcerated-fathers outreach program involving nine inmates at the Lebanon County prison.

“We started with these guys because, of all the dads, they probably have it the hardest,” said Stump-Klinger, the LCFI’s president. “And a lot of them feel forgotten or defeated by the system, by the families, by society, and getting to know them, they’re a great bunch of guys.”

Stump-Klinger said the purpose of the prison program was to bring the dads closer to their kids or to maintain a relationship. The program met its objective, she said, with some men continuing correspondence with their children either by phone or letter and others attempting to start a relationship.

The program also helped the inmates to realize they are partly responsible for the distance between their kids and themselves, Stump-Klinger said.

“It wasn’t just a pity party for these guys,” she said. “We told them they need to be responsible for their actions, and they also need to tell their kids that.”

Although it is based on the same principles, the Lebanon County Fatherhood Initiative is not affiliated with the National Fatherhood Initiative. But that may change someday. Stump-Klinger said the LCFI is not associated with the national group because its dues are too expensive. When the local group has enough money to join, it just may, she said.

The LCFI is focusing on fund-raising, with the main goal of getting an office. Stump-Klinger said she would like to have office in Lebanon so it’s in the center of the county and there is public transportation available.

“Some of my other dreams would be to have an office that’s big enough so we can have regular meetings for the guys,” she said. “I would like for the office to be a place where the guys can bring their kids, ... and they can play board games, maybe all the dads and kids can make pizza together — very interactive things to do.

“The main goal, down the road ... is to be a place where dads and kids can come, where dads can feel supported, where they can be heard, and where their voice can count as much as the moms’,’” she continued.

Marlin Klinger, who serves as the organization’s secretary, said the LCFI’s major role will be to encourage fathers, stepfathers and others who are involved with children.

“Giving up never has to be an option,” he said. “The fight is always worth it. If nothing else, we’re there to say, ‘You can do it.’

“I’ve run across so many that have just given up,” he continued. “They just send a check to stay out of jail, they stop visiting, and I think that makes a tremendous negative impact on our children.”

Stump-Klinger said part of the reason for starting the LCFI is because of the importance of having a father in a child’s life. She said statistics show children who grow up without a father are more likely to falter in school, to be involved in teenage pregnancy, to experiment or become addicted to drugs and alcohol, to be truant from school, and to commit suicide.

“You name it. Every negative thing a that teen could experience has been shown to be related to the absence of a father,” she said.