Ma Denni Arns

Arns 1

Simone Suddreth
English 1010
12 December, 2015
Issue Exploration Essay
For centuries the majority of family units were nuclear, consisting of two parents, a
mother and a father, raising their children together underneath one household. From the 1920s
onward, divorce laws have improved, liberating women further towards equality and mothers
rights. Since the fifties on; it has become common for children being openly illegitimate and
growing up with a single mother. Within the present day, the family unit is made up of various
types of families, such as: children being raised by a single parent (male or female), by both
parents who are separated, or even by parents who decide not to marry. When dealing with
separation, Child custody, even though it is a complicated experience, must be settled for the
sake of the child and parents. However, with many cases of custody battles, the family court
system is giving fathers a raw deal, showing a pattern of discrimination towards fathers by
favoring the mother and complying with most of the mothers request. Even for the men who
only have had a consensual relationship with the women and nothing more are in danger of their
rights as a father being taken away, and may lose their children to adoption or even possibly
foster care. The events fuses into a matter of violation of civil rights and gender equality.

Arns 1

The old fashioned family custom goes as such, the father works the nine to five, being the
financial provider for the family while the mother stays at home to raise the children and keep
the household up to par. On the other hand, roughly ever since the nineteen-sixties, a huge
gender transition developed, with men participating in domestics and in their childrens lives,
being a lot more than the financial provider and women taking an initiative to cement their
presence in the workplace. This country has become a great supporter of denouncing child
abandonment in the U.S., a felony or misdemeanor depending the state law, providing the
opportunity for the mother to enforce, by law, a schedule for parent visitation, child support from
the father to contribute to the child financially, and or simply termination of parental rights,
stated in the Utah Administrative code 784-6-508. The percentage of single mothers to eightythree percent in America (singlemothersguide.com) while the number of single fathers is at
seventeen percent. A huge number difference between men and women, which contributes to the
renowned social stigma of all men showing no interest in their childs life. Coming to question is
whether or not the percentage difference is due to the fact of custody settlements and how much
would increase if men would get the justified custody from family law. Just like every
stereotype, its not always to be true, people of both genders with good intentions. And for those
men who do seek to be in their childrens lives, who can provide financially and participate in
the child whole heartedly just as the mother can are thrown into a battle in the Family court
system.
The Family court is where custody battles are to be dealt with. The guidelines to settle a
custody agreement is simply just seeking the childs best interest and some courts prioritize the
importance of both parents presence in the childs life. Judicial workers move fast, investigating
both parents on the financial situation, location of residence and if close to the childs school,

Arns 1

availability to extended family, and looking into parents history of violence, conduct, etc. to
determine if the child will benefit most from one or the other. According to Famil.findlaw.com,
there are five different custody terms. Physical, Joint, legal and split. Physical custody is pretty
explanatory, physical possession of the child and rarely is it given solely to one parent, which is
completely useless for when one parent has legal custody because they decide all the important
life decisions. Joint custody seems the most reasonable of them all where the children spends
time with parents separately, whereas rarely given split custody is when the children/child is split
between two households. Now this is where another social stigma comes in the role of the
mother. As The women they are more nurturing and sensitive to the childs emotional and
psychological state, which makes it reasonable for the mother to have primary custody above
every other factor. Now especially the courts favor the women giving them the advantage to file
for child support and putting limited Parent Time between the child and father. And for the men
who never married the mother can easily turn to the claim of not being supportive and the court,
as quoted on UTcourts.gov, is a presumption that a spouse who has been abandoned is entitled to
custody.

In the state of Utah, family law prioritize and only considers the Child physiological,
emotional, and physical needs along with the childs development, and what was mentioned
before the courts look into past conduct and demonstrated moral standards of both. With the help
of court appointed social workers, phycologists or guardian ad litem will take part of what the
child wishes and court will considered that as a factor to child custody, that is if the child is a
certain age (ie.utah.gov). Once custody is settled by law both parents have to abide by it and if

Arns 1

violated the violator will be held in contempt of court punished with a fine, jail time, or even loss
of custody. In addition the other parent can request to modify the custody order. One main
example of violation is custodial interference. Custodial interference is when one parent refuse to
give the children to the other parent for their scheduled visitation. On a ksl article, Are Fathers
Getting the Short End of the Stick in Utah Child Custodies? By Mike Headrick, There were
reported to be a hundred and sixty-four of custodial cases and has tripled in last ten years in
Utah, sixty-three percent of custodial interferences against women were dismissed.
If you may ask the Utah Court system or any police officer Is there is any bias towards
Fathers? The obvious answer is a no, that with every case is different and treated with a fiftyfifty attitude. But many fathers would disagree, in the article Headrick spoke with a John Scott
who has 200 documents of being denied of his legal visitation to his kids. Not even that, the
process of requesting custodial interference takes two hundred and thirty-two days. Fatherhood
rights is substantial and need to be addressed more, clearly it is not seen within most judicial
systems and men fear of not seeing their children entirely and just give in to the demands of the
mother who take advantage putting the father into emotional and financial stress.
Even though it is understandable as to why this bias has been developed it is not
justifiable. Gender equality simply states that all genders including men and women deserve
equal treatment and should not be discriminated based on their gender. And going further, civil
rights is defined as an individuals freedom should be protected from invasion by governments,
public organizations, and or private individuals that try to ensure one to participate in community
or social programs. And this pattern of discrimination in the family court system lead into an
institutionalized violation of civil rights for fathers though sexist gender discrimination.

Cited Works:
"Child Abandonment." Find Law. Web.
<http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/child-abandonment.html>.
"Title 78A Chapter 6 Part 5 Section 508." Utah State Legislature, 13 May
2014. Web. <http://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title78A/Chapter6/78A-6-S508.html>.
"Child Custody and Parent Time." Utah Courts. Web. 18 May 2015."Single
Mother Statistics." Single Mother's Guide. Dawn, 1 June 2015. Web
Headrick, Mike. "Are Fathers Getting the Short End of the Stick in Utah
Custody Cases? [sic.]." KSL News. Deseret Digital Media, 29 Apr. 2013.
Web