As of 2009, according to US HHS, this is 47,300 children out of 315,600 children subject to such custody arrangements. With 268,260 children or 85% of Alabama child with custody going to the mother.

Shared parenting is not a father's rights or a mother's rights issue although lets be clear the US Supreme Court has determined fit parents are presumed to act in their children's best interests.

Shared parenting is a child's right.

Alabama DHR and U.S. HHS stats show the current practice of limiting a child's time with either fit parent is harmful to children and society.

Children from one Parent homes account for:

1. 85% to 90% of contested Alabama Child custody cases physical custody of the Child goes to one Parent, typically the Mother. (Bureau of the U.S. Census; Taken in to Custody, at page 35, by Stephen Baskerville, PhD., March 2007.
2. 63% of youth suicides. (Source: U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services, Bureau of the Census).
3. 71% of pregnant teenagers. (Source: US Dept. of Health & Human Services).
4. 90% of all homeless and runaway Children. (Source: US Dept. of Health & Human Services).
5. 85% of all Children that exhibit behavioral disorders. (Source: Center for Disease Control).
6. 80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger. (Source: Criminal Justice & Behavior, Vol. 14, p. 403-26).
7. 71% of all high school dropouts. (Source: National Principals Association Report on the State of High Schools).
8. 75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers. (Source: Rainbows for all God`s Children).
9. 85% of all youths sitting in prisons. (Source: Fulton Co. Georgia jail populations, Texas Dept. of Corrections).

2010 ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES (DHR) FACTS

The following information is located on the website of the Alabama Department of Human Resources.[1]

1. Alabama currently has the 4th highest divorce rate in the country.
2. Only about 50 percent of our Children will spend their entire Childhood in an intact family.
3. In 2000, 29 percent of Alabama’s families with minor Children were headed by a single Parent compared to the national average of 27 percent.
4. Divorce and non-marital childbearing have become commonplace and have dramatically altered Children’s lives.
5. Nationally, 40 percent of Children whose fathers live outside the home have no contact with them. (Does not include data regarding number of Fathers alienated by the Mother.)
6. The other 60 percent had contact an average of 69 days during the year. (This figure supports current Alabama legal practice for standardized visitation orders issued by Alabama judges for less than 80 days per year.)
7. Children from father-absent homes are five times more likely to live in poverty, three times more likely to fail in school, two to three times more likely to develop emotional and behavioral problems, and three times more likely to commit suicide.
8. The chief predictor of crime in a neighborhood is the percentage of homes without fathers.
9. Up to 70 percent of adolescents charged with murder are from fatherless homes. (Source: U.S. Dept. of Justice).
10. Up to 70 percent of long-term prison inmates grew up in fatherless homes.  (Source: U.S. Dept. of Justice).

 

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[1] http://dhr.alabama.gov/page.asp?pageid=408.

Accessed on January 1, 2011.

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