Changing Views Of Child Custody: Fathers As Primary Caretakers?

By Author: James Walsh
Total Articles: 68
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Fathers are generally given the cold shoulder. Thus, child custody has now become a battle cry for social organisations such as Justice 4 Fathers.

The Traditional View: This perspective dates back to the traditional gender demarcation of society. This perspective influences most of the UK family courts even today. The view holds that men and women have rigid well-defined roles to play in a family. The man is the bread earner. He is the protector and handles all financial, social and external affairs for the family. The woman is the nurturer and the caretaker of the family. Her role and duty is to give birth and take care of children. Specifically, she does not concern herself with worldly affairs. Her world is the family. Her responsibilities include cooking, housekeeping and feeding the family.

Thus, based on these gender roles, society has carved out spheres of control for the two sexes in the family. Modern social psychology holds that unlike the bee society, man is the head and protector of the family unit in human society. The woman is always subordinate to him. She should not interfere in financial, ...
... external social matters. Her job is confined to the hearth of the house. She should clean, housekeep and bring up children properly. Her physical and personality attributes endow her with caretaking tasks. Caretaking is the woman's domain. She should not be allowed to work outside home.

The Changing Modern View: The modern view holds a contrary view. These social psychologists argue that gender roles are changing. They are not demarcated anymore. The lines of separation have become blurry with time. Men also have an equal right to be principal caretakers of children. In fact, modern social psychology states that children need the presence of a father all the time for healthy cognitive and physical development.

The winds of social change propelled by the widespread growth of education coupled with liberating legislative reforms have succeeded in eroding traditional gender familial roles. Men no longer play shadowy figures of authority and paternal care. Fathers are not titular heads only willing to fulfill financial and external social responsibilities. Similarly women are no longer confined to home and family matters. They are career women willing to sacrifice family life over personal goals. The modern view has gained acceptance. Today, even family courts in UK are willing to consider the father as the primary caretaker. Judges are open to granting fathers sole custody of children.

But, this is only possible if the court finds the maternal parent unfit to take care of the child. The court still rules in favour of the mother in case of minor children. However, once the child is past the age of ten, the child is asked her/ his opinion. Thus, the child gets to choose her custodial parent. The Family Solicitors of London outline a few grounds, which help in ruling child custody in favour of fathers.

Not Wanting Custody: When the maternal parent clearly expresses her wish and desire not to be granted sole custody of the child. In case of minor children, the judge usually considers the concept of shared or joint parenting. In other cases, the judge is influenced by the child's choice. In majority of custody rulings, the paternal parent is granted sole custody.

Financial Incapacity and Insecurity: The judge awards sole custody to the father when the mother is deemed financially unfit to provide for the child. The judge always considers the child's best interests first. The judge exercises discretion when he sees that the maternal parent is financially incapable to provide for the well being of the child. The judge will consider the aspect of long-term. The mother is not given custody if she is unable to convince the court of her financial abilities to secure a good future for the child.

Social and Emotional Stability: The mother is bound to lose child custody if the judge finds her to be socially and emotionally unstable. The definition of social and emotional instability depends on the judge's discretion. Usually, this includes:

Chronic Mental and Physical debilitating disease
Alcoholism
Substance abuse
Social and emotional disorders of suicidal rages, depression, phobias, schizophrenia
Antisocial and psychopathic behaviour
Felony and record of criminal activity
Association with person/people with record of criminal activities

Joint/Shared Parenting: Since 2002, the concept of joint parenting has become popular. The concept involves the principle of shared parenting. Both divorced parents do not divorce themselves from the child. They share the responsibility of parenting and nurturing together. The child does not have to be devoid of the love of one parent. He/she gets the love and support of both parents at all times. The principle of shared parenting is based on mutual cooperation between the parents.

James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. If you would like more information on how to get a quickie Divorce see http://www.quickie-divorce.com