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Too Many Children Rarely See Their Fathers ? and Then Only Briefly

By Janet Langjahr

A sad statistic admitted in Australia.

Ten percent of children whose parents have split up never see their fathers a year after the breakup.

And another.

Twenty-five percent of the children that do see their fathers have only daytime visits, without overnights.

These Australian fathers generally have the least contact with their babies and toddlers under two years of age – and their older teens.

It is not clear that most Australian fathers understand their rights under the child custody agreements or child visitation orders applicable to them, let alone the law that should guide the entered child custody agreements and/or child visitation orders.

It is also unclear whether these fathers’ limited contact with their children is in compliance with child timesharing orders and timesharing agreements or the result of the other parents’ arbitrary withholding of their visitation or interference with their timesharing.

It should be noted that families in which allegations of domestic violence have been made may be overrepresented in the population to which these sad statistics apply.

Researchers attribute the limited contact to significant conflict in the family, as well as distance.

At the same time, Australian researchers also conclude that young children do better residing in one primary residence with one primary caregiver, and having only limited visitation with the other parent.

Nonetheless, the current government of Australia is reportedly working on improving fathers’ access to and contact with their children.

Read more in this Sydney Morning Herald article: Many children still do not see their fathers.

Full post as published by Florida Divorce - Child Custody - Domestic Abuse Law on February 18, 2011 (boomark / email).