Father Custody Research Articles

Judicial decision‐making in family court involving children with autism spectrum disorder

AbstractThe prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children and adolescents has increased over the past decade. Consequently, the courts and experts are more likely to be exposed to these children whose needs are highly heterogeneous. The present study aims to document judicial decision‐making about children with autism spectrum as well as the parenting recommendations made by experts involved in these cases. There were 104 court decisions reviewed in Quebec over the past ten years. The results show that 85.6% of the decisions included a child custody assessment and that judges are more likely to order primary care to mother (56%). However, shared parenting (27%) and primary care to the father (17%) were also ordered in disputes involving an autistic child. Bivariate analyses revealed that challenges with parental monitoring and supervision were associated with court‐ordered parenting arrangements. The present study revealed that a child custody assessment as well as father custody are more often observed than in the general population. This study highlights the need for further research to shed light on the best interests of children with ASD following the separation of their parents.

Putative Fathers: Are They Entitled to Parental Rights, Really?

In most of America, when a child is born to a married couple, the husband is presumed to be the father of the child. In certain instances, that is a rebuttable presumption. However, while the United States Supreme Court has held numerous times that one of the oldest, most fundamental liberty interest rights is that of a parent’s interest in the care, custody and control of his child, this fundamental right is being denied to putative fathers across America in the name of state policy and historical deference. In America, if biological parents of a child are not married to each other at the time of birth, and the birth mother wishes to give that child up for adoption, the father has an uphill battle should he wish to raise his child rather than agree to an adoption. Indeed, there is no guarantee that an objection to adoption proceedings by a putative father will guarantee the father custody of his child. Nor is there a guarantee that he would be successful in defeating the adoption proceeding. This paper will explore issues facing putative fathers and the seemingly systematic denial of their parental rights, including the systems currently in place such as registration on Putative Father Registries and in some states, petitioning courts for adjudication simply to be recognized as a father in order to have standing to oppose adoption proceedings and whether the system as it exists today is in the best interest of the parties involved, or whether the procedural hoops and legal wrangling that putative fathers must engage in, that ultimately result in the blatant denial of constitutionally protected rights of fathers. Indeed, some would argue that Putative Father Registries do not protect an unmarried father’s right to be a father, but rather, serve as a tool to expedite the termination of his parental rights in order to expedite the adoption process.

¿Cómo motivan los jueces la capacidad de los progenitores en las resoluciones judiciales?

An analysis of the Spanish judicial sentences (Arce, Fariña, & Seijo, 2005) in 2005 found that there was not legal reasoning in the decisions of courts and judges concerning litigant custody proceedings. A new law was promulgated on separation and divorce issues, Act 15/2005. Seven years after the promulgation of this law, an archival study of judicial reasoning was carried out to know its effects on sentencing. In this study, 468 custody litigant judicial sentences since 2005 were randomly selected –resulting in 71.5% custodies assigned to the mother and 22.5% to the father. A reliable and valid systematic content analysis identified the legal reasons for custody and their relation to parental gender. The study showed that all sentences were motivated. The most relevant reasons for custody assignation were the following: being primary caregiver, time availability, adverse events experienced by the child in his/her life with his or her parents, enhancing child's overall development and satisfaction of needs, extensive family support, better child's living conditions, and parental personality characteristics. Father custody assignment was associated with the three latter characteristics. Implications of results for forensic psychological evaluation of child custody are discussed.

Untraditional caring arrangements among parents living apart

Abstract BACKGROUND In spite of quite symmetric parental roles in Norway, shared residence and father sole custody are still rare when parents split up. Several countries have witnessed an increase in shared residence for children recently, and this is also the case in Norway. OBJECTIVE We wish to add to the literature on untraditional caring arrangements among parents living apart by examining the determinants of shared residence and sole father custody in Norway, a country with high gender-equality ambitions. METHODS Based on a survey from 2004 with a unique sample of former couples, we ran multinomial logistic regressions estimating the odds of shared residence rather than mother sole custody, and the odds of father sole custody rather than mother sole custody. RESULTS Shared residence is particularly likely when the father has a reasonable income, the mother is highly educated, the mother is currently married, and the parents have no other children in their households. Father sole custody is most likely when the mother's income is low and the father's high, the child is a boy and at least ten years old, the father is single and there are other children in the mother's household. CONCLUSIONS Despite more equal parental roles in couples in recent decades, most children still live mainly with their mother when parents split up in Norway. However, visiting arrangements with fathers are extensive. More parents will probably opt for shared residence in the years to come. 1. Introduction More active fathering is high on the political agenda in many Western countries, and encouraging contact between fathers and children is an important priority. Attention has mainly been given to married and cohabiting fathers, but with rising divorce rates in recent decades there is also considerable focus on the child-care practices and economic contributions of non-resident fathers (for instance, Seltzer and Bianchi 1988; Stephens 1996; Manning and Smock 1999; Manning, Steward and Smock 2003; Cashmore, Parkinson, and Taylor 2008; Amato, Meyers and Emery 2009). While most children still remain in the physical custody of their mothers when parents break up, several countries have recently witnessed a slight increase in shared residence for children (Smyth and Moloney 2008; Lundstrom 2009; Fehlberg et al. 2011), which is often linked to more equal parenting roles when parents live together (Smyth, Qu and Weston 2004). There is now a growing literature on the determinants and dynamics of shared residence and also on father sole custody (for instance, Cancian and Meyer 1998; Juby, Le Bourdais and Marcil-Gratton 2005). The aim of the present paper is to add to this literature by discussing the characteristics of parents who choose shared residence or father sole custody in Norway, a country known for its high female labour force participation and extensive policies for symmetric parental roles, as well as its high proportion of children born into consensual unions. In spite of more committed fathering in couples (Vaage 2012) and increased paternal involvement with children after parental split-up in recent decades (Sae tre 2004), shared residence is still quite rare in Norway, and the same is true for father sole custody. Shared residence is defined more narrowly in Norway than in many other countries in that it presumes approximately equal division of time with children between the parents and also gives the parents an equal say over the children's daily life. However, shared residence has increased slightly in recent years (Sae tre 2004), and more gender-equal roles in couples may give rise to a further increase in the years to come. In public debate, as well as among politicians, it has even been suggested that shared residence for children should become the norm when parents live apart in order to secure gender equality and fairness between the partners (Haugen 2010; St. …

Health-Related Adjustment of Adolescents in Various Postdivorce Family Structures With Main Focus on Father Custody With and Without a Stepmother

It is well established that adolescents living in father custody are more likely to be involved in antisocial behavior and substance use, as compared to adolescents living in mother custody. This study assessed whether these differences also pertain to a wider spectrum of health-related outcomes. A second aim was to investigate the role of a stepparent on adolescents' health-related adjustment. A total of 6,447 Norwegian adolescents between ages 11 and 16 participated in the study. The findings revealed that the differences between adolescents in father versus mother custody might be somewhat more comprehensive than previous studies have observed, indicating increased risks for adjustment problems among adolescents living with a single father on various health-related outcomes. Generally, a stepmother does not seem to compensate for the risks of adjustment problems, but might have a positive influence on certain health-related behaviors.

A Time Varying Evaluation of Identity Theory and Father Involvement for Full Custody, Shared Custody, and No Custody Divorced Fathers

This study tested identity theory models of father involvement for 230 divorced fathers of young children aged 4 to 11 followed over 18 months. Research questions were (1) Do measures of identity salience and centrality of the fathering role predict fathering involvement over time? (2) Does father involvement predict fathering identity over time? (3) Does father custody moderate these relationships? Involvement was assessed as contact frequency, number of father-child activities, and positive involvement observed during father-child interaction. Comparisons showed that the quantity of involvement differed by custody but there were few differences in the quality of involvement. Fathers did not exhibit significant mean decreases in involvement and custodial groups did not differ in the growth rates for involvement nor identity measures. However, there were significant individual differences in growth rates, meaning there was variance in fathers increasing and decreasing in measures over time. Time 1 father identities, measured as salience and centrality, predicted days per month, overnights per month, and father child activities over time. Time-varying predictors suggested that identities were more predictive of growth in involvement than vice versa although father involvement predicted salience and primarily centrality. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Adolescent's Adjustment in Four Post-Divorce Family Structures

Using a theoretically guided contrast analysis approach (see Furr & Rosenthal, 2003; Rosnow & Rosenthal, 2002) and data from a relatively large community sample (2550 students in grades 7-9), different sets of hypotheses dealing with adolescents' adjustment in four post-divorce family structures were tested. Most of the hypotheses matched with the data. Adolescents from single mother and stepfather families were at a moderately increased risk of displaying various adjustment problems as compared with adolescents from non-divorced two-parent families. The risk level of youth from single father and joint physical custody families each differed in their own ways from the risks of adolescents from the two first-mentioned family structures. Adolescents from single father families reported an alarmingly high amount of antisocial behavior and substance use, while their counterparts from families with joint physical custody were at no higher risk of displaying adjustment problems than their peers from non-divorced families except in the area of school achievement. However, some hypotheses did not match well with the present data. Compared with their counterparts from non-divorced families, adolescents from single father families did not seem to be at increased risk of internalizing problems (depression/ negative self-evaluations). In addition, relatively fewer adolescents from families with stepfathers reported being drunk than expected, while the opposite was true of their peers from joint physical custody families with regard to illegal drugs. Alternative interpretations of the findings were discussed.

Divorce and the Adjustment of Children

Divorce and the Adjustment of Children

Residence arrangements and well‐being: A study of Norwegian adolescents

The purpose of this study was to assess any differences in psychosocial problems among adolescents living with both parents, or with their mother or their father. Any benefits of living with a same-sex parent compared to a parent of the opposite sex, was also analysed. A total of 1,686 adolescents aged 14-15 years participated from 29 schools in Hordaland county, including schools in downtown Bergen and more rural areas. The findings revealed significantly more psychosocial problems among the adolescents living with one parent compared to both parents. Significant differences were also observed between adolescents living in mother custody compared to father custody, indicating more problems among the latter group. Furthermore, girls living with their father had significantly higher levels of psychological symptoms, compared to boys in father custody. Similarly, boys living with their father were involved in more stealing behavior than girls in father custody. However, residence arrangement accounted for only a limited proportion of the variance in the adolescents' psychosocial problems, indicating large within-group variance and overlap between the different custody groups.

Social Work Misconduct May Lead to Liability

It is as much the duty of Government to render prompt justice against itself, in favor of its citizens, as it is to administer the same between private individuals (President Abraham Lincoln, First speech to Congress, 1861). In a recent U.S. Court of Appeals case, Currier v. Doran (2001), the court ruled that state-employed social workers can be held liable for the acts of others when those social workers the that caused the harm. To establish a proper danger creation claim, a plaintiff must demonstrate that * the state agency and the social workers created the danger or increased the plaintiff's vulnerability to the danger in some way * the plaintiff was a member of a limited and specifically definable group * the defendants' conduct put the plaintiff at substantial risk of serious, immediate, and proximate harm * the risk was obvious or * the defendant acted recklessly in conscious disregard of that risk * such conduct, when viewed in total, is shocking to the conscience. The plaintiffs in this federal civil rights lawsuit were two minor children who were abused by their father. The defendants were three social workers and a supervisor at the Children, Youth and Families Department of the State of New Mexico. The U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed the case against two of the social workers while allowing the case against one social worker and the supervisor to proceed. In this case the children alleged that their Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated when state child welfare social workers removed them from their mother's custody and then placed them in the custody of their abusive father. The children also alleged that the social workers violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights by to protect them while they were in state custody and by to protect them once they were placed in the custody of their father. The social workers argued that the children's claims are barred by DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services (1989) and that they were entitled to qualified immunity. In DeShaney the Supreme Court considered the Fourteenth Amendment claims of Joshua DeShaney--a victim of severe child abuse--against the local child welfare agency. Joshua, who lived with his natural father, was removed from the home after several allegations of abuse, only to be returned when social workers and other professionals decided there was insufficient evidence of child abuse to retain Joshua in state custody. For the next six months the assigned caseworker was notified of several factors indicating that Joshua was being abused, but the child welfare agency took no action. Joshua was eventually beaten so violently that he fell into a life-threatening coma. The DeShaney court rejected Joshua's claim that the child welfare agency and its employees had violated his constitutional rights by failing to intervene to protect him against a risk of violence at his father's hands of which they knew or should have known (p. 192). The court stated that the Due Process Clause generally confer[s] no affirmative right to governmental aid, even where such aid may be necessary to secure life, liberty, or property interests of which the government itself may not deprive the individual (p. 196). The court, however, also stated the following: While the State may have been aware of the dangers that Joshua faced in the free world, it played no part in their creation, nor did it do anything to render him any more vulnerable to them. That the State once took temporary custody of Joshua does not alter the analysis, for when it returned him to his father's custody, it placed him in no worse position than that in which he would have been had it not acted at all; the State does not become the permanent guarantor of an individual's safety by having once offered him shelter. …

Patterns of Dinnertime Interaction in Divorced and Non-Divorced Families

To compare verbal non-conflict interactions among parents and children in both single- and two-parent homes, dinnertime conversation for 82 families was analyzed. It was learned that conversation in the single parent homes was characterized by fewer talk turns and less parental input. The conversation in father custody dinners was more focused on the concrete exchange of dinnertime materials than either of the other households. Girls spoke more than did boys, and mothers were more active in conversation than were fathers in each comparison group.

Mother vs. Father Custody Effects for Taiwanese Preschoolers

This study examined the effects of divorce and custody arrangements on preschool children's emotional adjustment and gender role development two years post divorce. The sample consisted of 90 children: 30 in father custody matched with 30 in mother custody and 30 in two‐parent families. Teachers, blind to study purposes and well acquainted with the children, rated the children on the Preschool Behavior Questionnaire [PBQ] which rates degree of maladjustment. Each child had an individual Gender Constancy Interview [GCI] and each parent provided demographic and family information. No differences in level of maladjustment were found for children of divorced vs. two parent families. Regardless of family status, boys were rated as significantly more aggressive than girls. Regardless of custody arrangement, boys in divorced families were rated higher than girls as hostile‐aggressive and hyperactive‐distractible. Children with same sex custodial parent were rated as better adjusted emotionally than children in custody with the opposite sex parent. Older preschool boys in mother custody had more advanced gender role development than children in other custody arrangements. Father custody families in Taiwan received more income and more grandparent childrearing support than single mothers. Single mothers expressed more childrearing worry than single fathers.

Mother's or Father's Custody: does it matter for social adjustment?

The present study examines the same‐sex parent‐child hypothesis within the context of mother's versus father's custody. More specifically, it tests the degree to which autonomy, school adjustment and sociability of adolescents of divorced parents are a function of the interaction of the match between the custodial parent's and the children's gender. The study sample consisted of 59 junior high school students of three family types: Father's Custody (N = 16), Mother's Custody (N = 23) and Intact Family (N = 20). The main findings show that the gender of the custodial parent matters very little for the social functioning of their children. It was also demonstrated that the social adjustment of adolescents of divorced parents is somewhat poorer than that of adolescents from intact families. No differences in the degree of autonomy were found between the adolescents of the three family types. These results are discussed in light of the same‐sex and gender‐differential parenting hypotheses.

Post-Divorce Father Custody

Summary This study examined the effects of different custodial arrangements following divorce and the impact they have on the adult romantic functioning of the children. It used 72 undergraduate participants coming from mother custody, father custody, or non-divorced backgrounds. Results indicated that custodial arrangement had largely no significant effect on the satisfaction felt in relationships, or in general attachment style. The gender of the participant was found to be a factor, with females exhibiting more security in romantic relationships and males showing a tendency to place relationships as secondary in their lives. While non-significant findings for the custody main effect seem discouraging at first glance, a discussion ensues speculating as to the utility of parental divorce as a useful sole independent variable in future studies. With divorce becoming commonplace in America today, it seems that studying parental styles may yield results more germane to current issues.

Predictors of Maternal Preference for Joint or Sole Legal Custody

The current study examined several demographic and psychosocial predictors of mothers' legal custody preference early in the process. Simple logistic regressions between these predictors and custody preference were completed. Variables that had a significant or marginally significant simple relation with legal custody preference were included in a simultaneous regression predicting custody preference. Only mother's perceptions of her ex-husband's parenting competence uniquely predicted legal custody preference. Key Words: children, divorce, joint legal custody. Kathryn L. Wilcox, Sharlene A. Wolchik**, and Sanford L. Braver Cherlin (1992) estimates that over 40% of the children in this generation will live in a divorced, single parent family before they turn 16 years of age. Further, researchers have shown that can have a negative effect on all family members (e.g., Amato & Keith,1991a, 1991b) and have argued that a better understanding of the factors that affect postdivorce adjustment is needed to develop effective policy and interventions to prevent these negative effects (Felner & Farber, 1980; Felner, Terre, & Rowlison, 1988). This paper examines maternal legal custody preferences, an early indicator of postdivorce custody outcomes. Custody options have expanded in the last 20 years (see Emery, 1994 for a review of current custody options). Joint custody, as well as the more traditional sole mother and sole father custody, is an option in the custody statutes of 40 states and noted in case law in several of the remaining states (Emery, 1994). Further, some states have a preference for joint legal custody, which requires that joint legal custody is awarded unless sufficient evidence is presented to show that another form of custody will be more adaptive (Ferreiro, 1990). Despite the growing number of custody options, Fox and Kelly (1995) note that knowledge remains quite limited regarding the conditions that are associated with mothers and fathers receiving custody of children at divorce (p. 693). Viewing as a process, it is reasonable to expect that many experiences related to the will predate and influence the final custody outcome. One important influence is maternal pre-decree custody preference, which has been closely linked to custody outcome (Maccoby & Mnookin, 1992). Custody preference, rather than custody outcome, is the focus of this study for three reasons. First, because custody preferences are established early in the custody decision process, they are likely to more accurately reflect what parents want regarding their custody arrangement, rather than what they believe they can get. Further, because preferences are not legal mandates and are, therefore, more malleable than outcomes, determining predictors of maternal custody preferences may help mediators, counselors, and intervention developers assist parents to select a custody arrangement that is more consistent with the needs of their children and themselves. Finally, custody preferences may affect the degree of satisfaction individuals have with their mandated custody outcomes. When parents get what they prefer regarding their custody outcomes, they will more likely be satisfied with the outcome. Arditti (1992) suggests that satisfaction with one's custody status is possibly more important than the final outcome itself. For example, custody satisfaction and parents' perceptions of conflict throughout the are correlated; therefore, greater custody satisfaction could be related to the successful navigation of the changes families must undergo throughout the process. Several researchers have observed gender differences in satisfaction with legal custody status. For example, fathers are very satisfied with joint legal custody (Arditti, 1992; Pearson & Thoennes, 1990); however, mothers are most satisfied with sole custody outcomes (Pearson & Thoennes, 1990). …

Advantages of father custody and contact for the psychological well-being of school-age children

Previous researchers have suggested that after divorce, children do better in the custody of the same-gender parent. This hypothesis was explored in a study of 187 school-age children (72 in father custody and 115 in mother custody). Two other hypothesis were also tested: children do better (1) if they have more contact with the nonresident parent, and (2) if the circumstances in the resident parent's household are more favorable. The major finding of the study was that across a variety of assessments of psychological well-being (self-esteem, anxiety, depression, problem behaviors), children (especially boys) did significantly better in the custody of their fathers. Moreover, children in father custody had the advantage of maintaining a more positive relationship with the nonresident parent, the mother. These differences in children's well-being were not eliminated by statistically controlling for the custodial parent's psychological state and adequate income or the child's contact with the nonresident parent—other variables that also predicted children's well-being. No same-gender advantage was found for girls in mother custody. For these children, well-being was predicted by close “parentlike” contact with the nonresident father—participating in a variety of activities and spending holidays together.

Impact of Childhood Family Disruption on Young Adults' Relationships with Parents

This article explores the long-term implications of childhood family disruption and children's living arrangements after family disruption for parent-child relations in adulthood. Research on consequences of parental marital dissolution for children has focused primarily on the social, emotional, and cognitive adjustment of children under age 18. Considerably less attention has been given to the long-term effects of childhood family structure on adult development and on parent-child relations in adulthood (Cooney & Uhlenberg, 1990; Glenn & Kramer, 1985). My objective in this research is to examine how the complex life course trajectories of children after family disruption influence adult intergenerational relationships, with a primary focus on transitions into single-parent and stepparent family types. I examine the impact of physical custody after parents separate, remarriage of the custodial parent, the timing of family structure transitions, and the number of family transitions. The effects of childhood family structure may vary by sex of child and sex of parent. Models are fit separately for relationships with mothers and fathers and, within each model, sex of child by family structure interactions are tested. Throughout this study parent-child relations are analyzed from the perspective of the young adult child (ages 19-34). Multiple indicators of relationship quality are used: the child's global assessment of relationship quality, frequency of contact, geographic proximity, exchange of help and support, and financial transfers between parent and child. LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES Children's lives have become increasingly complex as rates of nonmarital birth, marital dissolution, remarriage, and second divorce surged over recent decades (Bumpass, 1984a, 1984b; Bumpass & Raley, 1993; Glick, 1989). Over half of children born in the mid-1980s will live in a single-parent family before age 18 (Bumpass, 1984b), in most cases due to divorce and nonmarital birth rather than death of a parent (Furstenberg, 1988). Mother's sole physical custody remains the dominant form of custody arrangement after divorce (Maccoby, Depner, & Mnookin, 1988), although joint legal custody and sole father custody (Meyer & Garasky, 1993) are increasing. Parental remarriage is experienced by many children after divorce, but over half of children whose parent remarries will experience a second divorce (Bumpass, 1984a). Remarried households also are quite complex; in most cases, at least one partner brings children from a prior relationship into the marriage (Cherlin & McCarthy, 1985). These demographic realities raise questions of the long-term implications of family transitions for children's lives and for parent-child relations. Longitudinal studies suggest that divorce rearranges parent-child relations (Wallerstein & Kelly, 1980) through custody and visitation arrangements, and the alignment of children with one parent or the other. Childhood family disruption appears to have long-term effects on men's intergenerational relationships. Divorce harms relations between noncustodial fathers and adult children (Cooney & Uhlenberg, 1990; Rossi & Rossi, 1990), and loss of a close relationship with a noncustodial father has been linked to higher depression among young adults (Drill, 1986). This article expands the existing literature by exploring father-custody arrangements and noncustodial motherhood, as well as the more typical mother-custody situations, and by estimating the effects of parental remarriage, the timing of family structure transitions, and the degree of family instability. In addition to comparisons with intact families, differences among the various forms of nonintact childhood living arrangements are estimated. IMPACT OF CUSTODY ARRANGEMENTS ON MOTHER-ADULT CHILD RELATIONS Relations with custodial mothers. There is little doubt that single parenting after divorce is burdensome (Arendell, 1986). …

Dividing the child: social and legal dilemmas of custody

Questions about how children fare in divided families have become as perplexing and urgent as they are common. In this work on custody arrangements, the developmental psychologist Eleanor Maccoby and the legal scholar Robert Mnookin consider these questions and their ramifications for society. This book examines the social and legal realities of how divorcing parents make arrangements for their children, Dividing the Child is based on a large, representative study of families from a wide range of socioeconomic levels. Maccoby and Mnookin followed a group of more than 1000 families for three years after the parents file for divorce. Their findings show how different divorce agreements are reached, from the uncontested dealings to formal judicial rulings, and how various custody arrangements fare as time passes and family circumstances change. Numerous examples of joint custody and father custody are considered in this account, along with the mother-custody families more commonly studied; and in most cases the point of view of both parents is presented. After the divorce, most children spent time in both parental households. The authors identify three different patterns of co-parenting: cooperative, conflicted and disengaged. They explain why post-divorce conflict rarely involves formal legal disputes, although parents have difficulty in establishing effective parental cooperation. This book should be invaluable to the lawyers, judges, social workers and parents who, more and more often, must make wise and informed decisions concerning the welfare and care of children and divorce.

Father Custody and Social Development in Boys and Girls

The effects of father custody on children's social development are being studied by comparing children whose fathers have been awarded custody, children whose mothers have been awarded custody, and children from intact families. Half of the subjects are boys, and half are girls aged 6–11 years. Families are matched on SES, family size, and sibling status. The data presented here were based primarily on videotaped observations of parent‐child interaction in 60 families. The most intriguing findings to date suggest that children living with the opposite sex parent (father custody girls and mother custody boys) are less well adjusted than children living with the same sex parent. However, in both father custody and mother custody families, authoritative parenting by the custodial parent was positively linked with the child's competent social behavior. Also, in both sets of divorced families, contact with additional adult caretakers was associated with positive social behaviors shown by the child.