Contact Issues in Family Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Contact Issues in Family Law - Essay Example The increasing incidence of divorce has created custody battles and problems of access, which have proved to be detrimental to children. Studies conducted by Flouri and Buchanan have revealed that rancor among divorced parents and lack of contact with their father can lead to depression in children, especially girls and in the case of males, the absence of a father can also lead to criminal behavior. According to Matthew Stannard, one of the causes for violent criminal behavior in fatherless boys may be a â€Å"mother’s hostility† towards the father which deprives the child of contact with him, or because the father doesn’t take fatherhood seriously. Bob Geldorf, one of the most vocal activists for the rights of fathers, pointed out that fundamental changes are required in the law and the process in family courts, which tend to favor mothers in the battle for custody of children. The family Court system is based upon adversarial rules of litigation, and acrimonious divorce proceedings can often place the parents as bitter opponents in the Courts and cause child custody hearing to become scenes of power struggles. The family Courts have been ineffective in enforcing court ordered access to fathers, since they are reluctant to separate the children from their mothers and there is a lack of availability of middle ranking punishments and incentives to ensure cooperation from mothers – even when punitive fines and prison terms exist for breaching of contact orders, they may not be imposed in view of the danger of adverse consequential effect upon the child. Family cases take a long time to be processed through the court system, as a result of which fathers are denied access to their children for extended periods.