Contact Disputes: Narrative Constructions of `Good' Parents

Kaganas, Felicity; Sclater, Shelley Day

doi:10.1023/b:fest.0000026077.03989.70

Cited by 61 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Despite insightful analyses of the moral terrain of post-separation parenting (see, for example, Boyd 2003; Kaganas and Day Sclater 2004;Sano et al 2008;Smart 1991;Smart and Neale 1999a;Wallbank 2001Wallbank , 2007 and critiques of the construct of the 'hostile custody mother' (see, for example, Boyd 2004Boyd , 2006Harrison 2008;Neale and Smart 1997;Neustein and Lesher 2005;Rhoades 2002;Sano et al 2008;Smart 1997;Smart and Neale 1999b;Wallbank 1998Wallbank , 2007, the image of resident mothers as hostile remains a powerful interpretive lens in shaping how family law professionals respond to mothers and fathers involved in custody disputes, as well as media representations of these disputes (see, for example , Elizabeth 2010;Dyer 2007;Tolmie et al 2009). For this reason, it is vital that feminist scholars continue to investigate the circumstances in which resident mothers are defined as hostile and alienating.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Resident Mothers and the Moral Dilemmas they Face During Custody Disputes

2010

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Recent scholarship has critiqued the tendency for separated mothers in custody disputes to be defined as hostile and alienating. Through the presentation of three case studies, drawn from an interview-based study with 21 women, we show how such pejorative constructions only arise when the conflicting gendered moral accountabilities of contemporary motherhood are overlooked. We found that mothers tend to believe that contact with non-resident fathers is generally in a child's best interests. However, as a result of balancing complex moral obligations for the care of their children, they may raise questions about particular kinds of arrangements for contact with particular fathers. We argue, therefore, that family law practice will lead to better outcomes for children when professionals listen to the history of, and reasons for, mothers' positions. To enable family law professionals to undertake this task, we offer an alternative interpretive framework for making sense of women's stories. Should family law professionals make use of this framework, it is likely that they will understand that the positions mothers adopt are often the outcome of the difficult moral dilemmas they encounter in caring for their children, and that the reductive rubric of the 'hostile mother' needs to be treated with scepticism.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Resident Mothers and the Moral Dilemmas they Face During Custody Disputes

2010

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“…Ainsi, sous le couvert du meilleur intérêt de l'enfant et de son bien-être, les belligérants peuvent en fait se disputer pour des questions de pension, de résidence ou d'autres récriminations d'ordre personnel et conjugal sans les adresser directement (Smart et May, 2004). La primauté et l'indétermination de ce principe fait en sorte que le discours officiel et dominant sur le bien-être de l'enfant est intériorisé et réinterprété et que ses prémisses permettent de justifier plusieurs prises de position divergentes, tant chez les parents qui se disputent la garde de leur enfant que chez les différents acteurs du système de justice familiale et les groupes qui défendent les droits des pères et des mères (Fogarty et Augoustinos, 2008;Kaganas et Day Sclater, 2004;Leduc, 2000).…”

Section: Enjeux Sociauxunclassified

Le meilleur intérêt de l’enfant dont la garde est contestée : enjeux, contexte et pratiques

Godbout

Parent

Saint‐Jacques

2014

efg

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Cette recension des écrits théoriques, scientifiques et professionnels s’intéresse à trois questions en lien avec la détermination du meilleur intérêt de l’enfant dont la garde est contestée à la suite d’une séparation : 1) Quels sont les enjeux entourant le principe de meilleur intérêt de l’enfant? 2) Quelles sont les caractéristiques des situations qui se retrouvent à être expertisées ou débattues en cour? 3) Comment ce principe est-il évalué concrètement; quel poids est accordé à différents critères examinés par les juges et les experts? Pour les professionnels qui doivent se prononcer sur le meilleur intérêt de l’enfant, la réponse à ces questions met en lumière différents défis inhérents au fait d’être guidés par un critère souple, mais offrant peu de balises claires dans un contexte souvent hautement conflictuel et complexe. L’examen des écrits sur les pratiques des experts et des juges met au jour une tension entre deux courants : l’importance du parent de référence, particulièrement pour les très jeunes enfants et une tendance vers la coparentalité et un partage équilibré de la garde entre les parents. À partir de ces constats, des pistes pour les recherches futures sont proposées.This summary of theoretical, scientific, and professional writings is focused on three questions related to determining the best interests of the child whose custody is disputed following a separation: (1) What are the stakes when it comes down to the best interests of the child? (2) What are the characteristics of the situations that end up being analyzed or debated in the courtroom? (3) How is this principle assessed from a practical point of view; what weight is given to the various criteria examined by the judges and the specialists? As concerns the professionals whose task it is to come to a decision as to the best interests of the child, the answers to these questions highlight a range of challenges that underlie their being regulated by a flexible yardstick that provides few clear guidelines within a context itself often extremely controversial and complex. An examination of these writings concerning the practices of judges and specialists reveals two conflicting currents of thought: the importance of the referral parent, more especially when the children are very young, and the trend towards co-parenting and an equal sharing of custody between the parents. It is on the basis of these conclusions that suggestions for future research are made

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“…For example, 15 Re M. at 853-854 (emphasis added). Kaganas and Day Sclater (2004) argue that because contact is so strongly regarded as crucial for children's welfare, mothers who resist contact and are constructed as ''implacably hostile'' to it are regarded as putting their own desires above the needs of their children. They are therefore positioned as ''bad'' mothers because of their perceived irresponsibility and refusal to see what is good for their children (Kaganas & Day Sclater, 2004, pp.…”

Section: The Emerging Case Lawmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…through the Human Rights Act 1998 (H.R.A.) has meant that rights based discourse is frequently centralised in debates on family law and policy (see further Kaganas & Day Sclater, 2004), although as Herring (2004) notes, the European Court of Human Rights has not yet developed clear guidelines on how to balance the rights and interests of parents and children. In respect of Article 8 of the Convention which guarantees a right to private and family life, it is the case that children's interests must be considered in cases involving disputes between parties.…”

Section: Fathers' Responsibilities and Rightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In respect of Article 8 of the Convention which guarantees a right to private and family life, it is the case that children's interests must be considered in cases involving disputes between parties. 40 This has led Kaganas and Day Sclater (2004) to argue that U.K. courts have interpreted European jurisprudence in such a way as to leave the welfare principle and its application unchanged.…”

Section: Fathers' Responsibilities and Rightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Getting tough on mothers: regulating contact and residence

Wallbank

2007

Feminist Legal Stud

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This article critically examines the relationship between shared residence and contact after the breakdown of the parents' relationship. It examines the background to the government's main emphasis on methods of monitoring, facilitating and enforcing contact as the most efficacious method of proceeding in respect of the law reform agenda, focussing particularly on the potential impact of punitive enforcement measures on primary carers, usually mothers. The article sets the discussion within its wider cultural context in respect of fathers' rights claims that family law currently favours mothers, and shows how recent legal developments constitute part of a package to manage postseparation relationships between parent and children. It also examines some of the emerging case law to show how the judiciary is using shared residence orders and transfer of residence to deal with protracted and very difficult contact disputes, and in ways which were not anticipated when shared residence orders were first introduced. Drawing on feminist legal commentaries the argument will be made that the use of transfer of residence and shared residence orders in these disputes is extremely worrying, especially in light of the growing body of empirical research which heralds caution. The article will conclude by suggesting that far from favouring mothers, both the law reforms and the case law effectively construct mothers as integral to the problem of contact. They are treated as the site of and solution to the 'problem' of contact, and the means of dealing with the problem is by increasingly punitive measures which are inappropriate in a family law context. At the same time non-residential fathers who do not uphold contact escape legal sanctions.

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Contact Disputes: Narrative Constructions of `Good' Parents

Cited by 61 publications

References 12 publications

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Resident Mothers and the Moral Dilemmas they Face During Custody Disputes

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Resident Mothers and the Moral Dilemmas they Face During Custody Disputes

Le meilleur intérêt de l’enfant dont la garde est contestée : enjeux, contexte et pratiques

Getting tough on mothers: regulating contact and residence

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