University:
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Course:
PSY 421 | Forensic Social and Experimental Psychology
Academic year:

2021
Views:

318

Pages:

2
Author:

kundgetanufv

Since the early 18th century child custody has been seen in a different light within the court system of the United States. In the beginning of the 1600’s to the 1800’s child custody laws favored fathers, this was due to women have few rights and children been see as property. Children were seen as assets in the household that were priced depending on the amount of labor produced by said child. It is because of this, fathers tended to rob children of their childhood by putting them to work at young ages. As times changed and the mind of people with it, the laws involving child custody were changed and the regulations around them have been enhanced. This all came to a change within the late 19th century. Women had gained more freedoms and “power” thus shifting the protection of children and the status of mothers. States adopted the “Tender Years” doctrine into their laws. This document basically showed that women and mothers are more capable of parenting and nursing a child. “Family courts based custody decisions on the assumption that it was in the child’s best interest to be in the custody of the mother, and mothers typically were awarded custody as long as they were deemed fit.” (Lightner, 2018) Divorce had become more common by the 1980’s with. During this time men were fighting for custody within the courts, this prompted the courts to start awarding shared responsibility, full and joint custody to the fathers. Many states had started to say that the “Tender Years” were unconstitutional because it was awarding custody to the child based on gender. As a result, laws today are being structured to where both parents regardless of gender have a right to request custody of the child. The Best Interest of Child Standards (BICS) is one of the current developments in child custody cases in the United States. Decisions are based and established with the focus on what is in the child’s best interests such as mental stability, emotional growth, contentment, and safety. Basically, everything is done for the sake of the child. Some of the things considered are the love, affection, and other emotional bonds between the child and the parties involved in the lawsuit. The moral fitness of the parties involved, the mental and physical health are also considered when custody of a child is involved (Mashak, 2019). One example of how the laws have changed during custody lawsuits, is that in some states if the child is 14 years or older, the are allowed to state which parent they want to live with, granted the final decision is left to the judge, but the child’s opinion is still heavily weighed. Parenting time is something that is currently being adopted by the states for the benefit of the children. “In 2013, a new law went into effect in Arizona requiring courts to grant custody that maximized the amount of time both parents could spend with the child.” (Lightner, 2018).