Development of Father's Rights in the 21st Century - Research Paper Example

Understanding the Development of Fathers Rights in the 21st Century The Father’s Rights movement is a social and civil rights movement that concentrates on issues involving fathers and children with respect to family laws, which mostly include child custody and support. Fathers’ rights activists are characterized by resentment and blame towards ex-partners and the social as well as legal system that has taken away the rights of fatherhood. These issues are quite common among men who have gone through separation and divorce (Tucker). More often divorced or unmarried fathers are deprived of the rights pertaining to the custody of their children. The father’s rights movement is mainly a feature of the developed countries which exhibit a very high rate of divorces and declining marriage rates. It is a movement against the family laws alleging its gender biased aspects. Family courts show a strong bias of giving protection to the mothers in 91 percent of the proceedings. This is despite the consequences of the mother’s demeanor, or of her capability to sustain and care for the kids. The rights aim to seek the father’s justice and equality in child custody litigations and also help fathers emotionally and practically during divorces (Collier and Sheldon). Purpose of the Study Therefore, this study aims to find out the development of father’s rights in the twenty-first century with respect to child custody by a divorced or unmarried father. The father’s right movement was formed as a reaction to the prevalent perception of father’s not receiving equal treatment in child custodial matters. They claim that the traditional view of considering the mother as the caring custodian of the child has been a source of major compliant by divorced or single fathers. This division of parental roles is in itself not egalitarian and underestimates the parenting capability as well as parental emotion of a father. Fathers are often at a disadvantageous position in the entire process of custodial proceedings (Larson). The family court system and the typical empathy towards the women often render the fathers at a disadvantageous position. A number of groups in support of divorced fathers getting access to child custody are pushing the government to reform family laws that often support the mothers. The father’s rights activists do not demand a biased law that either favors the father or mother, in fact they claim an equal treatment by the law in relation to custodial gains. It has been observed that such problems of child custody arise mainly out of divorces and separation of unmarried couples. In the contemporary life, the roles of parents in raising kids have been transformed. This mainly due to the highly carrier oriented mindsets among the females. The grater and novel employment and educational opportunities for women have made them too professional to live a life as a mere housewife. In one way, it is a positive aspect for the society because it brings men and women at par in the educational or professional field. However, the flip side to this is that it has induced high rates of divorces in the society. Although the custody of the child should ideally go to the parent who is capable of caring and fulfilling the needs of the child, which is often the mother, yet a fatherless child has to undergo hardships (Larson). However, there are fathers who really care about their children and express it so by maintaining a cordial relationship with their children’s mothers. Methodology To understand the development of Father’s Rights in terms of helping divorced or unmarried fathers to gain custody of their kids, a qualitative survey was conducted on fifty divorcee fathers who did not get their child’s custody. There are several organizations in the United States of America that work to foster father’s rights and help them in accessing their kid’s custody and visitations. In the US, till the early 20th century, the custodial laws favored the father owing to the fact that a man’s wife and children are his property. However, with the advent of industrialization, the perception changed and the legal system declared that a child requires more of mother’s care and presence than of a father’s. In this study fifty divorcee and unmarried fathers were selected from a neighborhood in Dallas, Texas to understand the extent of father’s rights in their cases. There were fifty men coming from middle class families with either a regular or free lancing job. They had decent educational background and also a decent income. The sample consisted of 32 divorced men who were separated within 8-10 years of their marriage. The rest 28 were single fathers. The purpose of bringing unmarried fathers in the study was to understand the emotional and psychological factors that are attached with child care and concern in non-married couples. The men did not suffer from some acute mental or physical problems and had no criminal background. The present situation with respect to father’s rights was examined on the basis of an interview. A qualitative analysis was carried out on these men (sample) who have been drawn randomly from a bigger population of divorced and unmarried men in Texas. However, during the selection, it was kept in mind that the proportion of divorced men was required to be higher than that of unmarried fathers because custodial cases are less complicated for married people than for single parents. The sample was further normalized by removing unwanted elements that made it heterogeneous. For instance, the married men who were married for 8-10 years were selected and for unmarried men, the same counting followed but it was on the basis of the relationship. The reason to choose this time span is mainly because a couple having a relationship of 8-10 years would have children approximately between the ages of 6-9 years. This is a delicate age group and the children between these ages require special parental care. Since their innocence makes them perceive the world through colorful glasses, they are unaware of the bad and hence, are quite sensitive to issues pertaining to family, parents and others. Also they are grown enough to come out of maternal feeding and thus, form a group that call for equal participation of parents in their lives. Moreover the fathers’ educational background and income were other factors that were taken into account while making the selection. Keeping all these in mind, a homogenous sample was drawn consisting of fifty men (divorced and unmarried) with somewhat similar attributes pertaining to job, income, years of marriage, absence of criminal records and place of residence (same neighborhood). Since, the issue was quite sensitive, it was difficult to interview the subjects directly. Developing a prior friendship becomes important in discussing about such issues. For that reason, an attempt to foster a cordial relationship prior to the interview was necessary. Although not all the persons reacted equally well to the attempts, it was more successful than expected. Confidentiality was maintained all through and no two subjects were interviewed together. Although the process was time-consuming with regard to individual addressing, yet the research was quite fruitful in understanding the current development of father’s rights. Findings Among the persons interviewed, not all were equally vocal or inclined to answer the questions. The answers from some were so unclear and disinclining that during the final evaluation they were taken into account. Among the 32 divorcees, 12 were did not show much desire of gaining custody; they were happy with the visiting rules and hours. 5 out of the 12 wanted to lengthen the visitation period and had appealed to the court. 4 men were disinclined to give concrete comments and were discarded owing to their vagueness. The remaining 16 showed real care for their kids and even complained that their ex-wives as custodians had neglected their children on several occasions. They reported that the money they gave for their children, according to court rules, was squandered and misused on other things and not for the child’s benefits. Some said that they had reapplied for their child’s custody with considerable evidence of the monetary misuse, but the court has overruled against the father. Some are pursuing such cases and two of them report that they have chances of success. In context of single fathers, there were more responses of non-custody. 7 out of 18 wanted to be with their children and were finding ways to make up with their child’s mother personally or legally. Conclusion The findings show that even though the society is patriarchal in nature, yet when it comes to the caring and raising a child the father’s rights are ruled against in favor of the mothers. The study contributes to the understanding of the development of father’s rights with respect to getting custody of their children. Although the Father’s Rights movements are working hard to get men achieve their parental rights, yet a lot needs to be done in bringing them at par with women regarding custodial rights. Since, the area of work is vast; the study has been limited to only a very small population with few influencing variables. However, this qualitative analysis has been a small step in this field and more studies are required to come to any concrete findings on this subject. Reference 1. Tucker, Judith Stadtman, “Whats wrong with the fathers rights movement”, War of the wounds, n.d., Available from: http://www.mothersmovement.org/features/05/dads_rights/wounds_p1.htm (Accessed on Feb 18, 2010) 2. Larson, “Father’s Rights and Child Custody Law”, Expert Law , 2003, Available from: http://www.expertlaw.com/library/child_custody/fathers_rights.html (Accessed on Feb 18, 2010). 3. Collier, R and Sheldon, S, “Unfamiliar Territory”, The Guardian, Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2006/nov/01/childrensservices.guardiansocietysupplement1 (Accessed on Feb 18, 2010). Read More