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Interesting opinions

The No-Blame Game: Why No-Fault divorces is our most dangerous social experiment
Stephen Baskerville,

While lamenting the high divorce rate is conventional piety among family advocates, most have refused to challenge the divorce laws. The standard rationalization is that to control divorce we must first change the culture. But no one suggests that changing the culture is a prerequisite for preventing, say, abortion. While cultural forces certainly contribute, the divorce epidemic has proceeded directly from a legal system which permits and even encourages it.

No-fault divorce laws were introduced in the United States and other industrialized countries during the 1970s and are being expanded into other regions of the world today. "No-fault" is a misnomer (taken from car insurance), for the new laws did not stop at removing the requirement that grounds be cited for a divorce. But they did create unilateral and involuntary divorce, so that one spouse may end a marriage without any agreement or fault by the other. Moreover, the spouse who divorces or otherwise abrogates the marriage contract incurs no liability for the costs or consequences, creating a unique and unprecedented legal anomaly. "In all other areas of contract law those who break a contract are expected to compensate their partner," writes Robert Whelan of London's Institute of Economic Affairs, "but under a system of 'no fault' divorce, this essential element of contract law is abrogated."

In fact, the legal implications go farther, since the courts actively assist the violator. Attorney Steven Varnis points out that "the law generally supports the spouse seeking the divorce, even if that spouse was the wrongdoer." "No-fault" did not really remove fault, therefore; it simply allowed judges to redefine it however they pleased. ....... the whole article


To bring empirical evidence to bear on this debate, my colleagues and I have been analyzing several large, nationally representative surveys that contain information on children's family structure growing up as well as their educational attainment and social adjustment in young adulthood. In this chapter, I summarize the major findings from this work as it pertains to the following questions:

Are children raised apart from their biological fathers worse off than children raised by both parents? How large are the differences and which groups of children are most affected?
What factors account for the lower achievement of children in one-parent families? What factors are associated with resilience? And finally,
Do differences in children's wellbeing predate family disruption or are they are a consequence of father absence?



Father Absence and the Welfare of Children
Sara McLanahan

......To bring empirical evidence to bear on this debate, my colleagues and I have been analyzing several large, nationally representative surveys that contain information on children's family structure growing up as well as their educational attainment and social adjustment in young adulthood. In this chapter, I summarize the major findings from this work as it pertains to the following questions:

• Are children raised apart from their biological fathers worse off than children raised by both parents? How large are the differences and which groups of children are most affected?
• What factors account for the lower achievement of children in one-parent families? What factors are associated with resilience? And finally,
• Do differences in children's wellbeing predate family disruption or are they are a consequence of father absence?  .....

......To summarize briefly, we find that children who grow up apart from their biological fathers do less well, on average, than children who grow up with both natural parents. They are less likely to finish high school and attend college, less likely to find and keep a steady job, and more likely to become teen mothers. The differences are not huge. Indeed, most children who grow up with a single parent do quite well. Nor are they large enough to support the claim that father absence is the major cause of our country's most serious social problems. However, the differences between children in one- and two-parent families are not so small as to be inconsequential, and there is fairly good evidence that father absence per se is responsible for at least some of them.2

Why would this be so? Why would the loss of a biological father reduce a child’s chances of success? We argue that when fathers live apart from their child, they are less likely to share their incomes with the child, and, consequently, mothers and children usually experience a substantial decline in their standard of living when the father moves out. We estimate that as much as half of the disadvantage associated with father absence is due to the economic insecurity and instability.
the whole article



Parental Alienation Awareness Organization Points to the Behaviors of Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger
The recent news coverage of Alec Baldwin's phone message to his daughter clearly makes the point about why


MIAMI, FL, April 26, 2007 - Mr. Baldwin has claimed his behavior was in reaction to Parental Alienation and the stress it puts on a parent. Being continuously belittled and undermined by the other parent can and does put great strains on a parent. This can result in the type of knee-jerk reaction Mr. Baldwin displayed toward his daughter.
Consequently, the alienation often perpetuates, and the relationship between the child and a previously loving parent can be ruptured permanently.

It has been reported that Kim Basinger has also done much "button pushing" in this highly publicized, high-conflict custody battle, with her own mother, criticizing her attempts to interfere in the relationship between Mr. Baldwin and his daughter.

"While there is absolutely no excuse for Mr. Baldwin's behavior toward his daughter, both parents share responsibility in putting their own agendas of anger and revenge before the needs of the child," states Sarvy Emo, PAAO co-founder.

source: http://www.paawareness.org