Fatherhood in the News lately

Well, it seems as though the mainstream media is buzzing with issues related to Dads.  There are mainstream politicians talking about being better Fathers (Barack Obama and Britain’s David Cameron), articles regarding the unfair treatment of divorced fathers by the courts, articles pointing out that Dads spend twice as much time with their kids today than a generation ago, etc.  Dads are certainly getting more thought and consideration than they have in a while.

Canada’s National Post has an article by Barbara Kay that laments the unfair treatment Dads get in divorce court.  She talks about the 1979 movie Kramer vs Kramer in which a bored New York mother leaves her husband and child for California.  The father then goes through a process of becoming the sole parent, struggling at first, then achieving “tender efficiency.”  He is now a new man, putting his child ahead of his career and they are both happy.  Then, 18 months later, the mother swoops back into town and sues for custody… and wins.  She wins on the basis of her gender.  30 years later, we still have this situation regularly happening in our courts.  In Canada, in 90% of the litigated child custody cases, the mother wins sole custody.  “Thus, with mom-friendly courts always the trump card up a mother’s sleeve, even the best of fathers in all custody negotiations must depend on the mother’s good will rather than justice for anything approaching equal access to his children.”  Polls suggest that the overwhelming majority of Canadians and Americans (near 90%) support equal parenting.  “Yet, judges in family courts tend to perpetuate old stereotypes, ignoring evidence in cases where the father is provably the more responsible caregiver, or presuming fathers only seek sole custody to evade financial responsibility.”  Outrageous. 

Parents divorcing is a trajedy.  It happens much too often and does much more damage to children than many people are willing to admit.  BUT, when the marriage dissolves, we need our courts to operate on a “presumption of shared parental responsibility, unless deemed not to be in the best interest of the child.”  Mediation should be an alternative method of conflict resolution as well. 

Fathers and their children expect, and deserve justice.  Are there any politicians out there in America willing or able to make this a priority?

Read the statistics on our main site, www.dadsworld.com and you will see the truth.  Dads matter.  Thanks for your support of Dadsworld.com!  Have a great day.

Tags: canada, child custody, dad, dadsworld, divorce, good parents, mom, parenting, politicians, united states