The Father's Rights in Child Custody Issues
In the United States today more than one-half of all marriages end in divorce. The purpose of this paper is to examine the reason why women have typically received custody of the children far more often than the fathers. In order to better understand child custody one must first examine how fathers have often times been left out of the picture, and conversely why mothers have had such hard times raising children on their own. This paper will first examine the perspective of a father who has lost custody of his children.
A Fathers Perspective
According to many the custody of a child should be determined with the best interest of the child in mind. However, it is not easy for a judge to make such an important decision in such a short amount of time with limited information. Smith (2004) stated that, the simple fact of being a mother does not indicate a willingness or capacity to render a quality of care different than that which a father can provide. Some might argue that what Reynolds (2004) calls deadbeat dads, or in other words fathers who refuse to pay their child support, are often times confused with Turnips, who are ex-spouses who can not afford to pay child support. One example of a turnip is a father who is in prison; he is obviously not making money while he is on the inside. Now an example of a deadbeat dad is when the father is enjoying all the finer things in life and he cannot reach far enough into his...
The role of a father is more than just another parent at home (Popenoe, 1996). Having a father, the male biological parent in a child’s life is important because it brings a different type of parenting that cannot be replicated by anyone else (Stanton, 2010). Fathers who are present and active in a child’s life provide great benefits to a developing child (Popenoe, 1996). Having a father brings a different kind of love. The love of the father is more expectant and instrumental, different from the love of a mother (Stanton, as cited in Pruett, 1987).
In 2007 there were approximately 77,200 fathers and 65,600 mothers incarcerated in the United States (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2007). As our society continues to grow, our jail and prison population are growing as well. When a parent or guardian is taken into custody the juvenile (child) is taken and released to a relative or child protective services. The children are either given to a close family member or a surrogate parent, meaning a foster home. This may have an emotional impact on the juvenile involved, which may lead them to committing delinquent acts. The children sometimes feel they are left to fend for themselves emotionally and the stress of these emotions are left upon the guardian at the time. These intense sufferings sometimes leave the juveniles in a harmful mental state resembling depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and feelings of abandonment from their parents/guardians. Children with incarcerated parents are five times more likely than their peers to commit crimes (Texas Department of Criminal Justice, 2008).
This case revolves around a custody dispute between Dave and his former paramour Maria, over their 4-year-old son, Luke. Dave and Maria were in relationship for 5 years, but 2 years ago their relationship ended. Despite no longer being involved romantically, Dave and Maria were able to remain amicable where Luke was concerned. They utilized a schedule where Luke would stay with Maria one week and with Dave the next, they alternated holidays, this was a parenting schedule they developed on their own without going through the legal system, therefore there was no court order. This co-parenting schedule was working well as they both lived in Springfield, Missouri and were amicable in their relationship for the sake of their child.
Thus, men and women share equal responsibility in the acts that conceive children. However, men do not have the same options women do (Why). Despite this, DCS hunts men down as if they are the answer to all of society’s problems, treating men like criminals until they lay a golden egg. Some men never lay the golden egg, and these are the truly “dead broke” dads (Miller; Deadbeat). Ultimately, the question that we have to ask ourselves is, should we prosecute “dead-beat” dads?
...nder roles that lack this maternal instinct. Culturally fathers are perceived to be the “bread-winners” and be more involved in playing with children, whereas mothers are often involved in the daily care of children, such as feeding and bathing children. Although women are commonly the head of sole-parent families, the Ministry of Social Development state that there is a growing rate of sole-parent fathers accounting for 14% of all sole-parents with dependent children in 1986 rising to 17% in 2006 (2010). It is evident that single-mother parenting is different to single-father parenting; however the rising rate of single-fathers suggests that the stigma of gender roles in sole-parenting is on the rise towards equality.
After half an hour of searching, finally I have the opportunity to observe a court in person for the first time. At the 302nd Family Court in downtown Dallas on the 3rd of Dec, 2013, the case I was observing was a child custody case between Anna Smith and David Smith. The case number as show on the board outside the court is DS-12-08126. Furthermore, the Judge of 302nd Family Court is Tena Callahan.
The website that contains the above sentence is a site that discusses stories about some men that do not believe they should pay child support. In some of the cases, the man is unaware that he was the biological father of the child, but was ordered by court to pay to help support the child. Other cases were about divorced couples where the man is upset about providing for the children after the separation even if they are his biological children. In the view of Daniel Callahan, the author of the article “Bioethics and Fatherhood”, this website is nonsense. He argues that, “given the obvious importance of procreation in bringing human life into existence, fathers have a significant moral responsibility for the children they voluntarily procreate”. In the situations where the biological fathers just don’t want to give up their money for the children, Callahan’s argument can be directly applied. For the other cases, the argument can still be used because those men had believed that they were the real fathers at first. The fact that they aren’t obligated to take on the responsibility of caring for that child, does not mean that all responsibility should be taken off the real biological father and put on the man that thought he was. The website, Women’s Health Care Services, also agrees with argument and says, “The father of a child has a legal responsibility to provide for the support, educational, medical and other needs of that child.” Therefore the dad should at least be there financially for their child.
A state that undertakes custody of a child is declaring that it can do a better job providing protection. This system is a powerful agent of support, providing positive nurturing environments that enable a child to reach his or her potential. Nonetheless, when children suffer additional abuse in the system, this government intervention should be questioned.
There was a time when women typically maintained the home and raised children while the husbands were the sole bread-winners for the family finances. However, times have changed and so have women’s rights and expectations for divorce, education, an...
Divorce is becoming a worldwide phenomenon, significantly affecting children’s well-being. It radically changes their future, causing detrimental effects. According to (Julio Cáceres-Delpiano and Eugenio Giolito, 2008) nearly 50% of marriages end with divorce. 90% of children who lived in the USA in the 1960s stayed with their own biological parents, whereas today it makes up only 40% (Hetherington, E. Mavis, and Margaret Stanley-Hagan, 1999). Such an unfavorable problem has been increasing, because in 1969, the California State Legislature changed the divorce laws, where spouses could leave without providing cause (Child Study Center, 2001).
Children used to be considered to be the property of their fathers. This dates back to the Roman times as well as in English common law. The fathers had the rights to sell the children, had the right to enter them into enforced labor. However, he also had the legal obligation to educate, support and protect his children. Basically fathers had all the rights to the children, and the mothers had none. Thus, in divorce, the father had absolute right to custody.
Divorce is a heavy concept that has many implications for those involved. The situation becomes even more consequential when children are considered. As divorce has become more commonplace in society, millions of children are affected by the separation of the nuclear family. How far-reaching are these effects? And is there a time when divorce is beneficial to the lives of the children? This paper will examine some of the major research and several different perspectives regarding the outcomes of divorce for the children involved, and whether it can actually be in the best interest of the kids.
In David Blankenhorn’s book written in 1995, he brings to light what he calls “America’s fundamental problem”: our culture of fatherlessness. Our modern day view of fathers is that they are unnecessary both in society and in the upbringing of a child. Blankenhorn argues the contrary: the only way to solve the multitude of social problems present in America is to address the common denominator, the decline of fathers and the shrinking importance of fatherhood. Blankenhorn’s book is split into three parts: Part I: Fatherlessness, Part II: The Cultural Script and Part III: Fatherhood. In Fatherlessness, he provides the history of fatherhood and includes statistics that help to illustrate the transition of the father from head of the household to being “almost entirely a Sunday institution” (pg. 15).
Since the beginning of time, fathers have had a profound effect on their child’s development. Over the years, the norm for traditional family dynamics of having a father figure in the household has changed drastically, and so did the roles of the parents. It is not as common as it used to be to have a father or father figure in the home. In this day and age, women are more likely to raise children on their own and gain independence without the male assistance due to various reasons. The most significant learning experience and development of a person’s life takes place in their earlier years when they were children. There are many advantages when there is a mother and father combined in a
In America, the 2009 Census reported 11.6 million as the number of single parents living with their children in 2009. There were 9.9 million single mothers and 1.7 million single fathers. There is a huge disparity between these numbers. One wonders where the other 8.2 million fathers are and why it is that women are the majority are being the primary caregiver. The most important concern is how the children of these families have matured into responsible, well-adjusted adults. Circumstantial women are those that are single, head of the household, earning income from two or more jobs, and raising children on their own. Most of these women have been put in this position due to the male figure being absent. Single women far outnumber men in the same situation. Also, a man’s income would most likely be higher. Women not only run the household, but also go to work to support th...