CHILD CUSTODY

Child Custody: Case Study

Child Custody: Case Study

Case Summary

In this case, the mother, Sarah, had the sole custody of Jeremy for three years. The father, Tony, did not contact Jeremy or Sarah during the three years, however, he responsibly sent the monthly child support. After Tony returned with his new family, he started to establish a father-son relationship with Jeremy. Jeremy visited his father and his father's new family most weekends and adjusted well to this new environment. After the promotion of Sarah, she has to work longer hours and some time has to leave Jeremy home alone. One time she was called into work for an emergency in the middle of the night and had to bring Jeremy with her. Tony wanted her to quit her job to be with Jeremy. She refused and Tony sued for sole custody of Jeremy, citing a more stable home life for Jeremy because Maggie was a stay-at-home, and could care for him better than Sarah.

Best Interests of the Child Standard

In order to describe the practical relationship between the parent and the child, the term “child custody” is used. This refers to the right that the parents have to take care of the child and to make decisions for the child (Hasday, 2004). The child custody is given to a parent as per the interest of the child standards. The court should look in the best interest of the child through the factors mentioned below.

Parental capacity to meet the needs of the child,

Emotional relationship between the child and each parent

The emotional relationship between the child and family members matters

Besides this, stability, of the child, physical and mental health of the child and the parent who wants to get custody, the actual availability of each parent is important too. Apart from this, lifestyles of ...