Denying a father visitation and custody rights to his children can be very detrimental to a child's future well being. More than 24 million children live away from their biological father. If fatherlessness were to be classified as a disease, it would be a severe enough epidemic to be classified as a national emergency. Fatherless children are more likely to do poorly in school, have emotional issues, increased suicides and are more likely to spend time in prison then children who have an involved father. However, that doesn't mask the fact that this is predominantly caused by unwed fathers, and incarcerated fathers having their rights denied, while mothers are automatically granted rights based on biology.
Despite the research that has been done in regards to the negative effects of denying a child access to their father, fatherhood is beginning to be seen as a social role that can be filled by others such as, grandparents, aunts & uncles, friends & partners and mothers themselves essentially making the role of the father obsolete to the detriment of the children. Approximately 13.7 million parents serve as the primary custodian. However, only one in six are fathers. This seems to suggest that courts still seem to presume that mothers are best suited to parent children. (Gresk) Fathers' rights activist are being labeled with nicknames designed to dismiss men who have limited rights to their children labeling, them as sore losers. Fathers may be feeling as if they are irrelevant or invisible unless it involves financial support.
Starting with pregnancy, either intentionally or unwittingly, most appointments are set up for mothers and are scheduled during the time that fathers are at work effectively excluding the father from being a part of the pregnancy (Williams). Most welfare office do not invite the father to the case planning meetings, and during home visits the visitor will often ask for the mother rather than addressing the father (Williams). Fathers have effectively been set aside, and, or all together eliminated from the pregnancy process, and in many cases deemed as irrelevant when it comes to the welfare and well being of the children. Fathers and partners now have the right to take unpaid time off work to accompany expectant mothers to up to 2 antenatal appointments. [However,] a third of fathers still do not take any time off before the birth of their child...possibly due to this time off being unpaid. In many families the man is still the predominate bread winner with the majority of them working during the hours that the Doctor's office is open to see patients, and working women try to schedule their appoints around their work schedules allowing them to continue to have a career during their pregnancy and fitting into the schedule that Doctor's office are open for appointments. A Doctor's office hours of operation are just like any other business on a Monday thru Friday schedule. Therefore, not allowing for appointments outside of the typical work, day which would allow more fathers to be a part of the child bearing process.
It would seem that fathers are being pushed out not only during the pregnancy but also in the raising of the child. Historically, unmarried fathers have had fewer rights to their children than married parents or unwed mothers (Dept. of Health & Human Services). During the 1700's children were considered the property of their fathers. This remain so until the inception of the "tender years" doctrine in 1839. In the year 1848 the first women's right convention requested more custody rights for women. In the 1950's-1960's states began to ask if the "best interest" of the child was best served by the mother. 1970's custody issues are based on the best interest of the child rather than the legal rights of the parents for the first time. 1973 A father wins custody in a New York court after nearly a century of judicial findings in favor of mothers (Kellam). Historically parents' rights have gone from the father only to the mother predominately and now there are small victories for shared parenting. The next step would be equal parenting rights. Woman have fought so hard to be treated equally throughout history. If woman want to be treated equal to men then men should be treated equally to woman as well when it comes to our rights as parent attempting to raise our children in a loving and caring environment. Children who have two loving parents in their lives do better than their single parent peers in all aspect of their lives.
Parents setting their personal feeling aside, and working together to raise their children, not only benefits the children and lets them know that they are loved by both parents, but it also helps to lighten the burden for the parents attempting to handle the incredible task of raising children alone. Most people do not question a mother's importance. However, the question of a father's importance does not seem to be equivalent. Popular TV sitcoms tend to portray fathers as immature, incapable of taking care of themselves in comparison to other family members, lazy and unwilling to help depicting fathers as incompetent and worthless. [While] woman are increasingly being show and strong independent single mothers who do not need a man to help them to raise their children (Williams). Television has a lot of influence over the way that society behaves and act. Portraying fathers in this light just helps to cement the belief that women do not need a man in their lives to help them to raise their children and children do not need a father in their lives to grow up ok. Both parents play an important role in the growth and well being of their children and children are easily influenced by what they see both in life and on TV. By portraying mothers as not needing assistance and fathers as incompetent, we are giving children a false conception of reality which could lead then to think differently of their fathers.
Fathers are just as important as mothers are in molding the lives of our children, however society and the legal system does not seem to see it this way. A woman requesting welfare benefits must name the father of her child, however there does not yet seem to be any law that requires an unwed mother to notify the biological father, giving him the option of raising their child himself should she decide to give their child up for adoption. Some woman's rights advocated believe that due to a woman's unique role in pregnancy and childbirth, the unwed mother should have the right to give her child up for adoption without interference from the state or the biological father; never seeking the consent of the biological father (Shanley). Woman cannot create life without male sperm. However, due to their gender and the fact that they carry the child through pregnancy unmarried woman seem to be deemed to be superior over men when it comes to their decisions regarding their children and adoption, being allowed to make this decision alone. Women are not able to make a child without the assistance of male DNA, therefor, they should not be able to give a child that was created by two people up for adoption without consulting the other biological parent unless the conception was forced.
Fathers deserve the opportunity to raise their children themselves should the mother of the child decide that she cannot or does not want to raise the child and has made the decision to give the child up for adoption. Throughout several decades unmarried fathers have challenged the termination of their parental rights under the Fourteenth amendment (more specifically the equal protection of the laws) in cases in which the birth mother has given a child up for adoption (Dept. of Health & Human Services). State law requires biological fathers to pay child support whether they are married to the mother or not (Kingston). However state laws do not require a mother to name the biological father if she is planning to place the child up for adoption. In a series of adoption cases involving unwed fathers, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the constitutional protection of a father's parental rights when he has established a substantial relationship with the child (Dept. of Health & Human Services).
Registration with a putative father registry ensures that a father will receive notice of court proceedings regarding the child such as actions to terminate parental rights and petitions for adoptions (Dept. of Health & Human Services). An unmarried father is not automatically granted rights to his child and must take the necessary steps to ensure that not only his rights but also the rights of his child are protected. Filing with the registry is the only way to establish rights for this notification in the following states; Alabama (for births after 1/1/1997), Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. (Dept. of Health & Human Services) In the following states, paternity can be claimed by filling an acknowledgment or affidavit of paternity with the court. Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (Dept. of Health & Human Services). The means of establishing paternity varies from state to state. Women are guaranteed assumed rights to their children, men are not. Men must be diligent and establish these rights as soon as possible to protect the rights of themselves and their children.
Even if a man plans to help the mother with the baby, it is still important to establish paternity to ensure the rights of both the father and the child are protected (Your Guide to Legal Fatherhood). Mothers and fathers are not granted equal rights and a fathers rights are not protected unless he works through the legal system to establish that protection. Every year in this country about one million parents go through a divorce... leading to more fathers having fewer right to their children, and the fathers' rights do not seem to be protected (Meyer). Every year in this country about one million parents go through a divorce... leading to more fathers having fewer right to their children, and the fathers' rights do not seem to be protected (Meyer). Fathers are not guaranteed the same rights as mothers are whether they were married or not. Even in joint custody divorce cases the mothers tend to have the lion's share of the parenting time with the children while the father has the financial burden of child support. A father who married to the mother of his child/children has more legal rights to his children than an unmarried father. However, the mother will in most cases still have more rights than the father.
The Declaration of Independence states that "All men are created equal". However, this is not the case when it comes to Fathers Rights and custody issues. Parents are not constitutionally entitled to equal parenting time, giving considerable discretion to the courts to allocate parental access, and authority without the need to prove extraordinary or compelling ground (Meyer). In 2004, coordinated class action lawsuits were filed in forty-four states challenging the constitutionality of prevailing laws and asserting constitutional rights to equal rights to the children (Meyer). In a significant number of states... if a married woman conceives a child outside of her marriage, the biological father has been the denied the right to establish his paternal legitimacy to the child, despite the fact that the presumed father (husband), the mother and in some instances the child have been given this opportunity (Minnick). If a father cannot establish paternity to his child, then he is denied legal rights to his child thereby giving him no legally enforceable rights to custody or visitation (Minnick). If a married woman cheats on her husband, and has a child with another man, her legal husband is legally and financial responsible for the child, while the biological father seems to have no rights or responsibility at all to the child. Traditionally, in our legal system, if a married woman had a child outside of her marriage, the child was presumed to be the legitimate child of the woman's husband, therefore giving him legal rights and responsibilities to the child and leaving the biological father with no legal rights to the child at all. (Minnick)
Equal parental rights for an incarcerated parent seems to be an even larger issue. Child support obligations do not stop. However, and incarcerated parent can be stripped of their parental rights, and what happens is a woman married to an incarcerated man has a child with another man. The legal husband may still be financially responsible. Parental incarceration disrupts relationships between parents and their children and effects many aspects of a child's life such as, their emotional well being and family stability. Incarcerated fathers are on the rise in this country. In 2006, more than 50% of the men incarcerated in state and federal prisons in the U.S. were fathers (Graham). "The number of children with a father in prison increased from 881,500 in 1991 to more than 1.5 million in 2007" (Christian). Intervening in the lives of incarcerated fathers to preserves the familial relationships can have positive benefits such as less children with incarcerated family members becoming incarcerated themselves, as well as continuing the father child relationship. Creating programs that assist fathers with parenting skills and allow them to spend time with their children during their incarceration could not only have a positive effect on the life of the child but could also assist in the reduction of recidivism (Christian).
Programs that allow mother to bond and spend time with their children already exit in some states such as California, Maryland, New York, Wyoming and Ohio for incarcerated mothers (Christian). Incarcerated parents and their children could benefit greatly form programs that allow them to maintain contact during the parents' incarceration. The courts, prison system and child welfare authorities in states such as New York and Arkansas have recognized that children have a legal right to maintain a relationship with an incarcerated parent if the crime committed was unrelated to the parent child relationship (Graham). Extending the opportunity to incarcerated fathers could strengthen the father child bond. Children deserve to have an opportunity to have a relationship with both parents if at all possible. Allowing inmates to have contact with their children may lead to better behaved inmates, and less recidivism.
Even when it comes to incarcerated parents, mothers have more rights than fathers do. Mothers should have the right to choose what happens to their bodies as far as conception and birth. However, once the child is here, the mother should not use that child as a weapon against the father because she is upset with him, or because she feels that she can do it alone. 40% of mothers reported that they interfered with the...father's visitation on at least one occasion making them the "greatest obstacle to fathers having more frequent contact with their children." (Facts on Fatherless Kids) Overall [roughly] 50% of mother do not see any value in maintaining a relationship between the child and the father (Facts on Fatherless Kids). Woman are capable of raising children alone, as are men. However, children need and want that relationship with their father, and in the end it is the children that suffer. Most women know that denying children a caring and loving relationship with their father is wrong, and that it can be harmful to the children. Parents need to do their best to set their personal feelings aside, and do what is truly best for the children, not what they perceive to be best based on their feeling about the other parent.
Some parents will say negative things about the other in the presence of the children, or through manipulation and access blocking cause unjustifiable fear and/or hate of the other parent (Eskind). Children need regular and frequent contact with both parents as they grow to help them manage the developmental stages of growing up (Stuart). Teens living in single parent homes are more likely to suffer from psychological disorders and are at a much greater risk of suicide than their peers who have two involved parents (Facts on Fatherless Kids). Children and teens face so many challenges with growing up as it is. Such as, peer pressure, bullying, and decisions about drugs and alcohol. Parents should do their best to make life a little less stressful for their children by putting their differences aside and maintain a healthy relationship with their child. Growing up in this day and age is hard enough with all of the drugs and violence in music and on TV. Parents should not compound these issues by attempting to turn the child against the other parent.
Adolescents and teens face so many obstacles with media, social media, and peer pressure in their daily lives. Children may need the involvement of both parents in their lives more now than ever before. Fatherless children have diminished self-esteem & self-concern, as well as, a wide range of other emotional and behavioral issues. These children have a higher than average risk for child abuse, suicide, drug & alcohol abuse, mental illness, criminal activity and tend to do poorly in school. 61% of child abuse cases are committed by single biological mother (SPARC). Youth from fatherless homes are about 5 times more likely to commit suicide, which is the equivalency of 63% of all youth suicides (SPARC) (Williams). Teens from single father homes are 10 times more likely to abuse chemical substances, making up about 75% of the adolescent population in chemical abuse centers (Facts on Fatherless Kids). 85% of children that show sign of behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes, making fatherless children 20 times more likely to suffer from mental illness than their two-parent peers (SPARC). 70% of youth murderers and 60% of America's rapist grew up in fatherless homes (Williams). 71% of high school dropouts are from fatherless homes (Williams). Children who grow up in single parent homes tend to have more hardships in life than some of their peers do, and they also seem to have more difficulty when it comes to peer pressure. Fatherless teens have a higher risk of beginning unprotected prior to age 16, becoming teen parents, being promiscuous and experiencing sexual health issues, as well as, contracting sexually transmitted diseases, and being exploited by adults (Kruk).
Fatherlessness is a cycle that can easily be broken if the mothers as well as the fathers are willing to put forth the effort to either end the cycle in their own lives, or not begin it all. The mother of illegitimate children has complete rights to the custody of the child, the father usually must provide support, but is not guaranteed any rights to the child (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia). The tender years doctrine promotes the belief that young children need nurturing care and mothers are the best equipped to provide that care (Gresk). Sonny Burmeister, president of the Georgia chapter of the Children's Rights Council, a Washington-based advocacy group for joint custody, recounts the words of a former superior court judge in Cobb County, Ga.: "I ain't never seen the calves follow the bull, they always follow the cow. Therefore, I always give custody to the mama" (Kellam). As long as courts continue to believe that the mother is the only parent fit to take care of the children and the fathers are indispensable then we may never end this epidemic of fatherlessness. Throughout much of history courts have operated under the "tender year's doctrine" when making custody decisions and many courts have been reluctant to abandon it completely.
Children need the knowledge and wisdom of both parents adequately adjust to the obstacle of life. Considerate policy making could lead to more involved fathers in the lives of their children. 90% of fathers give up fighting for their children after divorce due to access difficulties (Kruk). Mothers tend to use their children as weapons against their father after a divorce or separation. The laws are a reflection of society's standards, therefore, society must change their standards if we are ever going to see a change in the law. The common sentiment that woman are more likely to be the primary caregivers of children will not change unless and until fathers who do take on this role are acknowledged and fathers who want to take on this role are given the opportunity to do so.
Women cannot currently procreate without sperm, so until science advances enough requires a male in some aspect. However, woman have the power to choose to have an abortion without the father's consent. This is understandable as she is the one who must go through all of the hormonal and physical changes to bring the child into this world. In 2011, unmarried women accounted for 85.5% of all abortions (Abort73). Women living with a partner to whom they are not married account for 25% of abortions but only about 10% of women in the population (Abort73). Abortion is, and should remain a personal choice for women to make in whatever manner they choose. But when it comes to adoption without the consent of the unwed father I do not agree. I believe that it is not always the father's fault that the couple are not wed and there are many men out there that would make amazing father. But if a child is given up for adoption without the fathers consent he is not even given the opportunity to prove this.
Adoption of a child without the fathers consent is a possibility that incarcerated fathers face every day. If a parent is sent to prison, society automatically considers them a bad parent and not qualified to raise their children. But how much research has been done to actually find out why these people are in the prison system? "Inmates in state and federal prisons with a criminal history were more likely to be parents of minor children than those with no criminal history" (Glaze). Some of the parents may be in the prison system because they were trying to take care of their children the only way that they knew how. Many incarcerated parents had incarcerated parents themselves, or came from broken homes. This is a very hard cycle to break, and many are unable to break the cycle alone. Some of the parents may be in the prison system because they were trying to take care of their children the only way that they knew how. Many incarcerated parents had incarcerated parents themselves, or came from broken homes. This is a very hard cycle to break, and many are unable to break the cycle alone. I feel that creating programs to allow both incarcerated mothers and fathers to have the opportunity to bond with or maintain a bond with their children while they are incarcerated will go a long ways towards breaking this cycle unless the crime committed was related to the child such as abuse.
I am a product of a broken home, and I do agree that children from broken homes face more obstacles than children from two parent homes. However, not all children from broken homes suffer all of the effects. For instance, if a single parent has a well-paying job the child may have nicer things than their peers but may still have self-esteem issues and trouble in school. Being raised by a single mother has certainly made me a stronger woman, but life was hard growing up with one parent. I had very low self-esteem, I spent time with the wrong type of friends, I was a teen mom, and I repeated the cycle with my own kids while I was younger. I am now married and raising our son with my husband. I have broken that cycle, and I hope that this paper will help law makers to realize how important it is for them to step up, and attempt to help break this cycle. This is not an easy thing to do alone, as I have done.
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