Family Law 101: How Child Custody Law Has Evolved in America Over the Years
Just like the family system has changed over the years in America, the society itself has evolved. To cater to the changing perspectives, the law has also revolved. While the debate of whether society changed law or law changed society goes on forever, we’re only going to highlight some very important family laws that represent the new age of America. After all, keeping yourself updated with this information is only going to help you in case you need to file for a case under the family law.
If you believe that law cannot change itself, that’s not entirely true. Yes, it’s true that someone needs to highlight what went wrong in a legal case and how that decision of the court can be changed for future cases. It can take a lot of time. With that, you may require a lot of support from the public or someone powerful but it can happen, eventually (you do have the option of taking inspiration from Legally Blonde 2).
So, What Has Changed In Child Custody Law So Far?
One of the most evolutionary changes that occurred in family law is concerned with child custody. Going back in time when America as we know it did not exist, under the English Common law, a child or about everything else solely belonged to husbands or fathers. The legal system in the United States made it clear that in cases of separation or divorce, the mother was not entitled to any legal rights to get custody of the child.
The fathers could pretty much ban their ex-wives from even meeting the child! (Patriarchy alert!). Then came the very popular Feminist Movement in the history of America. This started in the 1800s and one of the biggest concerns of the movement was to change this restricted child custody law.
Gradually, people began to notice the change in this law and the movement stood strong until the legal system granted preferences to mothers over fathers. This was called the Tender Years Doctrine. It stated that a “child of tender years” would be best-taken care of by its nurturing mother.
However, as the years passed individuals also noticed that this new custody law was automatic. It completely ignored the child’s best interests. So, the Colorado courts adopted the “Best Interests Of The Child Standard”. That simply required the judges to decide who gets the custody but the decision was to be made after considering the child’s needs.
In the 1970s, the Colorado Legislature strongly enforced this law. Now custody was not given based on mere sexual preferences but through different and diverse elements. Father’s rights were also acknowledged by laws, attorneys and judges. The focus now was to achieve the best parenting for the child involved.
During this time, the field of Child Psychology also began to develop. With that came a lot of research; tons and tons of clinical studies were conducted based on Children of Divorce title. The data collected demonstrated the impact of instability in a household on children.
And so, stability and predictability were key to a child’s mental health and proper development. Along those lines, attachment theories also came into shape among other factors. Techniques to help parents develop good parenting skills also became popular.
By the 1980’s the Colorado Legislature decided to adopt Joint Custody Law. The children then could reside with each of the parents separately and the parents could make important decisions concerning the child together. Visiting hours also replaced the complete blocking of one parent to meet their children.
Recently in 2013, the Colorado Legislature focused on the fifty-fifty parenting time order and the joint decision-making order. However, in cases of domestic violence or child abuse, different rules applied. And the custody of the child involved can even go beyond biological parents.
Today there are various trained mediators, experts, parental responsibilities evaluators, child and family investigators, qualified decision makers, child’s legal representative, and so on to help the court with child custody cases. With help from experts, the court in able to make sure the child involved in custody battle is top priority.
You’re welcome for the history lesson!
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