Child Custody For Fathers

Child custody for fathers has become a new battleground area for dad's rights. The crux of the issues lies in the historical belief that child custody belongs with the mother until the children are "older". This is where many custody battles take place. Finally, there is some support for dad's custody making its way from research to practice.

Currently, signficant research has been generated and shows agreement that fathers are important attachment figures, and that the father-child attachments are unique and independent of mother-child attachments. This consensus opposes historic beliefs that young children should not have overnight visits with their fathers until reaching preschool age and child custody for fathers is off limits. Furthermore, there is a body of research showing that there is "no harm" done to very young children having overnight visits with both parents. Wow! These findings are relatively new, and still not tolerated or even understood in many courts, but with the right research in hand much can be accomplished with the goal of improving child custody for fathers.

(As an aside, I know many instances where attorneys cite one particular journal article that supports thier opinon and they march into court with it in hand. The points I'm making here refer to numerous journal articles by different authors, which shows a scientific basis for those findings.)

Many mothers are unhappy about this. Understandbly! The beliefs about the "nurturing years" are long-standing, and the mother-infant bond is certainly an important attachment. However, father's can be active parents and separating a child from the mother for a few days is not likely going to result in harm. Of course, every family is unique. Much depends on the parent's cooperation, the child's temperament, and individual differences, but in general this conclusion has been established, though not always agreed upon yet.

To summarize some basic points:

1. Both mothers and fathers form unique attachments with their children
2. Secure attachments with both parents enhances a child's development
3. Overnights for very young children are supported by many (though not all) researchers and does not show harm to the parent-child attachment.
4. There are benefits to overnight visits with young children in terms of the quality coming from those unique experiences.
5. Sometimes false allegations of child abuse are a tactic used by mothers to keep them from getting increased or sole custody.