Comparison To Seltzer's Study
Fathers, in today's society are undermined by the courts and by their children’s mother. Some fathers cannot see their children due to the mother’s emotions, but there are some cases that are different. For instance, Barrington Newell is a father of 7 kids. Out of the 7 kids he has, he had only one kid in custody. His second to last daughter Natasha. Natasha’s mother had passed away from a medical problem. Mr. Newell was forced to take care his daughter. Natasha’s grandmother wanted custody of Natasha, but did not receive custody because it was in the court’s best interest to leave Natasha with her other living parent. It seemed like at the time it was the best interest of the child to live with her father. This my story of how my father was
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awarded full custody of me. My goal of this paper is to explain how fathers are awarded custody and the impacts of joint and sole custodies have on the child (or children) and the fathers. Fathers are awarded partial custody and visitation to their children when the courts feel it's the best interest for the children. They are awarded sole custody when there are extreme circumstances. Extreme circumstances are defined by the court and determine based on economic status, gender of the child, and whether the parent is unfit.
OVERVIEW OF PREVIOUS ARGUMENTS
History of parenthood and gender bias in the Family Court. The view on fathers have changed dramatically over a period of time. McNeely discuss the Industrial Revolution as the start of gender bias in Family Court, where fathers were required to work at facilities and for mothers to stay home and care for the family; where they become the primary caregiver. This lead to the father loss of control and dominance in his family. Over the years, society lost the realization of children needing the love and support of their father. The United States family court has denied father's capabilities and desire to take care of their progeny; as well, eternalize the mother of being the weak-minded and the need of support from the father. Fathers who are discovered are perceived by the state that they are not crucial to the teaching of children. Their only capabilities were to send checks to the mother and to do a couple hours of visitations. The state is encouraging fathers to abandon their true fatherhood (McNealy, 892).
According to Barrett-Benvenga, in colonial times, fathers had property rights to his children and custody was always given to him. The duty of a father was to support and teach his children, which was his right to custody. Not until the nineteenth century that the father’s right to custody was given away to this doctrine, which was children must be brought by their mothers. The origin of that doctrine come from the case Helms v. Franciscus. This decision lead to the term “maternal preference” (175) and was used in many cases forthcoming. Until in 1974, where an amendment was made to the Maryland custody at that prevent future court proceedings the neither shall be given preference based on their gender. This abolishes the maternal preference in future laws. There are still some states that use the maternal preferences in deciding child custody (Barrett-Benvenga, 175).
The types of Custody parents are awarded. There are many types of custody are awarded in Family Court. Gunnoe and Braver defined the types of custody awarded: joint custody with both parents with residential custody with the mother or father, primary custody for the father or mother with visitation on either party, and joint custody with both parents with residential custody with both parents. According Gunnoe and Braver, residential custody is defined as whom the children reside at. Joint custody is shared custody between the both party. Sole custody is when one party has sole custody of the child or children. Visitations last for couple of hours to a few days. Statistics shows that joint custody is the dominated custody that have been awarded over the past centuries (Gunnoe & Braver, pg.27-29). Similar to Gunnoe and Braver, Canican et al. describes custody in two categories, which is physical custody and shared custody. Canican goes in more depth with shared custody. Physical custody is the primary caregiver who takes care of the child and who the child resides with the most. Shared custody is the parent who sees the child on the weekends or for a couple of hours. Shared custody can be equal and unequal. For instance, the child can see one parent 80% of the time and another 20% of the time (Cancian et al., pg. 1387).
Sodermans et al. that argue that the well-being of the parents’ relationship to their children plays an important factor on the outcome of custody arrangements. Researchers states gender and communication have a correction on whether the child respond well to the custody. They explain that a mother has positive relationship with the child because of open-communication while the father has a negative relationship due to the lack of communication with their child (Sodermans et al., 263). Seltzer believes the socio-economics status plays an important role of custody outcomes and the relationship between the family plays role when the court decides the type of custody to be awarded. Joint custody allows fathers to see their children more frequently and more overnight stays than fathers who have visitation. Joint custody has positive effects on families and cause families to have less problems. These factors are take account by the courts. Researchers stated that joint custodies’ fathers provide more for their children than fathers with no joint custodies. Other families’ characteristics are considered in the decision of custody arrangements. Fathers involvement in their kids’ lives are encourage from joint custody arrangements (Seltzer, 139).
In the court case, Montenegro v. Diaz, Montenegro’s residential custody was taken away from him because he was not considered as a parent that has the qualifications of “best interest” law. According to California family court, the best interest law is defined as “the court and the family have ‘the widest discretion to choose a parenting plan that is in the best interest of the child.’ When determining the best interest of the child, relevant factors include the health, safety and welfare of the child, any history of abuse by one parent against the child or the other parent, and the nature and amount of contact with the parents” (Montenegro v. Diaz). The judge felt as that Montenegro did not possess all the factors, so the gave Miguel back to his mother for residential custody with joint custody with the father (Montenegro v. Diaz). Cancian et al.’s focus on the 1900s divorce cases, more specifically custody outcomes between divorce parents.
They notice that parents don’t know the difference between the term physical custody and legal custody. These terms help distinguish the type of custody they are awarded by the court. During the 1900s, the common custodies that were awarded were equal shared custody, unequal shared custody, and sole custody. Compare to Seltzer’s studies, Canican discuss the economic standings for the parents and how it helps with the custody arrangements. Researchers explains that shared custody is expensive because parents have to buy enough resource for both households. This is to ensure the children are being taken care of with whoever they are with. The process of bargaining and negotiation are ways that speeds up the custody outcomes and are often awards parents with unequal custodies or equal custodies. On the contrary, these processes can give the parent who file first more power then, the parent who didn’t. This allow the parent to have a better chance they hope for. Statistics shows that 1900s, women were the first to file for divorce. Only way for the father to win is that he has good lawyers, the courts only award mother’s sole custody if their children are only girls or young children are involved. When one parent has complications such as relationship issues or issues that can disrupt the children lives; the court would give the children to the parent with less problems. Researchers examine state-level cases that shows tremendous increase in shared custody and decrease in sole-custody. They compare their research and found that: “international research suggests that a significant proportion of children thought to be living with their father only are actually sharing time with both parents” (pg.
1388).
Barrett-Benvenga (1987) have used the term “best interest standard” for the judicial approach to determine child custody. Like in the court case of Montenegro v. Diaz, the best interest was for the court to decide the best welfare of the child. The standard was adopted from the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act. She also made a distinction that many states believed that the best interest of the child is to consider joint custody with both parents (Barrett-Benvenga, 1987).
awarded full custody of me. My goal of this paper is to explain how fathers are awarded custody and the impacts of joint and sole custodies have on the child (or children) and the fathers. Fathers are awarded partial custody and visitation to their children when the courts feel it's the best interest for the children. They are awarded sole custody when there are extreme circumstances. Extreme circumstances are defined by the court and determine based on economic status, gender of the child, and whether the parent is unfit.
OVERVIEW OF PREVIOUS ARGUMENTS
History of parenthood and gender bias in the Family Court. The view on fathers have changed dramatically over a period of time. McNeely discuss the Industrial Revolution as the start of gender bias in Family Court, where fathers were required to work at facilities and for mothers to stay home and care for the family; where they become the primary caregiver. This lead to the father loss of control and dominance in his family. Over the years, society lost the realization of children needing the love and support of their father. The United States family court has denied father's capabilities and desire to take care of their progeny; as well, eternalize the mother of being the weak-minded and the need of support from the father. Fathers who are discovered are perceived by the state that they are not crucial to the teaching of children. Their only capabilities were to send checks to the mother and to do a couple hours of visitations. The state is encouraging fathers to abandon their true fatherhood (McNealy, 892).
According to Barrett-Benvenga, in colonial times, fathers had property rights to his children and custody was always given to him. The duty of a father was to support and teach his children, which was his right to custody. Not until the nineteenth century that the father’s right to custody was given away to this doctrine, which was children must be brought by their mothers. The origin of that doctrine come from the case Helms v. Franciscus. This decision lead to the term “maternal preference” (175) and was used in many cases forthcoming. Until in 1974, where an amendment was made to the Maryland custody at that prevent future court proceedings the neither shall be given preference based on their gender. This abolishes the maternal preference in future laws. There are still some states that use the maternal preferences in deciding child custody (Barrett-Benvenga, 175).
The types of Custody parents are awarded. There are many types of custody are awarded in Family Court. Gunnoe and Braver defined the types of custody awarded: joint custody with both parents with residential custody with the mother or father, primary custody for the father or mother with visitation on either party, and joint custody with both parents with residential custody with both parents. According Gunnoe and Braver, residential custody is defined as whom the children reside at. Joint custody is shared custody between the both party. Sole custody is when one party has sole custody of the child or children. Visitations last for couple of hours to a few days. Statistics shows that joint custody is the dominated custody that have been awarded over the past centuries (Gunnoe & Braver, pg.27-29). Similar to Gunnoe and Braver, Canican et al. describes custody in two categories, which is physical custody and shared custody. Canican goes in more depth with shared custody. Physical custody is the primary caregiver who takes care of the child and who the child resides with the most. Shared custody is the parent who sees the child on the weekends or for a couple of hours. Shared custody can be equal and unequal. For instance, the child can see one parent 80% of the time and another 20% of the time (Cancian et al., pg. 1387).
Sodermans et al. that argue that the well-being of the parents’ relationship to their children plays an important factor on the outcome of custody arrangements. Researchers states gender and communication have a correction on whether the child respond well to the custody. They explain that a mother has positive relationship with the child because of open-communication while the father has a negative relationship due to the lack of communication with their child (Sodermans et al., 263). Seltzer believes the socio-economics status plays an important role of custody outcomes and the relationship between the family plays role when the court decides the type of custody to be awarded. Joint custody allows fathers to see their children more frequently and more overnight stays than fathers who have visitation. Joint custody has positive effects on families and cause families to have less problems. These factors are take account by the courts. Researchers stated that joint custodies’ fathers provide more for their children than fathers with no joint custodies. Other families’ characteristics are considered in the decision of custody arrangements. Fathers involvement in their kids’ lives are encourage from joint custody arrangements (Seltzer, 139).
In the court case, Montenegro v. Diaz, Montenegro’s residential custody was taken away from him because he was not considered as a parent that has the qualifications of “best interest” law. According to California family court, the best interest law is defined as “the court and the family have ‘the widest discretion to choose a parenting plan that is in the best interest of the child.’ When determining the best interest of the child, relevant factors include the health, safety and welfare of the child, any history of abuse by one parent against the child or the other parent, and the nature and amount of contact with the parents” (Montenegro v. Diaz). The judge felt as that Montenegro did not possess all the factors, so the gave Miguel back to his mother for residential custody with joint custody with the father (Montenegro v. Diaz). Cancian et al.’s focus on the 1900s divorce cases, more specifically custody outcomes between divorce parents.
They notice that parents don’t know the difference between the term physical custody and legal custody. These terms help distinguish the type of custody they are awarded by the court. During the 1900s, the common custodies that were awarded were equal shared custody, unequal shared custody, and sole custody. Compare to Seltzer’s studies, Canican discuss the economic standings for the parents and how it helps with the custody arrangements. Researchers explains that shared custody is expensive because parents have to buy enough resource for both households. This is to ensure the children are being taken care of with whoever they are with. The process of bargaining and negotiation are ways that speeds up the custody outcomes and are often awards parents with unequal custodies or equal custodies. On the contrary, these processes can give the parent who file first more power then, the parent who didn’t. This allow the parent to have a better chance they hope for. Statistics shows that 1900s, women were the first to file for divorce. Only way for the father to win is that he has good lawyers, the courts only award mother’s sole custody if their children are only girls or young children are involved. When one parent has complications such as relationship issues or issues that can disrupt the children lives; the court would give the children to the parent with less problems. Researchers examine state-level cases that shows tremendous increase in shared custody and decrease in sole-custody. They compare their research and found that: “international research suggests that a significant proportion of children thought to be living with their father only are actually sharing time with both parents” (pg.
1388).
Barrett-Benvenga (1987) have used the term “best interest standard” for the judicial approach to determine child custody. Like in the court case of Montenegro v. Diaz, the best interest was for the court to decide the best welfare of the child. The standard was adopted from the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act. She also made a distinction that many states believed that the best interest of the child is to consider joint custody with both parents (Barrett-Benvenga, 1987).