When good fathers seek custody they are met with gender bias, specifically a preference for mothers as the primary custodians of the parties’ children. Unfortunately, evidence shows that custody decisions are often influenced by this preference for mothers over fathers. Consequently, fathers have a much higher burden to prove if they wish to attain physical custody of their children. In addition to proving their fitness as a parent, fathers must overcome the gender obstacle. When there is a custody dispute, is there a preference for mothers over fathers? This question is tackled by Hope H. Causey (Regent Law 2010) in her article Where’s Daddy’s?: The Court’s Maternal Preference and Why Daddies are Indispensable.
Part I briefly gives a background on the types of custody parents are awarded, differentiating between legal, physical, sole and joint. Part II analyzes whether there is a maternal preference that exists when there is a custody dispute between the mother and father. The argument that there is only a perception of gender bias is also rebutted. Part III discusses the reason for the removal of the maternal preference in custody disputes, which is that it is imperative for children to have both parents actively involved in their lives. It presents the educational, societal, and developmental benefits to having fathers involved in their children’s lives. Finally, Part IV provides a solution to the maternal preference and the problem of absent fathers.
Children thrive when they live with a mother and a father married to each other, affording obvious evidence that divorce is harmful to kids in one way or another. Keeping them from their dads in divorce is devastating, and when courts refuse to recognize that fathers are sometimes the best primary custodians, kids are the greatest losers.
Read the entire article here.
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I think Hope's article does an excellent job of analyzing child custody arrangements and the maternal preference for them.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in a divorced home myself, I lived primarily with my mother but my father still retained joint custody rights. As a child, I personally struggled with the transition from one parent to another, but I am positive that I would have much rather preferred that living arrangement than having absolutely no contact at all with my father.
Unfortunately, these days divorce has become all too common, resulting in children bearing the burden of that loss of domestic bliss. The statistics of children from a fatherless home are both unsettling and distressing, particularly the high percentage of children more likely to end up in prison, more likely to have behavior disorders and more likely to commit rape.
If divorce continues to remain commonplace, and custody battles also prevalent, I have to wonder how our society will ever be able to combat these affects on children.
The bias toward mothers is not only prevalent, it often borders upon non-nonsensical. The facts are that not only do men need to prove more, but also that women are assumed to be more of a parent that they really are simply because they are women.
ReplyDeleteFurther, the courts' empowering of women in such a perverse manner is abhorrent. It bears out to be true that men who really desire to be fathers suffer most at the hands vindictive women, almost given a license to be such by the courts. First, what can only be described as blackmail is often used against father who actually love their children and desire to see them. Second, women can more easily play games as to restricting men's access to a child, in that it is simply easier for a woman to capitalize upon a specious claim of harassment or to obtain a protective order based upon such. Third, should a woman be desirous of moving out of state,etc. for purposes of career advancement, the courts are less likely to restrict the career opportunity based upon an archaic assumption that women still face bias in the workplace. Fourth, men are less likely to be given access to child support or for the courts to take such a claim seriously based again on archaic assumptions of gender roles.
Furthermore, perhaps the most egregious aspect of the current biased system is that when men are used simply as an ATM machine, women are not required to show the destination of said funds, and fathers are not allowed to have any say as to where the funds are applied. In short, men are objectified as a source of funds for the mother and are cut off from any discussion as to where there funds end up, i.e. how they are spent, or even whether they are spent on the child.
All in all, we are screwed.
I believe in looking at this issue, it is useful to look at the media surrounding the very depiction of the American family. After reading this post, I saw a movie preview the other day that made me realize that not only are women preferred when it comes to the custody, but men are becoming completely unnecessary when it comes to parenting a child.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAyzwSZ2o48
The above link shows a new movie called The Back-Up Plan, in which the female lead has series of problems resulting from the fact that she decided to get pregnant so she could have the baby she always desired, and then ends up meeting a guy she actually likes. Society has turned this scenario into a romantic comedy, while the social and ethical issues are ignored.
Until the necessity of both a father and mother in a child's life becomes the norm, we as a society will continue to follow our own needs and desires without considering the impacts to those other than ourselves.
Amber Morris, Family Law Spring 2010
The fact that good father’s face an uphill battle when seeking custody it truly unfortunate. One of Satan’s biggest accomplishments has been removing fathers from the home. My belief is that good fathers suffer the consequences of “boys” who fail to step up and act like “men.” As a result many kids don’t have a positive male influence in their lives. Although both girls & boys are equally affected when a father is not present in the home, I believe that the effect on a boy is socially detrimental. A young girl if with a good mother is shown what it is to be a women and this is reinforced by the overwhelmingly female dominated elementary & secondary education system. However, a young boy is being taught how to be a man, by women. Single/Divorced females & women in the education field have a tendency to lean left & often have the belief that men have a limited role in the development of a child. So what are we left with? We are left with a generation of boys who believe they are men simply b/c of what they have between their legs & what they seen on television. It truly is heartbreaking to see the pattern repeat itself time & time again.
ReplyDeleteI agree with much of what has been stated above and will not attempt to re-hash the issues. One of my concerns with this area is the responsibility of men. I agree that a child needs both a man and a woman. However, more often than not, the man does not want the child. The man simply wants to diminish the consequences of the situation. Until men in America take responsibility for their actions, women will continue to gain sole custody of children and children will continue to be raised without the positive influence of a father.
ReplyDelete