Denying Dads Access To Children

"Knowledge is power" ~ Francis Bacon

Dads House Educational Center & Groups

For decades, Fathers' Rights Groups have tried politics to address the rights of fathers, while not teaching them how to solve their current problems, like not seeing their children. Joint Custody came about to the extent it has more due to favorable court rulings, by informed fathers

Denying Dads Access To Children

Whether a man is dealing with a divorce or paternity case, it is very important to learn his rights, and responsibilities. Further, what steps a father should take to avoid going bankrupt paying legal fees on top of child support that are out of line with the ability to survive financially. The sections below will provide you with indexed links designed to teach you everything you need in dealing with Family Law issues.

Children of Separated Parents

Chapter 1: Table of Contents

In all the turmoil that surrounds the problems of separating, or separated parents, often the needs and desires of the children become lost. As much as possible, the children should not become a part of what is happening between the parents. They already have enough challenges ahead of them, even if they do not know it. Click here for a video preview of the chapter.

Children of Separated Parents
Lacking Two Parents In The Home

Kids & Divorce: For Better or Worse
Video: Fatherless America
Results Of Fatherless Family Statistics
Desires & Needs
A Child's Bill of Rights
Beginning Vocabulary
50 Phrases To Encourage Your Child
A Child's 10 Commandments To Parents
The 10 Do's Of Disciplining A Child
Reading Corner

Children of America
Fatherless & In Need Of Immediate Intervention
Lead
Preface
Introduction
The Problem
Current Policies
Recommendations
Comments

School Records

Federal Regulations
What The Regulations Mean To You
Questions & Answers
Sample Letter To Request School Records

StepParents

Second Wife Club
Living In Step-Families

Premarital Expectations

Understanding Your Answers
Reading Corner
Stepparent's Right To Custody Or Visitation
Child Support & The 2nd Spouse's Income
Stepfamilies on YouTube
2nd Wife Club Store

Our Youths & Teenagers

What Boys Do Not Learn In Sex EducationWhen Does The Child Deserve the Same Rights As A LEGAL ADULT?Teens Earning Money In This Economy
Right Age To Get Married

Writing Letters

Writing Legislators About Issues Facing FathersSample Letter To Legislators
Writing Editorial Letters
Includes Editorial Letter Links To Top 100 Newspapers

Useful Links

All Children Deserve Two Parents
Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears has noted, children born to unmarried women and to those in cohabiting relationships "must often overcome increased risks of poverty, education failure, child abuse, delinquency, emotional distress and mental illness....the lack of a father's guidance in children's lives is a major cause of their suffering. "Marriage is the best child welfare, crime prevention, anti-poverty program we have".

Circle of Life
Telling a teen that their life will not end by waiting until they are mature for making adult choices.

Divorce
NonTraditional Families, & Its Consequences For Children

Fatherless America
"Ominously, the most reliable predictor of crime is neither poverty nor race but growing up fatherless." Fortune Magazine

Fatherless America:
Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem

HELP!!!

Parents Are Separating
Our Parents Are Breaking Up What Will Happen To Us?

Kids & Divorce: For Better or Worse
PBS Special

The American Myth of Divorce  --  Right Age To Get Married

Writing Letters
Writing Letters

Writing Legislators About Issues Facing Fathers

Sample Letter To Legislators

Writing Editorial Letters

Includes Editorial Letter Links To Top 100 Newspapers

Consequences of Father Absence

THE FATHER FACTOR

Data on the Consequences of Father Absence ~

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 24 million children in America -- one out of three -- live in biological father-absent homes. Consequently, there is a "father factor" in nearly all of the social issues facing America today. Scroll down to view data on the effects of father absence on: poverty, maternal and child health, incarceration, crime, teen pregnancy, child abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, education, and childhood obesity.

Father Factor in Poverty ~Children in father-absent homes are almost four times more likely to be poor. In 2011, 12 percent of children in married-couple families were living in poverty, compared to 44 percent of children in mother-only families.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Children’s Living Arrangements and Characteristics: March 2011, Table C8. Washington D.C.: 2011. In 2008, American poverty rates were 13.2% for the whole population and 19% for children, compared to 28.7% for female-headed households. Source: Edin, K. & Kissane R. J. (2010). Poverty and the American family: a decade in review. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 460-479.  

 

 Click here to access additional, free research on father absence and poverty 

Father Factor in Emotional and Behavioral Problems ~Data from three waves of the Fragile Families Study (N= 2,111) was used to examine the prevalence and effects of mothers’ relationship changes between birth and age 3 on their children’s well being. Children born to single mothers show higher levels of aggressive behavior than children born to married mothers. Living in a single-mother household is equivalent to experiencing 5.25 partnership transitions.

Source: Osborne, C., & McLanahan, S. (2007). Partnership instability and child well-being. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69, 1065-1083

A sample of 4,027 resident fathers and children from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Survey was used to investigate the effects of a biological father’s multipartner fertility (having at least one child with more than one mother) on adolescent health. Resident fathers engaging in multipartner fertility were older, more likely to be White, and had lower education levels and income, compared to fathers with one partner. Results indicated children’s externalizing behaviors were negatively affected directly and indirectly when their biological father had children with multiple partners. Source: Bronte-Tinkew, J., Horowitz, A., & Scott, M. E. (2009). Fathering with multiple partners: Links to children’s well-being in early childhood. Journal of Marriage and Family, 71, 608–631.  

Father Factor in Maternal and Child Health ~  Infant mortality rates are 1.8 times higher for infants of unmarried mothers than for married mothers. 

Source: Matthews, T.J., Sally C. Curtin, and Marian F. MacDorman. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 1998 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 48, No. 12. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, 2000. High-quality interaction by any type of father predicts better infant health. Source: Carr, D. & Springer, K. W. (2010). Advances in families and health research in the 21st century. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 743-761. Click here to access additional, free research on father absence and maternal and child health

Father Factor in Incarceration ~ 

Even after controlling for income, youths in father-absent households still had significantly higher odds of incarceration than those in mother-father families. Youths who never had a father in the household experienced the highest odds.

Source: Harper, Cynthia C. and Sara S. McLanahan. “Father Absence and Youth Incarceration.” Journal of Research on Adolescence 14 (September 2004): 369-397.  A 2002 Department of Justice survey of 7,000 inmates revealed that 39% of jail inmates lived in mother-only households. Approximately forty-six percent of jail inmates in 2002 had a previously incarcerated family member. One-fifth experienced a father in prison or jail.  Source: James, Doris J. Profile of Jail Inmates, 2002. (NCJ 201932). Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, July 2004.  Click here to access additional, free research on father absence and incarceration

Father Factor in Crime ~ A study of 109 juvenile offenders indicated that family structure significantly predicts delinquency. 

Source: Bush, Connee, Ronald L. Mullis, and Ann K. Mullis. “Differences in Empathy Between Offender and Nonoffender Youth.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence 29 (August 2000): 467-478. A study of low-income minority adolescents aged 10-14 years found that higher social encounters and frequent communication with nonresident biological fathers decreased adolescent delinquency. Source: Coley, R. L., & Medeiros, B. L. (2007). Reciprocal longitudinal relations between nonresident father involvement and adolescent delinquency. Child Development, 78, 132–147.  Click here to access additional, free research on father absence and crime

Father Factor in Teen Pregnancy & Sexual Activity ~ 

Being raised by a single mother raises the risk of teen pregnancy, marrying with less than a high school degree, and forming a marriage where both partners have less than a high school degree. Source: Teachman, Jay D. “The Childhood Living Arrangements of Children and the Characteristics of Their Marriages.” Journal of Family Issues 25 (January 2004): 86-111. Separation or frequent changes increase a woman’s risk of early menarche, sexual activity and pregnancy. Women whose parents separated between birth and six years old experienced twice the risk of early menstruation, more than four times the risk of early sexual intercourse, and two and a half times higher risk of early pregnancy when compared to women in intact families. The longer a woman lived with both parents, the lower her risk of early reproductive development. Women who experienced three or more changes in her family environment exhibited similar risks but were five times more likely to have an early pregnancy. Source: Quinlan, Robert J. “Father absence, parental care, and female reproductive development.” Evolution and Human Behavior 24 (November 2003): 376-390. Click here to access additional, free research on father absence and teen pregnancy.

Father Factor in Child Abuse ~ 

A study using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study revealed that in many cases the absence of a biological father contributes to increased risk of child maltreatment. The results suggest that Child Protective Services (CPS) agencies have some justification in viewing the presence of a social father as increasing children’s risk of abuse and neglect. It is believed that in families with a non-biological (social) father figure, there is a higher risk of abuse and neglect to children, despite the social father living in the household or only dating the mother. Source: “CPS Involvement in Families with Social Fathers.” Fragile Families Research Brief No.46. Princeton, NJ and New York, NY: Bendheim-Thomas Center for Research on Child Wellbeing and Social Indicators Survey Center, 2010. In a study examining father-related factors predicting maternal physical child abuse risk, researchers conducted interviews with mothers of 3-year-old children. The results revealed that mothers who were married to fathers were at lower risk for maternal physical child abuse. Moreover, it was found that higher educational attainment and positive father involvement with their children were significant predictors of lower maternal physical child abuse risk. 
Source: Guterman, N.B., Yookyong, L., Lee, S. J., Waldfogel, J., & Rathouz, P. J. (2009). Fathers and maternal risk for physical child abuse. Child Maltreatment, 14, 277-290. Click here to access additional, free research on father absence and child abuse and neglect. 

Father Factor in Drug and Alcohol Abuse ~ 

Even after controlling for community context, there is significantly more drug use among children who do not live with their mother and father. Source: Hoffmann, John P. “The Community Context of Family Structure and Adolescent Drug Use.” Journal of Marriage and Family 64 (May 2002): 314-330. In a study of 6,500 children from the ADDHEALTH database, father closeness was negatively correlated with the number of a child’s friends who smoke, drink, and smoke marijuana. Closeness was also correlated with a child’s use of alcohol, cigarettes, and hard drugs and was connected to family structure. Intact families ranked higher on father closeness than single-parent families.  Source: National Fatherhood Initiative. “Family Structure, Father Closeness, & Drug Abuse.” Gaithersburg, MD: National Fatherhood Initiative, 2004: 20-22.  Click here to access additional, free research on father absence and drug abuse. 

Father Factor in Childhood Obesity ~ 

The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth found that obese children are more likely to live in father-absent homes than are non-obese children. Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. In a study using a sample of 2,537 boys and 2,446 girls, researchers investigated the relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) status at ages 4 to 5 years and mothers’ and fathers’ parenting involvement and parenting styles. The results showed that only fathers’ parenting behaviors and styles were associated with increased risks of child overweight and obesity. Mothers’ parenting behaviors and styles were not associated with a higher likelihood of children being in a higher BMI category. In the case of fathers, however, higher father control scores were correlated with lower chances of the child being in a higher BMI category. Moreover, children of fathers with permissive and disengaged parenting styles had higher odds of being in a higher BMI category. Source: Wake, M., Nicholson, J.M., Hardy, P., & Smith, K. (2007). Preschooler obesity and parenting styles of mothers and fathers: Australian national population study, Pediatrics, 12, 1520-1527. Click here to access additional, free research on father absence and childhood obesity.

Father Factor in Education ~ 

Father involvement in schools is associated with the higher likelihood of a student getting mostly A's. This was true for fathers in biological parent families, for stepfathers, and for fathers heading single-parent families.

Source: Nord, Christine Winquist, and Jerry West. Fathers’ and Mothers’ Involvement in Their Children’s Schools by Family Type and Resident Status. (NCES 2001-032). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2001.  A study assessing 4,109 two-parent families examined the effects of early maternal and paternal depression on child expressive language at age 24 months and the role that parent-to-child reading may play in child’s language development. The results revealed that for mothers and fathers, depressive symptoms were negatively associated with parent-to-child reading. Only for fathers, however, was earlier depression associated with later reading to child and related child expressive vocabulary development. The less the fathers read to their infants, the worse their toddler scored on a standard measure of expressive vocabulary at age two. Parents’ depression has more impact on how often fathers read to their child compared to mothers, which in turn influences the child’s language development.  Source: Paulson, J.F., Keefe, H.A., & Leiferman, J. A. (2009). Early parental depression and child language development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50, 254–262.  Click here to access additional, free research on father absence and education.

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Awful Opposing Counsel in Family Court

7 Steps for Managing Awful Opposing Counsel

“Honestly, based on the dealings I’ve had so far, I dislike the other attorneys more than the opposing spouse! Why do attorneys have to make everything so personal?”

The guy who said that practices family law in Florida, and I couldn’t agree more.

You’ve had the same experience. The opposing counsel is making you miserable. You are not alone.

My friend in Florida asked, “How do you deal with attorneys like that?”

I’ll attempt to answer. However, I’ll warn you now that there isn’t a secret formula for these situations. There isn’t a perfect solution for dealing with these difficult humans.

When I’m dealing with one of these lawyers, I assume that we’re in for the long haul. These folks typically drag out every element of the case.

How to Never Let Your Clients (Or Opposing Counsel) See You Sweat

Here’s my advice:

1. Accept it. Accept that they are who they are and that you can’t change that reality.