Times are changing, and that means antiquated gender roles are changing too, right? Wrong. Since forty to fifty percent of all married couples in the United States get divorced, parents often have to fight for custody of their children. Statistically speaking, in the event of a divorce, the mother is more likely to get custody of the child unless she has substance abuse problems or other issues that might affect her own health. This is unfair because a father who could be a better parent to his child is often passed over in order to act upon the “best interests of the child.” Both fathers and mothers can be good parents, but why is the mother automatically assumed to be a better to the child? It is seen that way because typical gender
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In 2004, Sean Goldman’s mother, Bruna, took him on a “vacation” to Brazil. Once his mother got there, she divorced his father David and remarried a man named João Paulo Lins e Silva. Although David Goldman tried to charge Bruna with child abduction, the Brazilian court overturned the case, and forbid him from seeing Sean. After Bruna died in 2008, Silva won custody of Sean. Goldman tried to take back custody of his son, but the courts stated that it would be better for Sean to stay with Silva for his “personal and emotional development.” The court also decided that David would not be able to visit his son. However, in 2009, Sean was sent back to his father in the United States, but not without the media circus his maternal grandparents and stepfather created in Brazil after David Goldman’s case went public. Obviously, this is not a simple divorce case (it is being treated as an adoption case), but it effectively demonstrates how mothers can get away with abduction and media exploitation of a child. The mother had no right to take away her child from the father without ramifications from the law and the populace. The courts sympathized with the mother more, and disallowed visitation rights for the father for no (given) reason. The Goldman case is a more complex case because so many little details are kept private. Maybe Sean Goldman would have been happier with his stepfather, but his own biological father was purposely kept away from him by the will of his mother. That is unjust, because it favors the mother over the father. Fathers should take an equally active role in their children’s lives, but it is hard to do so if the odds are stacked against them. Statistics from 2011 estimate that sixty eight to eighty eight percent of mothers get sole custody of their children compared to the fathers’ eight to fourteen percent of sole
In 2004, Sean Goldman’s mother, Bruna, took him on a “vacation” to Brazil. Once his mother got there, she divorced his father David and remarried a man named João Paulo Lins e Silva. Although David Goldman tried to charge Bruna with child abduction, the Brazilian court overturned the case, and forbid him from seeing Sean. After Bruna died in 2008, Silva won custody of Sean. Goldman tried to take back custody of his son, but the courts stated that it would be better for Sean to stay with Silva for his “personal and emotional development.” The court also decided that David would not be able to visit his son. However, in 2009, Sean was sent back to his father in the United States, but not without the media circus his maternal grandparents and stepfather created in Brazil after David Goldman’s case went public. Obviously, this is not a simple divorce case (it is being treated as an adoption case), but it effectively demonstrates how mothers can get away with abduction and media exploitation of a child. The mother had no right to take away her child from the father without ramifications from the law and the populace. The courts sympathized with the mother more, and disallowed visitation rights for the father for no (given) reason. The Goldman case is a more complex case because so many little details are kept private. Maybe Sean Goldman would have been happier with his stepfather, but his own biological father was purposely kept away from him by the will of his mother. That is unjust, because it favors the mother over the father. Fathers should take an equally active role in their children’s lives, but it is hard to do so if the odds are stacked against them. Statistics from 2011 estimate that sixty eight to eighty eight percent of mothers get sole custody of their children compared to the fathers’ eight to fourteen percent of sole