Eagle Forum

Phyllis Schlafly
Phyllis Schlafly

Eagle Forum Book Reviews
Book recommendations
A Child's Right To A Father And Mother
by Phyllis SchlaflyJuly 25, 2007

  Printer Friendly version

Debates about same-sex marriage and gay adoptions always include the argument that a child has the right to both a father and a mother. If that is true, why is a child usually deprived of that right when heterosexual couples divorce?

It would seem that maintaining the father's love and authority would be crucial when a child's life is turned upside down by divorce. Yet, family courts routinely deprive children of one of their parents, usually the father, restricting his time with his child to about six days a month.


We hear many pious comments about the need for fathers to be involved in the upbringing of their children. This need should be even more important in times of emotional stress (such as divorce) than the need for fathers to play ball with their kids in an intact family.


When primary or sole custody is given to the mother, the father becomes merely a visitor in the child's life (that's why it's called "visitation"), whose only value is to mail a paycheck and be an occasional babysitter. The father loses his parental authority and fades out of his own child's life.





This shift began in the 1970s after the spread of unilateral divorce was followed by the creation of a giant federal child-support-enforcement bureaucracy. The notion that this mix of government officials and government-appointed advisers can dictate what is the best interest of the child rather than a child's own parents is how the liberals and feminists are fulfilling their goal that "it takes a village (i.e., the government) to raise a child."

An example of the bias against fathers can be seen in the Responsible Fatherhood Act of 2007 (S. 1626) recently introduced by Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Evan Bayh (D-IN). The bill mentions "child support" 65 times, but not once does it mention parenting time, custody, visitation, or access denial.

Dr. Baskerville's new book called Taken into Custody to be published in August by Cumberland House, provides a copiously documented description of society's injustices to children who have been deprived of their fathers and of fathers who have been deprived of their children. This book is a tremendous and much-needed report on how family courts and government policies are harming children.

It is a breakthrough for shared parenting that a non-custodial father, Robert Pedersen, was recently named Runner-Up in the nationwide Best Life Magazine's "Hero Dad" Contest. Pedersen is only allowed 6 to 8 days a month with his two children from a previous marriage.

Pedersen has devised a novel way to demonstrate the importance of fathers to children of divorced parents. He is leading an "Equal Parenting Bike Ride" starting in Lansing, Michigan, on August 11 and culminating with a rally in Washington, DC on August 18.

Further reading:


Read previous Phyllis Schlafly columns