Child Custody: Paternal Rights
This is an excerpt from the paper...
Child custody is the right and duty to care for a child on a day to day basis. It involves making major decisions concerning the life and well being of the child. From the early history of our country until the mid 1800s, fathers were generally favored for custody in the event of divorce because children were basically considered property, all of which belonged to the man (ABA, p. 82, 1994). However, by the mid 1800s, this sentiment changed and the mother received custody of the children so long as she was minimally fit (ABA, p. 82, 1994). This preference ~ continued until the 1970s and 1980s, at which time both parents were theoretically to have equal status in the battle for custody. Currently, both the mother and the father have an equal burden of proving to the court that it is in "the best interests of the child" for the child to be in his or her custody (ABA, p. 82, 1994). However, absent a significant problem, such as alcoholism or mental illness, the most important factor in determining custody is which parent has been primarily responsible for taking care of the child on a day to day basis (ABA, p. 83, 1994). Therefore, the parent who is more experienced and dedicated to caring for the child on a daily basis will often receive custody of the child. In light of the prevailing structure of our society, it is frequently the mother who is given custody of the child. This is particularly true in situations in which the parents of the child are not married.
. . .
oriented as mothers, yet gender bias still exists and
consequently limits a non custodial father's involvement (Major, p. 38, 1998). Major further maintains that fathers provide a necessary balance and contribute an insight that is highly beneficial to the developing child (p. 38, 1998). Therefore, unless a parent is absolutely incapable of caring for the child, both parents should be actively involved in the child's life so that the child feels secure, loved and wanted by both parents.
Federal law requires each state to establish guidelines for calculating child support. The purpose of the guidelines is to eliminate unfair or arbitrary awards. Generally, the incomes of each parent, the number of children each parent is responsible for, and which parent has primary custody of the child, are the factors considered in awarding child support (Facts, p. VI 13, 1994). The parent who obtains physical custody of the child will usually contribute a smaller sum due to the extra expenses normally associated with having custody. The problem, however, is not calculating the award, but instead, lies in the enforcement of the award. (Mierzwa, p. 32, 1994). According to the U.S. Census Bureau statistics, approximately 26 percent of parents who
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
, Wilson VI 1, University Pennsylvania, Healthy Start, Census Bureau, Krikorian B1, Miller Rowser, Child Support, child support, ES1 ES5 ES12 ES13, Demonstration Research, non custodial father, custody child, non custodial fathers, knox miller rowser, aba 91, doolittle knox, knox miller, 91 1994, miller rowser, aba 91 1994, doolittle knox miller, child support payments, 1994 parent, aba 82 1994,
Approximate Word count = 1948
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
More Essays on Child Custody: Paternal Rights
|
Customer Service
to Over
32,000 Professionally Written Papers!!!
