Absence of Fathers in Childrens' Lives of Divorced Parents: Impact and Implication

The purpose of this study is to determine through scientific methods to what extent children experience parental divorce and the lack of fathers in families. This paper focuses on measuring the impact it has on adolescent children, between 13-18 years, in Tirana, Albania. Adolescence is one of the most critical stages of life and is very decisive for the future of children. This goal is enabled through the achievement of the following objectives such as: How and to what extent divorce and the lack of father affect the psychoemotional development and perception of children with divorced parents (ChDP) about their future and love relationships; to what extent does the lack of father affect this segment of children, and the identification of consequences to these children. Methodology: This involves a primary survey with the help of a structured questionnaire among children from the age group of 13-18 years in Tirana. The consequences of divorce are theoretically explained and give the opportunity to raise research questions in recent years. Questionnaire is the research instrument which includes questions about the relationship of children with their non-custodial parent, the impact of missing obligations, and the possible consequences for this segment of children. The data are compared with children of the same age, but from intact families, and have led to conclusions and recommendations on social policies to be followed towards this segment in the future.

PARENTING IN CONFLICT – PARENTAL ALIENATION: NETNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

Parental alienation is a phenomenon that appears after the divorce or break-up in a situation, where there is high conflict between the separating parents accompanying the termination of the relationship. It includes actions intentionally taken by one of the sides, who is seeking to distort the relationship between the child and the other parent. As a result of the alienation, the child starts to excessively prefer the custodial parent and intensively reject the non-custodial parent. The discussion concerning parental alienation was initiated by Richard Gardner, a psychiatrist, who introduced the idea of PAS ‘parental alienation syndrome’. His concept was widely commented by its supporters as well as by sceptics and opponents, as a result of which its modified version, PA ‘parental alienation’, was developed. Published research concerning the subject can be found in English-language scientific articles as early as in 1998. However, in Polish academic literature parental alienation is almost non-existent. The objective of this article is to open a discussion on this subject. Apart from theoretical analysis of the phenomenon, the narratives of parents who believe to experience PA were analysed. The analysis regarded aspects such as: definition, characteristics and sources of parental alienation. The article analyses also actions, which are the alienated parents’ reactions to PA. The performed analysis was of netnographic nature.

The Effects of Child Support Payment Factors on Satisfaction With Levels of Parental Involvement by Noncustodial Fathers

Purpose: Research on the influences of child support on the parental involvement of non-custodial father is mixed. Method: This study uses one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to examine non-custodial fathers’ satisfaction with levels of accessibility to his child, degree of engagement in daily activities, level of responsibility for child’s wellbeing and custodial parents parenting practices. These variables were measured against child support payment related behaviors to include income levels, monthly child support obligation, view of fairness of payment, maintaining a current status, and the number of additional child support cases. Results: Results indicated significant mean differences in the combined parental satisfaction variable and specifically within custodial parent parenting practices. Mean differences in parental satisfaction with reference to degree of responsibility for the child were also effected by monthly child support payment amounts. No significance differences in parental satisfaction were found regarding fairness of child support payment amount or having multiple child support cases. However, small differences were noted concerning payment status of current or behind. Discussion: Implications for future study of fatherless families are explored.

The Civil Procedure Aspect of Protection of the Right of the Non-Custodial Parent to Take Part in Child Upbringing. The German Experience

The creation of a system of effective legal guarantees of the right of a separately living parent to participate in raising a child has been for many years one of the important, complex tasks of the civil process in Germany in general and enforcement proceedings in particular. This problem is clearly expressed in Russia. The shortcomings of the procedural guarantees of this right are not only sharply outlined in practice, but also are in the focus of attention of the scientific community and attract the attention of human rights bodies of the Council of Europe. This article is devoted to the problems, methods of solution and the goals of the legal transformations of Germany in this area over the past decade.

The Dark Triad and the Detection of Parental Judicial Manipulators. Development of a Judicial Manipulation Scale

This research examines the relationship between dark triad and the use that some parents make of their children in order to attack the other parent after a couple break-up. We examined whether parents who are willing to lie about issues concerning the other parent and their children during a couple break-up process show higher levels of dark triad traits. Across two different samples of divorced participants (N = 1085 and N = 249), we measured dark triad traits and willingness to engage in judicial manipulation. The objective of this study was to build a judicial manipulation scale to measure willingness to lie and use children to harm the other parent that could be used in professional practice. Results show significant correlations for judicial manipulation and dark triad traits and confirm the psychometric properties of reliability and validity of a proposed scale. We found that dark triad traits are adequate indicators of judicial manipulation. We discuss the importance of the scale to help the judicial system to determine which parent is the most appropriate to be designated as the legal custodial parent.

Access and the non-custodial parent in the Republic of Ireland

Maintaining a relationship between parents and children following the breakdown of a marriage or relationship can be fraught with difficulties, particularly where acrimony exists between parents. This article explores the right of a non-custodial parent to have access to their child under Irish law and discusses the results of an interview-based study undertaken by the author using qualitative research methods. The interviewees in the study included practitioners as well as separated, divorced and unmarried fathers and mothers who outlined their views on access and the study found that the majority of non-custodial parents had some level of access to their child. The article further outlines the author’s experience of successfully applying to attend family court as a bona fide researcher and discusses some of the results of observations in those courts which reinforced the results of the interview-based study. Article 9(3) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) states that in the event of separation of parents, it is the right of the child to maintain personal relations and contact with both parents. Article 7(1) of the Convention further supports the right of a child to be cared for by his or her parents. These articles have proved useful for fathers’ rights campaigners who advocate that they should have more contact with their children post-separation. The Convention, however, while ratified by Ireland, has not yet been incorporated into Irish law. The article concludes by examining whether the incorporation of the Convention would advance the rights of Irish children to maintain a relationship with their parents, unless such a relationship would be contrary to the children’s best interests. In light of this, this article examines the proposed wording of the Constitutional Referendum on Children which was published in early 2010 and assesses what impact the passing of such a referendum would have on children’s rights in Ireland.

The Co-Parental Divorce: Removing the Children from the Jurisdiction

The preservation of parenting rights in contested custody or access proceedings arising on the dissolution of marriage necessitates a judicial reconciliation or balancing of the competing interests of the children, the parents and members of any extended or reconstituted families. In C. v. C., (unreported, March 7, 1984, Ont. S.C.) the mother was held to the terms of a prior separation agreement and was ordered not to remove the children from the Province of Ontario without the father's consent or a further order of the court. In reaching this decision, the trial judge placed heavy reliance on the evidence of a mediator who had unsuccessfully attempted to resolve the differences between the parents and who was of the opinion that the children would be at risk if the mother proceeded with her plans to remarry and establish a new home for herself and the children in England. C. v. C. raises diverse fundamental issues concerning the legal resolution of parenting disputes on marriage breakdown or divorce. The following issues are addressed in the commentary of this judgment (reproduced in annex): 1. What significance, if any, does, and should, a court give to the express terms of a separation agreement? 2. If a mediator is retained, should the mediation process, including the mediator's evaluation, be “open” (i.e. subject to disclosure to the court) or “closed” (i.e. confidential and excluded from any evidence adduced in subsequent judicial proceedings)? 3. How can the best interests of the children — the legal criterion to be applied in the adjudication of parenting disputes — be reconciled with the best interests of other concerned family members? 4. Could, and should, the court have addressed the possibility of some alternative form of parenting arrangements that might accomodate the competing interests of all the affected parties? 5. To what extent can the courts legally fetter the freedom of a custodial parent to establish a new home for (i) herself (or himself) and (ii) the children? Some of these issues are specifically addressed in the unreported reasons for judgment. Others are ignored. The purpose of this commentary is to canvass these issues and point to the need for a family-oriented approach to the resolution of parenting disputes, rather than an individual rights approach, such as has been traditionally adhered to by the courts in the adjudication of custody and access disputes.

Risk and Resilience Factors of Divorce and Young Children’s Emotional Well-Being in Greece: A Correlational Study

This study examined the relation between some of the major risk and protective factors of divorce and young children’s (4 to 7 years old) emotional well-being by adοpting an ecosystemic approach based on Bronfenbrenner’s theory and Kurdek’s model of divorce. Children’s well-being was assessed by a set of components such as attention, emotional and behavioural regulation, ability to take initiatives, positive relationships with others, parents’ sensitive response to child’s needs and cooperation with school. The study was conducted with a representative sample of 130 divorced parents from different regions in Greece. The questionnaire comprised of a cluster of scales and was completed by the custodial parent. Data supported that parent-child affective relationship, supportive co-parenting, parent’s life satisfaction and the availability of supportive social groups were positively correlated to children’s emotional well-being. On the other hand, pre-divorce intra-parental hostility, conflicts between the custodial parent and the child and child’s feeling of rejection were related to less favourable developmental outcomes according to parental perception. Τhe findings are discussed through the prism of the crucial role that divorce related factors play on the developmental process and their implications to divorce intervention programs.

Brittany

The fourth chapter chronicles how one participant, Brittany, rejected her presumed White biological identity and opted, instead, to pass for Black. Compelled to leave her Black peers in the core city and live with her father in the suburban community because her custodial parent, her mother, feared that her daughter is becoming Black, Brittany defied hegemonic normality and was consigned to a non privileged social space, not so much by her peers but by the adults at the school, as they describe her, “she talks like a Black girl.”