Parents’ Rights to Visitation

Approximately 50% of first marriages end in divorce. The divorce rate is higher in the United States than in any other nation, with 4.95 people getting a divorce per every 1,000. What do these numbers mean to America’s children? It means that approximately 1 to 1.5 million children are affected by divorce each year, which amounts to roughly 40% of all children in the United States.

Today, one in four children are living in a sole-parent family or a step/blended family in which case one natural parent is absent, which is almost always, the child’s natural father. One can reference our American culture, or our society, either way, since the second and third wave of the women’s feminism movement, the proportion of unwed mothers bearing children has increases six-fold since the 1960’s. The blended families, two-parent households and amount of women raising their children without a man has changed the way American children are being raised and affected by an absent father. These effects have far reaching consequences, which can extend into adulthood.

The Detrimental Effects of Absent Parents

Having both parents involved in a child’s life is essential to the child’s mental wellbeing, providing the parents are not physically, emotionally or sexually abusive in any form. For this reason, the family courts across the nation support joint custody and equal visitation rights in most cases. Children from broken homes who are raised without a father are more likely to get involved in alcohol and drugs. They are more inclined to commit crimes, engage in sexual activity, and have poor grades. The sons of single parents are far more prone to commit crimes as young adults and they are more likely to commit suicide as adults. The daughters of single parent households are more likely to become pregnant and have abortions as opposed to girls who live in two-parent households, especially where the natural father is present.

The enforcement of child visitation rights is extremely important to the welfare of a child. Every child has a right to have both parents play an active role in their life. If your parental visitation rights are being threatened or compromised in any way, contact a Los Angeles Visitation lawyer from Claery & Green, LLP for help.

Contact a Los Angeles visitation attorney from our firm for a free initial consultation.