Prejudice against Men in Custodial Cases - Research Paper Example

Prejudice against Men in Custodial Cases Relationship issues have always ended up in couples separating and even divorcing, creating a challenge of onto whose hands the children’s care and custody should be placed. Custody is the right to raise the family’s children, which is shared until the couples decide to separate or divorce. There must be some systematic arrangements to decide which parent gets the custody and ensure implementation of the decision, for the good of the children. From Johnston and Stewart (2000), it is clear that family courts ensure that the best interest of the children is given priority by determining the appropriate custodian from the parents. In the court’s determination, it must be clear of how the children visitation rights by the other parent will be ensured (Boland, 2007). Apparently, there exists some sort of sex discrimination, favouring women in the majority of past custodial cases. Criticism has been raised against this trend since men also have an equal custodial right in modern parenting perceptions. Social roles have continually changed to accommodate equity in family matters including children nurturing, making it an equal right for both parents to gain custody of the children. Children need both parents equally when growing up therefore custody should not appear biased against one parent. Thesis statement: fathers have always fought for custodial rights on their children for better nurturing but the court systems seem to have some bias against them, despite there being an equal chance for either of the parents. It is a psychological condition affecting men when they lose the custodial rights, just as it is for women. Court Process Custodial cases usually begin by filing a court order that is meant to demonstrate cause for asking for custodial rights by one of the parents. When the motion filing is done, the court determines if all other channels have been explored for an alternative dispute resolution. If the court is satisfied, the parent filing the order is advised to furnish the other parent with the notice about the same and a reply of the filing completed. Depending on the nature of the conflict, the court may decide to apply mediation or the full court process, where evaluation and trial are involved (Johnston and Stewart, 2000). The initial order is usually temporary, pending the court’s determination on whether to use mediation for resolution or the full trial, which effectively converts the order to a permanent one. The court hearings then begin where the court determines the case in a number of sittings which could be spread out over some months. Evidence is adduced in court for purposes of deciding the nature of rights and obligations, for instance custody, that will bind both parents in the child upbringing. According to Johnston and Stewart (2000), where there is a dispute in a relationship resulting in separation or divorce, the parents have an option of solving the custody on their own or go to court. Where the court process is preferred, the court takes the age of the child into consideration to offer the appropriate type of custody. Where the child is or children are very young, the judge determines which parent is preferred and that the children feel closely attached to. The parents must demonstrate that the child feels comfortable, secure and free with them. The judge also determines who among the two parents shows better capability to offer structure consistency and limits for the children as they grow. This implies that the parents should demonstrate the extent to which they play their parenting roles, frequency of their supportive parenting and instill discipline. The parent who is more likely to support the other parent’s relationship with the child has also to be determined from the two parents. This establishes if the parent is able to share the child with the other parent in case custodial rights favor him or her. Support and assistance from both parents accorded to the child towards success in school is analyzed to determine growth and success chances while with either of the parents. If the child is a bit older (mature preteens and teenagers), the judge’s work becomes easier because the child’s choice of custody is well developed and is assumed to “vote with their feet.” The judge makes the decision whether the custody case is most favorable in a temporary basis, joint or permanent basis as noted by Folberg (1991). Visiting rights are then clearly laid out as well as upbringing responsibilities to ensure that the parents continue with their parenting roles despite there being a dispute. A court evaluator interrogates the parents to obtain sufficient information on which to base the judgment. The interrogations can be conducted jointly or separately. The children may be involved in the interrogation if they are of age to speak out some issues. Questions are not directly asked to the children to avoid creation of further rifts in the broken family. The evaluator uses both verbal and non-verbal communication tools to read in between the lines and obtain extra information from conduct on the best custodian. The evaluation report is actually a psychological process used to determine the parents’ preparedness to exercise custodial roles (Boland, 2007). From these processes, it is evident that the entire custodial case decision made involves not only general family relationship skills but also psychological connectivity that individuals have with their children. Generally, men suffer from relationship and psychological issues, probably the reason why the evaluation results appear discriminative against them. The discrimination that men are likely to be subjected to seems to arise from the fact that men are less emotionally expressive. Psychologically, women become attached to their children than men, basically due to the relative longer period of time that the mothers spend with them. Early child developmental stages are particularly a necessity that the child spends more time with the mother. Breastfeeding, for instance requires some extra time that creates some unique bonding that the father can never achieve with the child. Due to the bonding likely to be established, it is obvious that the child tends to feel safer and comfortable when with the mother than with the father. Evaluation techniques are largely a reflection of the attachment that the child develops with a parent; hence it is justifiable to that extent that the mother eventually gets custody over that child (Bretherton, 1992). Relative Favor for Mothers’ Custody Fathers fighting for the right to have custody of their children may not always find it easy due to child experts’ considerations made on a particular case. According to Ainsworth and Bowlby as cited in Bretherton (1992), maternal-infant attachment is a critical child psychological development aspect that many psychological evaluators cannot neglect for the good of the child. Attachment theory in psychology provides that human development is characterized by the tendency to develop some strong relationship with at least one of the closest caregivers. Psychologists argue that this is a necessity for normal emotional and social development, which is a characteristic of the advanced social behavior displayed by human beings. Mother figure plays a central role in the creation of the link needed for useful attachment (Bretherton, 1992). Court’s decisions are therefore based on an informed scientific base, that the mother is the recipe for proper metal development. Courts heavily depend on expert findings on their rulings, to ensure that judgments are as fair as they possibly can. According to Watnik (2003), studies conducted by Maccoby and Mnookin gave statistics revealing that custody cases favored mothers at 67% while fathers had only 6% in their favor. Joint custody won 20% of the cases, illustrating huge disparities in custodial rights despite there being guarantees of equity for both parents. These findings reveal that the actual situation on the ground fails the test of fairness with regard to equal chances for both parents in custody cases (Johnston and Stewart, 2000). For a long time, child care and support are synonymous to maternal care, which develop with time to form a bond that the court considers in issue of judgments. Interrogations at the court almost always reveal a higher propensity for mothers playing core care roles as compared to fathers. Custodial rulings will therefore tend to be biased to the caregiver, since the withdrawal of such bond would greatly affect the child (Burrill, 2002). However, the modern family is characterized by sharing of care roles, which places fathers in a better position than before. Latest court rulings do not reflect this fact, since the mothers continue to enjoy a great advantage over custodial rights at the expense of the father. Disciplinarians are usually not likeable especially to underage children, who can not understand the purpose of disciplinary actions taken against them. Fathers always assume the role of disciplinarians in their families which exposes them to the risk of some sort of dislike by their children. This is definitely a blow to the chances of acquiring custodial rights by the fathers, who are not necessarily unjustly harsh on their children. The majority of mothers on the other hand assume a more pleasant role of mediators. When a disciplinarian decision appearing harsh on a child is made, it has to be from the father. The more pleasant mediation decision made by the mother places her higher on likeability ratings (Johnston and Stewart, 2000). This implies that both parents cannot be at the same level when older children “vote by their feet.” In spite of knowing these truths, some judges express some level of biasness towards women. For instance, even in a clear instance, a demonstration of supporting circumstances lacks to support the disparity. The gender bias against the father is considerably higher when the child is young and probably breastfeeding or immediately after breastfeeding. The gender bias on custody rights usually falls as the age of the child advances. The routine around daily care for the child predisposes the parents to the apparent preference by the child for custody determination. Gender roles over the past several decades have continually placed the mother at an advantage for custodial rights than the father (Dachman and Leving, 1998). Advantages of Father’s Custody Loss of ground for arguments for custody rights by men in foiled marriages is an experience that any father would like to forget. Coincidentally, much change has occurred to parental roles and contributions, prompting research on men’s involvement in child upbringing and care to be performed (Dachman and Leving, 1998). Custody cases are predicted to change and favor men after many years of discrimination, since findings give increments on fathers’ involvement in child care. Where the father is present during the child’s growth, it is reported that cognitive development is greatly enhanced. Father-child bonding increases social functioning and capabilities of the child which should be facilitated throughout growth. It is also possible that a child brought up within an environment having the father figure increase chances of attainment of higher education. Due to the enforcement of limits set by the father as the disciplinarian lowers behavior issues at adolescence. Discipline instilled through limits facilitates countering of delinquency as well as criminal attributes by the growing children. It is particularly easy for a father to stop delinquent behavior than it would be for a mother. Juvenile delinquency studies have particularly been supportive of the fact that absence of the father aggravates the vice. Besides divorce and separation, it has be demonstrated that any other form of withdrawal of the paternal figure adversely affect the rate of falling into delinquent behavior by minors. The mother is easily overwhelmed by the stubbornness experience at the adolescence stage, due to life crisis that require close and strict watch. The father figure is very important in molding the responses made by children to mid life crisis experience at some stage of life (Johnston and Stewart, 2000). Children and families world over prefer using the paternal name for a surname which is affected by the absence of the father, especially if the reasons are preventable. A child’s self esteem experiences a huge dent resulting in poor performance in school and other areas. In Prior and Wilson (2009), it is reported that there are several benefits in children paternal upbringing than it was thought. Father figures involvement in upbringing present unique mental development opportunities not otherwise found. Although both parents presence in the growth of a child is very important, the study highlights possible benefits foregone if the mother assumes custody of the child. Among developmental aspects that are likely to be well defined, if the father brings up the child than when than mother does it, include cognitive abilities and self esteem. Ball and Moselle (2007) stated that it is evident that the roles of the father in development of the child have been beneficially evident to the health of both the child and the father. Changes have been experienced in the social arena to facilitate women taking up social roles and spend more time away from their children. Economic arena has witnessed women increasingly taking managerial roles as well as entrepreneurial activities, which need outdoor engagements. Their contributions in the world of business have therefore created some role reversal. On the other hand, men have continually taken up family roles to balance family needs with the absence of the wives. Political arena has similarly seen women get involved than it previously was. Social settings have embraced practices such as men taking responsibility in family care, creating more participation by men. Education has also opened up society notions and perceptions to create room for more contributions and participation by men to the social processes. Social changes have therefore enabled men to increase their input in family matters, especially child care. Consequently, it is unjust for the discrimination that existed before these changes to continue against men. Custody by men has been boosted by the social changes which should erase doubts as to whether men are capable of offering child care. Conclusion Custodial cases arise from foiled parents’ relationships, prompting separation or divorce as a means of conflict resolution. Depending in the gravity of the conflict, the conflict can end up in a court of law dealing with family issues to determine custody of the children. The court determines the most appropriate parent to assume custody after evaluations of the case circumstance. There is always a very high chance that the court will grant the custodial right to the mother, due to some unprecedented discriminatory factors (Bretherton, 1992). According to several studies, psychological and emotional features exhibited by the mothers act as a contributing factor for this discrimination, despite there being guarantees of equality. Court evaluations establish several facts concerning the both parents’ capabilities on custodial roles, before granting custody. It has been argued that the unique attachment and bonding that exists between the mother and the child could contribute to the relative advantage that mothers have over fathers in winning custodial cases. Delicate emotional ties that develop between the mother and the child, especially during breastfeeding cannot be compared to the relationship that fathers have with their children. The age of the child is likely to affect outcomes of custodial cases; the younger the children are the more attached there are to their mothers and vice versa (Dachman and Leving, 1998). Disciplinarian roles assumed by fathers may be a disadvantage in custodial cases, especially during the stubborn adolescence stage. Mothers appear to assume a mediating role which is more pleasant and makes them more likeable and likely to win children’s hearts. Courts’ systems lack a mechanism of unraveling the deceptive liking that delinquent children develop for their mothers and link the role of discipline to a child’s growth (Zohrab, 2002). Although the court evaluator determines the capability of the parent as far as limit setting and control is concerned, it is inadequate to probe the child’s myopic intentions. Changes in social scenes and in parenting have witnessed a more involving participation by both parents, in time and resources making chances of the relative advantage lose meaning. Promising social practices can be predictive of a more balance court ruling on custodial cases, despite some reluctance at the moment. It can therefore be concluded that the family will experience the impact of social changes that incorporate mothers and fathers equally to family matters (Boland, 2007). Consequently, divorce and separation cases will witness more men winning custodial cases, an area that has been dominated by women for a long time. It a timely opportunity that court systems realized the need to change perceptions on men abilities for children custody and respond accordingly. References Ball, J., & Moselle, K. (2007). Fathers’ contributions to children’s well-being. Public Health Agency of Canada, Retrieved from http://www.fira.ca/cms/documents/123/PH_FI_Report_brief.pdf Boland, M. L. (2007). The right to child custody, visitation and support. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, Inc. Bretherton, I. (1992). “The Origins of Attachment Theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth”, Developmental Psychology, 28(1):759-775 Burrill, J. (2002). Parental alienation syndrome in court referred custody cases. New South Wales: Universal Publishers. Dachman, K. & Leving J. (1998). Fathers’ rights: hard-hitting and fair advice for every father involved in a custody dispute. New York, NY: Basic Books Folberg, J. (1991). Joint custody and shared parenting. New York, NY: Guildford Press. Johnston T., & Stewart, J. (2000). Child custody book: how to protect your children and win your case. San Luis Obispo, CA: Impact Publishers Prior, M. R., & Wilson, K. R. (2009). “Father Involvement: The Importance of Paternal Solo Care”, Early Child Development and Care, Doi: 10.1080/03004430903172335 Watnik, W. (2003). Child custody made simple: understanding the laws of child custody and child support. Rocklin, CA: Single Parent Press Zohrab, P. D. (2002). Sex, lies and feminism. Paraparaumu, New Zealand: Backlash Books. Read More