Divorced Men and Children

Problems Faced by Fathers after Divorce

The problems faced by fathers after a divorce will be entirely in accordance with their situation. These can be summarised as follows:

1.       Joint Custody: According to a British Social Attitudes survey, the greatest problem with joint custody lies in warring parents. The child becomes a veritable shuttle cock between the households. There are major conflicts over study time, guidance given, dinner timing and food habits, and dressing and lifestyle patterns. The child becomes confused in this mess. Taking advantage of the physical closeness to a child that a mother has, many women set their children to ‘spy’ upon the daily activities of the father to find out more about the ‘other woman’, i.e., his current partner. This may sound like a juvenile prank of peeping into the parent’s bedroom, but it can often become malicious, and is very traumatic for the father when he finds out.

2.       Single Custody with Visitation: Most problems happen with this structure. There are just too many cases where the father has been barred from meeting the child, or the visitation has not worked out as expected. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) conducted a survey in 2006 on Non-Residential Parental Contact with Children. According to the findings, half of all children have no weekly or monthly contact with their non-residential parents – who are mostly fathers. This is not surprising, given that over 90% of single parents in the UK are females. 24% of the children in the resident parent, and 10% in the non-resident parent have no direct or indirect contact with the parent who is on visitation. 43% of children in the resident parent category, and 59% in the non-resident parent category have direct contact with the non-resident parent at least once a week. The data becomes muddled when the parents themselves are asked about direct contact. 77% of the non-resident parents (predominantly fathers) claimed that they saw their children once every week or month. On the contrary, resident parents (mostly mothers) said that only 60% of the non-resident parents came for weekly / monthly visits.

The Solutions

There are only two solutions – the legal system has to tighten up – and parents just have to come to a mature understanding for the sake of the future generation. There are many support groups for fathers who are being denied their basic right to meet their child, but the law must also step in and ensure that the visitation rules are properly followed and the maintenance regularly paid.    

Fathers with Custody

For fathers with custody the problems are mainly about arranging finances for education and availability of childcare. The private day care centres are too costly for many fathers, while the free of cost government or charity help centres are not so good. Child relief and support systems in the UK are still highly fragmented. The other problem which is usually overlooked lies with mothers who do not turn up for the visits and do not pay the maintenance costs. The government is still apathetic to this issue, and the Pensions department is bad at following up claims. The official childcare association – the Child Support Agency (CSA) – has not been doing its job properly either. The worst part is that gendered prejudices still colour opinions even in the legal circuits, and women are favoured in the rulings. The emotional devastation of a father who has been separated from his son or daughter is sometimes treated as something insignificant. Once again, overall legal reforms and social awareness are the only solutions.   

       Fathers 4 Justice

This is one of the most famous father’s rights groups. They started off in 2002 and were 
disbanded in 2006, but have left a lasting impact on British society. In 2005, certain laws
were revised due to pressure from them. Their dare devil publicity stunts brought them more
limelight, but the issue of fathers who needed help was also taken seriously, thanks to them. 

Article Source: http://www.theukarticledirectory.co.uk