Divorce Rate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Divorce Rate - Essay Example If the custody battle occurred when the child is your research shows that by adolescence children begin to fanaticize that their parents get back together, often in a fairytale way and they all live happily ever after. The earlier abuse is minimized or not thought about. By adolescence these children show the same symptoms of divorce as other children experience, difficulty making decisions, difficulty in relationships, more susceptible to depression and higher degree of acting out including the use of alcohol and drugs (Johnson, 2004) From the parents perspective custody battles ensue for many reasons but most involve the inability to problem solve how to fulfill the child’s parenting needs from two locations. Every child, male or female, need two parents but to provide that parents must work together. One theory says one of the reasons parents can not work together is because they are taking out their anger toward the spouse in the custody battle. Another theory is that one parent feels they can not trust the other. This often occurs when on parent has been unfaithful in the marriage or has been neglectful in the marriage (Booth 2001). In any case a custody battle generally involved a failed attempt at mediation. It then moves into the legal realm which is likely to involve a custody evaluation of both parents either by a social worker, a guardian adlitum or a psychologist of all three. When everyone’s reports are finished, which can take months and involves multiple interviews with the children, family members and the parents and financial information is usually also included, the case is brought before a judge. The judge then hears from all the professionals involved, both parents and the children if they are old enough. The average contested hearing is from two to three days. At the present time, joint custody or 50/50 custody is the most common ruling( Amato & Sobolewski, 2001 & 2005). All of this has