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9. After reading the following selection, write an argumentative passage supporting either of these conclusions: (1) Mothers are by nature better suited to raise children than fathers and should normally be granted physical custody following a divorce. (2) Following a divorce, fathers should be granted equal physical custody of the children. Deadbeat Dads Court's Custody Bias Is Partly to Blame by Armin A. Brott We've all heard about the rich guys, driving their fancy cars, living in mansions, while their ex-wives and kids eat dog food. There's no question that men who don't pay their child support¾ if they are financially able¾ are behaving immorally, and every effort should be made to enforce payment. But seizing divorced men's tax refunds, restricting their rights to travel or putting them in jail is not the answer. The simplest, most cost-effective means of increasing child-support compliance is to institute a fairer system of child custody. Although almost every state now has some kind of "gender-blind" legislation specifically barring judges from granting custodial preference based solely on the sex of the parent, the American family law system continues to favor women by a huge margin. Nationwide, the mother is the sole custodian an overwhelming 82 percent of the time. Only 11 percent of men get sole custody of their children, and just 7 percent have joint custody. Worse yet, nearly 40 percent of noncustodial fathers have no legal visitation or custody rights at all. And the men who do have court-ordered access to their children are traditionally limited to visits every other weekend, on alternate holidays, and for a couple of weeks in the summer. Women, it seems, are presumed to be "fit" parents. Men have to prove it. In California the situation for fathers is only slightly better. Joint custody is awarded in about 70 percent of cases, but this figure is very deceptive because it refers to joint legal and not joint physical custody (which mothers here still get about 75 percent of the time). Fathers with joint legal custody get to sign report cards and hospital admissions forms. But when it comes to actually seeing their children, they are basically limited to the same visitation schedule as non-custodial fathers. The correlation between child-support payment and visitation is clear and inescapable. The U.S. Census Bureau found that more than 90 percent of men with joint custody and more than 79 percent of those with visitation privileges pay their entire child-support obligation on time. Adjusted for those who are unemployed, underemployed, disabled or otherwise legitimately unable to pay, compliance is well over 90 percent in both categories. The courts are not alone in making it difficult for men to be with their children. Mothers themselves often see no value to the father/child relationship and frequently interfere with it. In "Surviving the Breakup," one of the most respected studies of divorce, researchers found that 20 percent to 50 percent of custodial mothers routinely and actively try to sabotage father/child meetings. In California it isn't easy or cheap getting help for fathers who are denied legal access to their children by angry former spouses. Men who go to court to enforce their visitation rights pay an average of about $4,000 in attorneys' fees. And even if they win, visitation still isn't guaranteed. Because judges here are reluctant to put uncooperative mothers in jail, fathers may find themselves in court¾ and in their lawyers' offices¾ over and over again. Not surprisingly, denying a non-custodial parent access to his children has a direct impact on compliance with support orders. In fact, a major 1988 study of more than 2,200 non-custodial parents in Texas found that willful non-payment occurred in only 1.9 percent of the cases where the non-custodial parents were allowed access to the children. But when custodial parents denied access to the other parent, the compliance rate with support orders was only 36 percent. Unfortunately, the critical relationship between custody, visitation, and child support seems to be lost on most legislators and family-law judges. Instead of focusing on joint custody, enforcing men's visitation rights and encouraging father/child relationships¾ the obvious solutions to the non-support problem¾ society's attitude continues to be "Throw the bums in jail." Ultimately, the beneficiaries of a more equitable family-law system will be the children. California would do well to follow the example set by other states. In Michigan, for example, legislators decided that in addition to the right to an adequate standard of living, children have the right to maintain a strong and positive relationship with both parents. Authorities are now required to enforce orders for visitation as well as for financial support. Thus, custodial parents who deny access to their former spouses can, potentially, be jailed¾ just as parents who refuse to make support payments. According to Michigan state Sen. Debbie Stabenow, "More parents are willing to pay when they are seeing their children and feel they are being treated equitably by the system." The results? The state found that children's relationships with both parents have been greatly improved. And, not surprisingly, Michigan now leads the nation in child-support collections. Divorced fathers, on the whole, love and care for their children as much as any other parents. The day society starts treating them as parents instead of cash cows whose only contribution to their children is financial, we might just wake up and find that the deadbeat daddy problem has simply gone away. |