Female Divorce Lawyer Stands for Fatherhood

Fatherlessness is the modern plague of perdition.

Readership: All;

“Fathers are the forgotten contributors to child development.”

Psychologist Michael Lamb

Introduction

When I first read the title of this video on YouTube, I expected to hear this woman (Marilyn York) dish out the typical feminist boilerplate.  But to my astonishment, she actually had quite a bit of good information about the causes of fatherlessness, and the negative consequences thereof. Sometimes looks are deceiving!

In a few previous posts, I’ve predicted that fatherlessness will reach epidemic proportions for Gen Zs.  According to Ms. York, it already has.

We’ve heard much of this before, but it’s nice to hear it from a woman for a change.

What Representing Men in Divorce Taught Me About Fatherhood | Marilyn York | TEDx University of Nevada

Notes (Positives)

Fathers make their childrens’ lives secure, fun, and challenging.

Fathers have a unique intuition about their children’s emotional needs and personality.  We have the idea that fathers are clueless about the details of their childrens’ lives, but in fact, they know things about their children that their mother does not know.

Children with involved father figures have stronger cognitive and motor skills, elevated physical and mental health, become better problem solvers, and are more confident, curious, and empathetic.

Notes (Negatives)

2/5 of all children in America are growing up without fathers.

According to the 2016 census, 17,000,000 children are growing up without fathers.  Other estimates put this figure at 30,000,000!

Young people originating from fatherless homes account for…

• 90% of all homeless and runaway kids.
• 71% of all high school dropouts.
• 63% of youth suicides.

A lot of homeless girls between the ages of 18-22 come from fatherless homes.

Causes of Fatherlessness

Between 1960 and 2016, the percentage of children growing up with just mothers nearly tripled, from 8% to 23%.

The main contributors to fatherless homes are divorce and out of wedlock births.

Divorce

Every 13 seconds, someone in America gets divorced, accounting for 2,500,000 divorces a year.

The Tender Years Doctrine (in place since circa 1873-1881), argues that mothers make better single parents than fathers.  This doctrine guided American jurisprudence for more than a century.  But now psychologists are finding that children who grow up with only a father fare better in life than those who grow up with only a mother.

Paternity laws desperately need reform to protect the 40% of children born out of wedlock each year.

Out of Wedlock Births

More than 40%, or 1.5 million babies are born out of wedlock each year.

It’s perfectly legal in all 50 states for a woman to conceal her pregnancy, leave the fathers name off the birth certificate, and never tell him he has a child – ever!  How is this not kidnapping?

Just as horrible, a woman can knowingly list the wrong father on the child’s birth certificate, deceive him, and a short while later, in many states, the wrong man becomes that child’s legal father forever! He’s obligated to a child that isn’t his, and that child just lost their real father with little to no recourse.

This is a betrayal of the worst kind, and the law not only allows it, it creates the opportunity!”

Related

• Dalrock: Updated U.S. Custody and Child Support Data (2009) (2012 June 22)
• Dalrock: Custody Demographics (2012 December 11)