Equal rights for child custody fathers

AFTER reading “There is never a happy divorce” (The Star, April 3), I agree with the points raised by Ng Shu Tsung.

Divorce cases are getting very common these days with parents of young children simply not bothered about the children’s welfare.

There is no give-and-take policy.

When things cannot be settled amicably between couples, the court decides on the custody of the child.

In all cases, the mothers get the opportunity to raise the children while the fathers are given only limited access to see and spend time with them.

That’s the way it always has been and things haven’t changed.

This might be due to the fact that traditionally, men work and the women stay at home to raise the children.

Although that is less so these days, there is still a bias towards women in child custody cases.

In such cases, the children are left in the care of domestic help while the mother works and at times for long hours.

These factors are often ignored by the judges when deciding on child custody cases.

The worst and unkind clause that is being practised till today is that the custody of a child, who is less than seven years old, will be granted to the mother and the father be allowed limited access.

The question of the court granting joint-custody for both the parents is out of the question until the child attains the age of seven.

It is wrong to blame the judge for this because they are following the law.

Everyone will agree that the best option to take care of the child when a couple separates is by “joint custody” so that the child will have a complete life without lacking anything.

If both parents are capable of taking good care of the child and providing the best, then both parents should be given equal rights to take care of the child.

But whenever such a scenario arises, a form of gender discrimination will take place with the father being the victim.

What is the reasoning for granting child custody solely to the mother till the age of seven? Our legal system fails to realise that this type of arrangement will only make things worse.

The primary factor to be considered in a child custody case should be the welfare and future of the child.

But the loopholes in our legal system allow for the full custody of the child to the mother, even if the mother is incapable of providing the best for the child.

During the seven years, the child will be “poisoned” with exaggerated nasty things about the father.

The child will naturally grow up with bad impressions of the father and it will be extremely difficult for the father to change all this, given the limited visitation rights.

Another word for “visitation” in the dictionary is “punishment” and that is the correct term to be used to describe the actual pain of the father.

I’m sure there are a lot of fathers out there in a similar situation.

As a father of a one-and-a-half- year-old son, my rights to provide all the basic and essential needs of my son are forbidden by the law.

Here, I’m referring to love, affection, protection, emotional support, sense of belonging, sharing knowledge, education and being a positive role model for my son.

Can my son attain all these with the money that I give as child maintenance?

PVSHIVAASZ Bukit Mertajam