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Fatherlessness is one of the greatest social problems in Canada
Interesting Quote from Amy Alkon, The Advice Goddess, syndicated
columnist in over 100 US and Canadian publications:
-While the law allows women to turn casual sex into cash flow
sex, Penelope Leach, in her book
Children First, poses an essential question: “Why is it socially
reprehensible for a man to leave a baby fatherless, but courageous,
even admirable, for a woman to have a baby whom she knows will be
so?”
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fathers commit a tiny minority of child abuse and about half the domestic
violence.
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The vast majority of child physical and sexual abuse is committed in
single-parent homes, home usually where the father is not present. "Contrary to public perception,
research shows that the most likely physical abuser of a young child will be that childs mother, not a
male in the household." [Patrick Fagan and Dorothy Hanks, The Child Abuse Crisis: The Disintegration of
Marriage, Family, and the American Community (Washington, DC: Heritage Foundation "Backgrounder," 3
June 1997), p. 16.]
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The father is the parent most likely to be the protector of children. "The
presence of the father . . . placed the child at lesser risk for child sexual abuse," according to David
L. Rowland, Laurie S. Zabin, and Mark Emerson, in a study of low-income families. "The protective effect
from the father's presence in most households was sufficiently strong to offset the risk incurred by the
few paternal perpetrators." ["Household Risk and Child Sexual Abuse in a Low Income, Urban Sample of
Women," Adolescent and Family Health, vol. 1, no. 1 (Winter 2000), pp. 29-39.]
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A British study found children are up to 33 times more likely to be abused
when a live-in boyfriend or stepfather is present than in an intact family. [Robert Whelan, Broken
Homes and Battered Children: A Study of the Relationship between Child Abuse and Family Type (London:
Family Education Trust, 1993), p. 29.]
Cornell University professor Urie Bronfenbrenner
One of the most eminent developmental psychologists of our time wrote:
"Controlling for factors such as low income, children growing up in [father absent] households are at
a greater risk for experiencing a variety of behavioural and educational problems, including extremes of
hyperactivity and withdrawal; lack of attentiveness in the classroom; difficulty in deferring gratification;
impaired academic achievement; school misbehaviour; absenteeism; dropping out; involvement in socially
alienated peer groups, and the so-called teenage syndrome of behaviours that tend to hang
togethersmoking, drinking, early and frequent sexual experience, and in the more extreme cases, drugs,
suicide, vandalism, violence, and criminal acts."
Paternal Abandonment
Research, mainly in the Unites States, published in refereed journals by respected scholars like Sanford
Braver, Margaret Brinig, Douglas Allen, Ilene Wolcott, Jody Hughes, Judith Wallerstein, and Sandra
Blakeslee, and corroborated by the professional experience of authors as ideologically diverse as Constance
Ahrons, Shere Hite, David Chambers, Robert Seidenberg, and Rosalind Miles, indicates that paternal
abandonment cannot account for widespread fatherlessness.
Father-deprivation
is a more reliable predictor of criminal activity than
race, environment or poverty.
Father-deprived
children are:
- 72% of all teenage murderers.
- 60% of rapists.
- 70% of kids incarcerated.
- twice as likely to quit school.
- 11 times more likely to be violent.
- 3 of 4 teen suicides.
- 80% of the adolescents in psychiatric
hospitals.
- 90% of runaways
Sources: National Fatherhood Initiative (U.S.A.), US
Bureau of Census (U.S.A.), FBI (U.S.A.)
"Father-deprivation is a serious form of child abuse
that is institutionalized and entrenched within our
legal system. Powerful sexist people have a vested
interest in diminishing the role of men, especially
their role as fathers. Research proves that children
thrive with the active and meaningful participation of
both biological parents, and is true for post-divorce
families." (Dick Feeman, Joseph Maiello, Mike Jebbet,
"Child Custody or Child Abuse", Victoria Times-Colonist,
Jan 8, 1998).
The
Importance of Father Love: History and Contemporary Evidence
Published in Review of General Psychology
The American Psychological Association, Inc
This review contains such topics as:
- Father Love Is as Important as Mother Love
- Father Love Predicts Specific Outcomes Better Than Mother Love
- Father Love Is the Sole Significant Predictor of Specific Outcomes
- Father Love Moderates the Influence of Mother Love
- Paternal Versus Maternal Parenting May Be Associated With Different Outcomes in Sons and Daughters
Click Here for a downloadable pdf version 
Fatherlove link click
here
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Fatherlessness Statistics |
Children who grew up fatherless are:
- Eight times more likely to go to prison.
- Five times more likely to commit suicide.
- 20 times more likely to have behavioural problems.
- 20 times more likely to become rapists.
- 32 times more likely to become runaways.
- 10 times more likely to abuse chemical substances.
- Nine times more likely to drop out of high school.
- One-tenth as likely to get A's in school.
The Institute for the Study of Civil Society ( Civitas
) U.K.
Stunning statistics on the problems of fatherless homes
View / Download
Experiments in Living: The Fatherless Family
Delinquent Behavior, Future
Divorce or Nonmarital Childbearing, and Externalizing Behavior Among Offspring: A 14-Year Prospective Study
by Robert E. Emery, Mary Waldron and Katherine M. Kitzmann.
It is from the American Psychological Association, Inc.,
The Journal of Family Psychology, December 1999 Vol. 13, No. 4, 568-579
This is another study showing that children are significantly disadvantaged in never-married sole
maternal custody or divorced sole-maternal custody than in intact families. In fact, the study does indicate
that the damage of divorce is about the same level as never having the children involved with their father.
Certainly, raising children outside of the influence of both parents is clearly detrimental to the
child.
Custody and Couvade: The Importance of Paternal Bonding In the Law of Family Relations by Geoffrey
P. Miller, from New York University School of Law, Public Law and Legal Theory Working Paper Series, Working
Paper 5, 1999. The paper discusses the perceptions and reality of the involvement of fathers during
pregnancy, childbirth, and early childhood.
View / Download the
publication in pdf format
Judicial passivism turning fathers into
deadbeats
Judges refuse to enforce Divorce Act section
that embraces equal access to child
The Edmonton Journal,
Grant A. Brown, Freelance, Saturday, June 17, 2006When mothers lose in court, they are not
made to pay court costs -- again on the
premise that this would only take money away
from the children. But payment of penalties
and costs is merely a transfer between
parents, and only prejudice supports the
proposition that fathers would be less
generous toward their children than mothers,
given the time and financial ability to do
so.
Contrast the endless lame excuses
judges use not to impose remedies for access
denial with their attitude toward making and
enforcing child-support orders.
More ..
How "Daddy" affects your job: psychologist
Reuters, U.S.A., By Ellen Wulfhorst Fri May 12, 2006
NEW YORK, U.S.A. (Reuters) - Successes or failures of employees
in the workplace can be traced to what kind of father they had, a
psychologist argues in a new book.
In "The Father Factor," Stephan Poulter lists five styles of fathers
-- super-achieving, time bomb, passive, absent and
compassionate/mentor -- who have powerful influences on the careers
of their sons and daughters.
More ..
Put kids first, judge tells parents
His family court sees conflicts daily
Complex reasons why dads absent
The Toronto Star, ANDREA GORDON, FAMILY ISSUES REPORTER, Jan. 16, 2006.
Children pay a big price when they grow up without fathers, but it's unfair to blame it all on men who
walk away, says a North York family court judge.
Harvey Brownstone says he welcomes recent public discussion about the risks faced by kids who don't have a
father in their lives.
But Brownstone, who has seen thousands of support, custody and access cases during his 11 years on the
bench, says there are many misperceptions about why it's happening. And most often it's because parents
can't get along or want nothing to do with each other.
"You would be shocked how many men say, `I didn't know I had a child until I got these court papers,'" he
says in an interview at his office in the provincial court building.
And, when they find out, almost all of them take steps to become involved in their child's life, even if
it's years after the child was born, Brownstone says.
More ..
Boys harmed by fathers' absence
By CHLOE SALTAU, The Age (Melbourne, Australia), Tuesday April 3, 2001
Boys are disadvantaged without the emotional presence of a man in their lives, according to a social
researcher who is interviewing men about relationships with their fathers.
Patra Antonis, a psychologist, counsellor and Swinburne University masters student, says men should "be
around the herd" and bond with their sons in an inherently male, "rough-and-tumble" way. Her theory is
likely to reignite the debate about the impact of absent fathers on the development of their sons.
Ms Antonis is undertaking the research at a time when she says increases in the divorce rate and the rise of
out-of-wedlock childbearing have changed families and the role of parents within them.
More ..
Research proves that fatherhood really matters
Tallahassee Democrat, KNIGHT RIDDER TRIBUNE, By Roland C. Warren, April 20, 2002
Dad's 1m fight for his child
Coventry Evening Telegraph, City News, U.K. by Liz Hazelton, July 27, 2004
Landmark Ruling Grants Father
Custody of Children
By Tom Whitehead, PA News (U.K.), July 3, 2004
Children who have
contact with their fathers following a family break-up suffer fewer behavioural problems, academics said
today.
The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
May 26, 2004, Manchester Online, U.K.
Fathers 'have key role with
children' after families split
The Telegraph, London, U.K., By Sarah Womack, Social Affairs Correspondent, May 26, 2004
New Canadian Study of Fathers
Study aims to salvage image of fatherhood. First of its kind in Canada: 'Fathers are often treated as
buffoons in our public images'
Letter to
the editor:
Generations lost to 'fatherlessness'
David A. Giles, March 11, 2004, The StarPhoenix, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Fathers are not out
of fashion
Don't believe the hype - we are facing a crisis of female fertility, not fatherhood, says Jack O'Sullivan
The Guardian U.K., January 28, 2004
Fathers no longer required:
Fertility chief signals an IVF revolution
The Independent, UK, By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor, January 21, 2004
Suzi Leather: 'It's the
relationship's quality that counts, not people's sex'
Interview: Head of fertility watchdog says writing fathers out of the rules will extend the chance of
treatment to all women
The Independent, UK, By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor, January 21, 2004
Research proves that fatherhood really matters
Tallahassee Democrat, KNIGHT RIDDER TRIBUNE, By Roland C. Warren, April 20, 2002
Transforming the Culture of
Fatherlessness
by Rev. Robert A. Sirico, Acton President, May 23, 2001, Acton Commentary
The Truth About
Deadbeat Dads
Reader's Digest Canada, April, 2001, by Gladys Pollack
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