32. Disrupted relationships: Adult daughters and father absence

Disrupted relationships:Adult daughters and father absence: 2005

LEAH EAST                                    DEBRA JACKSON                         LOUISE O’BRIEN

Doctoral Candidate                          Professorial Fellow

Penrith South NSW, Australia

CLICK HERE:   This small scale research is an example of how women are affected when fathers, for whatever reason, are not present as they grow up and the lasting effects through to adulthood. 

Many Australian children live in families that experience trauma because of the breakdown of the parental relationship.This is known to place children and young people at risk of negative sequelae and life adversity.

This study focussed on the lived experience and so a phenomenological approach was selected.

This paper explores the perceptions and experiences of a group of adult daughters about their relationships with their absent fathers from the time of the separation (which occurred in their childhoods/adolescence) to

the present time.

The women in this study expressed the desire to have a close loving relationship with their (missing) fathers. 

31. Fabricius et al, (2011) PARENTING TIME, PARENT CONFLICT, PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIPS, AND CHILDREN’S PHYSICAL HEALTH

Click HERE: William V. Fabricius, Priscila Diaz, Sanford L. Braver, of  Arizona State University, produce this latest study dispelling some of the commonly held misconceptions about contact to fathers post divorce:

Paper no 31 destroys some commonly held court myths, i.e:

1. Is the quantity or the quality of parenting time more important for children’s outcomes?, 
2. “Should parenting time be limited in high-conflict families?”

Responses from the Experts:

1a  “We argue in the present chapter that these long-standing conclusions should be re-examined in the light of new evidence. We present new data on the correlation between quantity of parenting time and quality of parent-child relationships in families with and without severe parent conflict, and we discuss new findings in the health literature on family relationships and children’s long-term, stress-related physical health. We conclude that these new findings indicate that the lingering situation of minimal parenting time with fathers for great numbers of children is a serious public health issue.”

1b  “Is quantity of time or quality of time more important for child outcomes?” or “Is parenting time or the parent-child relationship more important?” are straw man comparisons that need to be retired from the debate. •

2  “…….evidence suggests that father-child relationships can be strengthened through increased parenting time in high conflict families as well as in low conflict families and that strengthened parent-child relationships can shield children from some of the effects of parent conflict transitions…”

On the effect of parenting time on the quality of parent – child relationships, the experts say:

“Our model indicates that the quantity of parenting time should impact the quantity of father-child interaction, which in turn should impact the quality (i.e., security) of father-child relationship; parenting time should not impact the quality of father-child interaction (i.e., the fathers’ responsiveness). The vertical line divides the PT scale at 13 – 15 days per “month” (i.e., 28 days). This represents 50% PT with each parent. The father-child relationship improved with each increment of PT from 0% time with father to 50% (r = .51, N = 871, p < .001). From 50% to 100% PT with father the father-child relationship did not show statistically significant change (r = .15, N = 152); At 50% PT it appears that each relationship achieves its highest level of emotional security.

(Which, roughly translated, means the father - child relationship peaks at 50%. The same goes for the mother’s relationship with the child. In other words, any parent who hogs the children for more than 50% is not doing it for any benefit to their own child relationship.  Substantially less contact than 50% contact (sadly, the norm awarded in family courts) disaffects the parent child relationship, with the following results:

• serious long-term health risks to children
• poor levels of emotional security
• chronic activation of the stress response system, which can damage organs and systems
• accumulating risk for mental health disorders, major chronic diseases, and early mortality” (Psychological Bulletin)
• (causing) children (to be) doubly vulnerable to long-term damage to their physical health.

A straightforward warning from the Experts:

“When we consider that almost 40% of the college students from divorced families that we recently surveyed had had minimal parenting time with their fathers, and ……. see the destroyed relationships those who had minimal parenting time now have as young adults with their fathers, and when we link that with the lifetime health outcomes of young adults who had reported similarly distant relationships with their parents, we should be alarmed at the extent of the personal suffering -- and at the scope of the public health problem – that they represent."

30. Wolchik et al, (1985); Maternal Verses Joint Custody: Children’s Post-separation experiences and adjustment

Click HERE: Sharlene Wolchik, Sandford Braver and Irwin Sandler, of Arizona State University, produce a longitudinal study research paper about Joint Custody - from the child’s perspective.

Quotes:

1.        "The major findings of the present study are as follows. First, both boys and girls in joint custody arrangements reported experiencing a greater number of self defined, as well as consensually defined, positive experiences within the past three months than did children in maternal custody arrangements."

2.         “….children in joint custody reported higher levels of self esteem and had more weekly contact with the parent with whom they did not primarily reside than did children in maternal custody…..”

3.               "The present findings then, question the validity of the position taken by critics of joint custody that this arrangement will have a negative impact on the children’s adjustment."

All of the papers on this site, produced over the past twenty five years, show the measured benefits of shared parenting to children. This paper, no. 30, shows that children themselves actually prefer joint custody arrangements.

When seen in the context of paper no.6, which raises concerns about the voices of children being properly heard and interpreted in court proceedings concerning them (as is their right under UN and EU Directive) and research paper no 23, showing that fathers are routinely ignored in the same proceedings, it brings to question whether the oft-used phrase of ‘deciding in the child’s interest’ can hold validity when family court judges refuse applications for Joint Custody or Shared Residence.

The author, in his conclusion, makes the following candid recommendation to policymakers:

4.                      “We need to develop a sound data base that will allow custody decisions to be based on empirical findings rather than on theoretical fancy.”

29. Finley / Schwartz, 2010; Divided World of the Child: Divorce and Long-Term Psychosocial Adjustment

Click HERE: Gordon E. Finley (Florida International University) and Seth J. Schwartz, (University of Miami), report on a child’s ‘Divided World’ – either after divorce, or in intact families where the one parent’s style is diametrically different to the other.

Abstract Quote:

“Across family forms, the total amount of nurturance or involvement received (from both parents) was positively associated with:

·         self -esteem,

·         purpose in life,

·         life satisfaction,

·         friendship quality and satisfaction, and

·         academic performance;

and negatively related to:

• distress,
• romantic relationship problems, and
• troubled ruminations about parents.” (Brackets and bullet points added)

Quotes:

1.         “Divorced families were associated with a greater “divided world” effect than intact families, suggesting that divorce is associated  with compromised quality of life in emerging adulthood, as well as with troubled ruminations about one’s father.

2.         “All of these findings were consistent across gender and ethnicity – suggesting  that custody and access decisions need to be responsive to the feelings and outcomes of children  of divorce, regardless of their gender or ethnic background.

However, in divorced families where the father generally is cast  into a nonresident role, divorce itself may structurally create the divided world effect. It is therefore essential for family courts to create post-divorce custody arrangements that maximize nurturance and involvement from both parents in order to reduce the “divided world” effect.”

3.                  “Among the psychosocial functioning indices, self-esteem, life satisfaction, and psychological distress appear to be among those most affected both by “total” parenting and by mother-father differences in parenting. These three psychosocial functioning indices, taken together, have been labeled as “subjective well-being” (Sheldon et al., 2004) and are often used to index quality of life in young people. Post-divorce arrangements that marginalize the father from the child’s life and decrease that parent’s nurturance and involvement (cf. Fabricius & Hall, 2000; Finley & Schwartz, 2006; 2007) thus appear to have far-reaching impacts on young people’s quality of life.”

4.                  “In turn, these effects may be associated with subsequent difficulties in career and in relationships (Côté, 2002). Troubled ruminations about the father, which also appear to result from lowered parental nurturance and involvement and from the “divided world” effect, have also been found to reduce well-being and to increase distress in emerging adults (Schwartz et al).”

Implications for family court practices

5.                  “The present findings thus suggest that divorce decrees that include joint  physical custody may represent one way to reduce the distress associated with the “divided world” and to enhance quality of life for children of divorce (cf. Warshak, 2007).”

6.                  “The present  results also suggest that, the more the child’s post-divorce life resembles that of an intact family, the better adjusted children of divorce are likely to be as they enter adulthood.”

28. Martin Halla, 2011; The Effect of Joint Custody on Family Outcomes

Click HERE: In order to identify the causal effect of joint custody on different family outcomes Martin Halla exploits the variation occurring from the different timing of reforms across the US states. 

Halla finds that Joint Custody produces the following outcomes:

• an increase in marriage rates,
• an increase in overall fertility (including a shift from non-marital to marital fertility),
• an increase in divorce rates for older couples.
• female labor market participation decreased.
• a decrease in suicide rates (especially male)
• a decrease in domestic violence in treated states.
• an increase in men's incentive to marry. 

Halla concludes: 

"the results might be interesting for policy-makers, who typically worry about the decline in marriage rates, and intend to encourage marriage, marital fertility and to prevent divorce."

27. Meyer Elkin, 1987; Joint Custody: Affirming that parents and families are forever

Click HERE: Elkin states that Joint Custody is the child’s right upon separation, contradicting many who claim such arrangements ‘place the rights of parents (or fathers) above the rights of children.'

Elkin writes here for the (American) National Association of Social Workers, and supports joint custody arrangements in 1987; two years before the judicial interpretation of the 1989 Children Act translated to a general suppression of shared residence arrangements in the UK.

Elkin presents an enlightened 1987 social worker viewpoint which sharply contrasts in comparison to the research paper number 23 below: ‘Manufacturing Ghost Fathers……’, a paper highlighting social work practice and policy in the UK which, twenty years later, acts to estrange fathers.

Elkin lists the ‘fallacious assumptions underlying sole custody determinations’:

• There is a mother hood instinct that makes women better and more qualified than men to rear children
• The nuclear family is best suited to rear children
• A parent who has a paramour is not  fit parent
• If parents are unable to agree during marriage, they will agree after divorce
• Divorce is bad for children
• Younger children are more affected than older children by divorce
• Children need a mother more than a father
• Fathers stop seeing their because these fathers are irresponsible and do not care
• A child reared by a homosexual will become a homosexual; so a homosexual should be denied custody
• People do not change
• Divorced persons are incapable of developing a decent relationship with each other
• Fathers request joint custody as part of a strategy to obtain sole custody eventually
• If parents really cared about their children, they would not get a divorce
• Judges and attorneys know what is best for children
• Mental health professionals, as well as judges and attorneys, can predict human behaviour
• There is no evidence that joint custody works
• Sole custody gives the child continuity and stability
• Two homes do not provide continuity and stability
• Joint custody makes it easier for the children to be used as pawns
• Joint custody forces parents to see each other
• Joint custody means a 50/50 arrangement with children
• The adversarial system is the best approach to determining custody

26. Mike White, 2010; Disadvantaged young fathers-to-be

Click HERE: Mike White runs a course for young fathers-to-be and is a director of a community-based organisation working with young parents in Wiltshire, UK

mikewhite.bromham@btinternet.com

He writes about the successes of his course and similar initiatives to involve young fathers with the pregnancies and rearing of their children.

His advices should bear some consideration at a time when social, legal and UK Government practices do not encourage or require non resident fathers to engage with their children in any way but to contribute financially.

Quotes from Mike White’s paper:

“Attachment theories, in focusing on the mother, tend to underemphasize the role of the father in caregiving.”

“studies have shown that children with active fathers do show greater general sociability and ease with strangers (Frascarolo, 2004), improved cognitive functioning (Nugent,

1991) and fewer behavioural problems (Aldous et al., 1998).”

Mike White’s enlightened conclusion:

"Perhaps it is too much to hope that a national pilot project for young dads-tobe is funded and properly evaluated to determine its value for young parents, their children and our society as a whole. Such a project would need to run for several years, but those of us who are parents know that parenthood lasts for the rest of our lives. Perhaps, as a nation, we should be developing a longer-term view of the needs of a particularly disadvantaged group of young people and the ways in which we might meet them. It may not be too fanciful to suggest that this intervention might be one way of impacting on the cycle of disadvantage.

In many cases these young people are the children of parents who have been part of that cycle. By supporting them over a significant period of time, the possibility exists of improving their own life chances, and might also enable their children to break out of that cycle. However, we would need to take a generational view of such an intervention. Of course, the chances of that happening when politicians cannot usually see beyond the next election might present a particular challenge, but perhaps this is the time to encourage them to adopt such a view."

25. Goncy/ van Dulmen; 2010; FATHERS DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE: PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT AND ADOLESCENT ALCOHOL USE

Click HERE: Goncy and van Dulman, 

Department of Psychology, Kent State University:

1.   “Empirical findings demonstrate that several parental factors are related to alcohol use, alcohol related problems and co-occurring risky behaviors.

2.  Greater quantities and qualities of father involvement and support reduce adolescent problem behavior, such as polydrug use, delinquency, and violent behavior

3.  Across age, gender, and ethnicities, higher levels of parental supervision are associated with less adolescent alcohol use

4.  Additionally, communication between fathers and adolescents about sexuality and sexual experiences may reduce risky sexual behavior. 

24. Dr Heather Geddes, 2008: Reflections on the role and significance of fathers in relation to emotional development and learning

Click HERE: Dr Heather Geddes is an Educational Psychotherapist and has worked in a variety of settings in education and in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Her particular interest is the social, emotional and behaviour difficulties that inhibit learning.

Quotes from the paper:

1. “There is grave concern at the moment about the underachievement in school of boys and girls who are struggling with issues of social inclusion and participation and whose behaviour can be a concern and a fear both within schools and in the broader community. At the extremes of the behaviour continuum are the alarming images of gangs of young men dominating housing estates and resorting to violence, knives and guns. Such images are tragic. It is all too easy to see such gangs as marauding vandals provoking our need to control and punish, but harder, perhaps, to appreciate the fear and helplessness behind such behaviours  their unbearable sense of being ‘lost and bewildered children’ (Kassman, Guardian, 23 May 2007). The factors affecting this extreme vulnerability may also reflect something about fathers.

The risk factors associated with conduct disorder behaviours are more or less identified, conflict in the family, family breakdown, single parent families, low income and social housing, inconsistent discipline, hostile and rejecting relationships, abuse, parental criminality, mental illness, drug misuse and unresolved death and losses. The NSPCC Report (2001) links ‘maltreatment’ in childhood to the risk of poor educational achievement, behaviour difficulties, bullying and school exclusions. Such adverse experiences, when of a traumatising nature, are also associated with later mental health (van der Kolk, 1989). They are the frequent experiences associated with vulnerability in children and can affect behaviour and educational outcomes. Such experiences are also reflected in the numbers of pupils disaffected and absent from school or leaving education with little development of literacy and numeracy skills. Educational outcomes and access to opportunity are clearly linked to history and experience, families and relationships.”

The importance of fathers:

2. “Trowell (2003, p. 17) suggests that ‘the reduction in the significance of fathers and their exclusion in reality from our thinking, the lack of recognition of their significance, may be a factor in the current apparent increase in mental distress and the more severe mental and psychological problems’.”

3. “There is considerable research and comment concerning the role and importance of fathers which indicates that ‘positive’ father involvement is associated with more desirable outcomes for children and young people and in education and achievement in particular. The National Child Development Study (NCDS, 2001) gathered data concerning a large sample of children (17,000) since their birth in 1953. A summary of the findings relating to father involvement in childhood, whether present within the family or not, showed it to be associated with:

. good parentchild relationships in adolescence

. satisfactory relationships in adult life

. fewer behavioural difficulties in adolescence

. less likelihood, particularly for boys, of engagement in delinquent acts involving the police

. greater academic motivation

. in separated families, significant protection from psychological problems in adolescence and   against later mental health problems.

4. Closeness to fathers has been associated with educational and occupational mobility in adult sons and daughters (Amato, 1993). Fagan and Inglesias (1999) found that father involvement and nurturance are positively associated with children’s intellectual development, social competence, internal locus of control and empathy with others. Similarly, Pleck (2004) reported higher self-esteem, a greater internal locus of control and capacity to believe they can control what is happening in their lives. Flouri and Buchanon (2004) found that children close to their fathers were psychologically well adjusted and do better at school.

23. Leslie Brown et al; 2008, Manufacturing ghost fathers: the paradox of father presence and absence in child welfare

Click HERE: A group of professors: Leslie Brown, Marilyn Callahan, Susan Strega, Christopher Walmsley and Lena Dominelli produce this paper showing how the practices of social services and workers marginalise all fathers, despite the obvious benefits that good fathering provides children. This policy has helped to create a generation of 'ghost' fathers and grandparents. 

Although this paper identifies the problem in 2008, the effective discrimination against fathers by UK social service and court welfare departments seems to continue, with organisations such as CAFCASS given no effective training in their three principal areas of concern when engaging with non resident parents (1) how much contact? (2) under what circumstances? (3) how soon?

Quotes from this paper:

1. “The results of our research (see Note 1) along with the work of others (Stanley 1997; Scourfield 2001), suggest that ghost fathers are consistently manufactured in the child welfare system through a series of interlocking policies and practices.”

2. “Fathers exist in the lives of women and children involved with child welfare authorities, and yet, they are rarely seen by child welfare. This invisibility exists whether or not fathers are deemed as risks or as assets to their families. In failing to work with fathers, child welfare ignores potential risks and assets for both mothers and children. The idea that it is ‘cool’ to be a dad has not yet penetrated child welfare thinking.

There is another paradox. Within child welfare, fathers are not just discounted, they are often not seen at all even when they are present.”

3. “In previous studies conducted by the authors focusing on the experience of families in child welfare (Rutman et al. 2002; Callahan et al. 2004, 2005; Strega 2006), the active

presence of fathers was evident within the family but unacknowledged by child welfare. Fathers exist in the lives of women and children in child welfare. Yet, fathers are rarely seen by child welfare, even when present. “

4. “I am not a ghost. . . . I did go back to school. I did have a girlfriend. . . . We did become engaged. . . . We had a child. . . . I haven’t seen her for two months.”

(Frank, a father in child welfare)

5. “…….new managerialism has a strong focus on the market rather than on society or community, a concern with efficiency rather than effectiveness, and a practice where money and contracts define relationships rather than care and concern, thus, subordinating professional knowledge to managerial knowledge.The emphasis on standardization and efficiency inveighs against father inclusion…..

6. “Under these circumstances, finding and contacting fathers and developing relationships can be viewed as inefficient.”

7. “For a myriad of reasons, mothers sometimes want to keep fathers invisible to the system and control the story about fathering that is told to workers.”

8. “…….‘the man’s identity is constructed by professionals, sometimes in collaboration with family members, without any direct reference to the man himself’ (p. 15). Social workers manage mothers, and in turn, mothers manage fathers…….”

9. “Some ghost fathers are ostracized by the children as they take on the views of fathers as dangerous and non-contributing. Other ghost fathers seem to be romanticized through their absence, as the unknown father becomes the hero by whom the children wait to be rescued.”

10. “Families involved with child welfare are not always poor, but are disproportionately drawn from those who live in poverty. Poverty brings with it a host of policies and programmes that increase the chances that mothers will deny the existence of fathers in their households. Welfare provision and social housing frequently make it difficult for women to identify fathers in their households for fear of jeopardizing their and their children’s benefits, or eligibility for housing. As one father noted when talking about his girlfriend filling out her form for income assistance, ‘She put zero, zero, zero’ when asked about income and his presence, even though he was living in the home and bringing in wages.”

22. Rita Chawla-Duggan, 2006; Exploring the role of father development workers in supporting early years learning

Click HERE: Rita Chawla-Duggan, of the Department of Education,University of Bath, UK, writes this qualitative paper on father development workers (FDW), a program run by SureStrart in the UK, to guide and encourage young fathers to become more involved with their children. 

The program was set up in recognition of children having greater life chances when closely involved with their fathers. Rita Duggan's first paragraph in the introduction reads as follows:

"There exists a wealth of evidence from the USA (Yogman et al., 1995; Parke, 1996; Lamb, 1997; Marsiglio et al., 2000), and more recently in England (DfES, 2004; Goldman, 2004) that demonstrates that fathers have an important role to play in children’s development. Positive father involvement in their children’s learning is associated with better educational, social and emotional outcomes for children (DfES, 2004; Goldman, 2004). Children with involved, loving fathers do better in school (Nord et al., 1997), have healthy self-esteem (Radin, 1994), exhibit empathy, pro-social behaviour with peers (Snarey, 1993; Mosley & Thompson, 1995), and avoid high-risk behaviours compared to children who have uninvolved fathers (Horn & Sylvester, 2002). In terms of parent–child relationships, a loving and nurturing father is as important for social and academic success as having a loving and nurturing mother (Rohner & Veneziano, 2001). Evidence suggests that fathers who set appropriate limits and allowed healthy independence tended to rear sons with high academic achievement (Feldman & Wentzel, 1990). Additionally, even when fathers have limited schooling, their involvement in children’s school lives has a powerful impact on educational attainment (Gadsden & Ray, 2003). With regard to boys, it has been maintained that their masculinity, and the differing ways it is taken up and reproduced in their lives, impacts upon their dispositions towards education and schooling and this can be traced into the early years (Connolly, 2004). Clearly then, fathers have an important role to play in the process of developing their sons’ identities as learners from an early age...."

21. Kim Jones, Ph.D, 2004: Assessing Psychological Separation and Academic Performance in Nonresident-Father and Resident-Father Adolescent Boys

Click HERE: At the time of writing, Kim Jones was an Assistant Professor in School of Social Work, University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

This article initially reviews the psychoanalytic and empirical literature on the facilitative role that fathers play in children’s development and functioning.

Empirical evidence is presented comparing the academic performance of 25 nonresident-father boys and 25 resident-father boys between the ages of 14 and 17.

The study also assesses whether the degree of psychological separation from mother and father, quality of mother–son/ father–son relationship, and frequency of contact with father, had a mediating effect on academic performance. 

The study found that boys living in nonresident-father homes were under-functioning when compared to boys living in father-resident homes.

In regard to the perceived quality of mother–son/father–son relationship, results for nonresident-father boys showed a positive correlation between the quality of relationship with father and academic performance.

Similarly, when assessing the group as a whole, a positive correlation was found between the quality of father–son relationship and academic performance.

Finally, for nonresident-father boys, a positive correlation was found between frequency of father–son contact and academic performance.

20. JOHN W. SANTROCK, 1972; RELATION OF TYPE AND ONSET OF FATHER ABSENCE TO COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Click HERE: John Santock's 40 year old paper; studying the school performances of 343 mixed age and sex children. 


He tests and finds support for the following hypotheses:

1. 
Father-absent children score lower than father-present children.
2. 
When father absence is due to divorce, desertion, or separation,earlier absence, at 0-2, 3-5, or 0-5     years of the child's age, is more detrimental than later father absence, at 6—9, 10—11, or 6—11 years.
3. 
However, when father absence due to divorce, desertion, or separation occurs at 12-13 years of the child's age, he shows more disruption on sixth-grade IQ and achievement tests than when divorce, desertion, or separation occurs at 10-11 years.
4. 
Children whose fathers have died show more disruption when the father died at 6-9, 10-11, or 6-11 years of the child's age than at 0-2, 3-5, or 0-5 years of age.
5. 
Boys are influenced more negatively than girls by father absence.
6. 
However, when the father departs in the 3-5 period of the girl's life, she is more influenced negatively than the boy is when the father leaves in the 3-5 period of his life.
7. 
Originally father-absent children who now have a stepfather score
higher than father-absent children with no stepfather.



He offers this timely but hitherto ignored advice:


"Attention should be given to the possibility of parental cooperation in the breakdown of the family when divorce or separation is the reason for the absence."

19. sonja.hastings: Top 10 Myths about Shared Parenting (Child Custody laws in Australia)

Click HERE: Sonja Hastings cogently rebuts the most popular arguments used by officials in public to prevent shared parenting.


the Top Ten Myths about Shared Parenting are:

(1)      Children are forced into equal time arrangements by Australia’s Shared Parenting  legislation.

(2)      The risk of Child abuse increases for a child in a Shared Parenting arrangement.

(3)      The 2006 Shared Parenting laws have resulted in greater risks of family violence for mothers and children.

(4)      Shared Parenting reduces Child Support commitments, which is why many fathers seek Shared Parenting arrangements.

(5)     Children in Shared Parenting arrangements live a Ping-Pong lifestyle.

(6)     The 2006 Shared Parenting Family Law amendments are a “one-size fits all” arrangement.

(7)     The Family Law Pendulum has swung too far in the other direction, and now the system  favours fathers.

(8)     Australia’s Shared Parenting laws disadvantage Single Mothers

(9)     Australia’s Shared Parenting laws focus on Parental Rights and not on the best interests of the Child

(10)   The Australian public does not support Shared Parenting

18. Bruce J. Ellis et al, 2003: Does Father Absence Place Daughters at Special Risk for Early Sexual Activity and Teenage Pregnancy?

 Click HERE: A 13 year longitudinal study of 742 children in US and New Zealand by the Society for Research in Child Development, Inc. finds that:

"After controlling for covariates, there was stronger and more consistent evidence of effects of father absence on early sexual activity and teenage pregnancy...."

 and:

"father absence was an overriding risk factor for early sexual activity and adolescent pregnancy. Conversely, father presence was a major protective factor against early sexual outcomes, even if other risk factors were present. These findings may support social policies that encourage fathers to form and remain in families with their children."

17. William V. Fabricius, 2011; The Bad News about Divorce and Children Is Worse than We Thought, but the Good News Is Better than We Thought

Click HERE: William Fabricius, Department of Psychology Arizona State University, says:

"the effect of divorce on the father child relationship depends heavily on the amount of parenting time the child has with the father. At equal parenting time, the quality of the relationship was at its highest; at the lowest levels of parenting time with father (0% to 15%) the quality of the relationship was at its worst. The bad news is that a large percentage – almost 40% -- of the students had these minimal levels of parenting time with their fathers when they were growing up, and had damaged relationships with their fathers as young adults.

..... dysfunctional (damaged) family relationships “lead to consequent accumulating risk for mental health disorders, major chronic diseases, and early mortality” (for the child). 

"..........we can see that the bad news looks worse than we thought it was."

"the social processes of parent conflict and poor parent-child relationships cause constant stress in the home which chronically activates and thereby dysregulates children’s biological stress responses, leading to deterioration of cardiovascular system functioning and hypertension (e.g., Ewart, 1991) and coronary heart disease (e.g., Woodall & Matthews, 1989), and possibly hindering children’s acquisition of emotional competence and self-regulatory skills."

Superficial research suggests that father-child contact 'should not happen in "conflicted" families.' The above findings of this research suggest that although parental conflict damages children, to terminate contact to safe fathers massively compounds the damage. It is NOT shared parenting that damages children, but conflict. More emphasis needs to focus on programs to reduce conflict, as opposed to laws and processes which estrange fathers. 

16. David and Collette Summers, 2006; Unadulterated Arrogance: Autopsy of the Narcissistic Parental Alienator

Click HERE: Two Florida doctors, writing in The American Journal of Family Therapy, clinically analyse and report on Parental Alienators, with the following Abstract guidance:

"Parental Alienation stems from intolerance, denigration, prejudice, and deep-seated dysfunction. In like manner, narcissistic abuse is caused by malignant self love and unadulterated arrogance. The deception of the Narcissistic Parental Alienator (NPA) is a cruel act. It often has many players on different stages that corrode the soul. The NPA is one who systematically deceives and turns their own children into little abuser proxies. Narcissists lie, manipulate, and speak in mixed messages."

16. STADELMANN, PH.D et al - Parental Separation and Children’s Behavioral/ Emotional Problems: The Impact of Parental Representations and Family Conflict

Click HERE: Four professors and a medical doctor from renown Swiss and German psychological institutions produce longitudinal research to show the effect of parental separation on kindergarden children. They find that all children from separated families are negatively affected, with a significant increase in relevant symptoms shown in children where one or both parents denigrate the other. 

15. Fatherhood Institute research summary, 2010: Fathers’ impact on their children’s learning and achievement

Click HERE: More than 90 research papers are used in this report by The Fatherhood Institute to show that children's learning, achievement, school behaviour, brain development, literacy and educational influence are all related to close involvement with their fathers. 

14. LAWRIE MOLONEY PHD, 2008; Violence allegations in parenting disputes: Reflections on court-based decision making before and after the 2006 Australian family law reforms

Click HERE: This paper explores the competing views of how domestic violence allegations should be handled. 

A feminist view: (Bailey 2007: 27)

"....DVIRC [Domestic Violence and Incest Resource Centre] strongly supports the need for different paths through the legal system for families where violence is alleged ... Behrens (2006: 233) argues that we need separate pathways for cases involving what she calls 'controlling domestic violence'. A separate pathway should be one where the 'pro contact ethos has no place ... and where women's and children's safety is given the highest priority'."

The Professor's rational view: 

The conflation of alleged violence and controlling (usually male) violence presumably reflects Bailey's desire to protect the most vulnerable, including many of those who seek the services of organisations such as DVIRC. Despite its good intentions, however, I want to argue that statements such as this are more likely to inhibit those who wish to provide more nuanced information to a court. They are more likely to add confusion to the field and, in the long run, are less likely to serve women and children well.

A 2003:5 random investigation of 300 family law cases in two Australian states found that:

• Allegations of violence and/or child abuse were made in the majority of cases.

• The majority of the allegations were of a serious nature.

• Most allegations:

- had little evidentiary material in support.

- were coupled with high rates of non-response.

• Both the allegations and responses (when responses were provided) generally had                low levels of detail.

• Very few files contained independent forensic evidence or any independently derived child focused information.

Additional info:

(1) a 1999 NSW magistrate's survey found that 90 per cent of male and female magistrates believed false AVOs were used as a tactic in family law cases "to deprive partner’s access to children" with a number maintaining that many women were improperly advised by their solicitors to apply for orders.

(2) Ann Lewis in her 2000 M.A. thesis submitted to the University of Western Sydney wrote---“From several sources I heard that there were a number of practitioners, known to lawyers, who could always be relied upon to supply whatever evidence was needed to support a woman's claims of violence against her or of sexual molestation of her children. The Court rarely imposes penalties on a woman who makes false allegations, even when she does this repeatedly. Each time a sexual allegation against children is made, the man is usually denied access until such time as the Court resolves the matter.” 

(3) Anecdotal reports internationally from criminal defence lawyers refer to interference in child contact as one of the most common triggers in domestic assault cases.