by Tony Jones

Created on: July 15, 2008

Equal custody or equal access? Being the product of a divorced family I can readily attest that few newly divorced fathers are ready for the level of commitment young children demand. For that reason I cringe whenever I hear the term "equal custody" being used in a liberal sense. If both parents (who for some reason can't live together) are compelled to share equal custody together; then what are the rights of the child?

Children are frequently the "walking wounded" of divorce because the majority of current legislation focuses primarily on the rights of the parents and not the child. So what are the rights of the child? I would like to draw your attention to Declaration of the Rights of the Child as proclaimed by UN General Assembly resolution 1386(XIV) of 20 November 1959. I won't bore you with the details of the entire declaration, but ask you to verify these excerpts:

thatthe child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth,
that mankind owes to the child the best it has to give,

that he (the child) may have a happy childhood and enjoy for his own good and for the good of society the rights and freedoms herein set forth, and calls upon parents, upon men and women as individuals, and upon voluntary organizations, local authorities and national Governments to recognize these rights and strive for their observance by legislative and other measures progressively taken in accordance with the following principles:

That in Principle 2: The child shall enjoy special protection, and shall be given opportunities and facilities, by law and by other means, to enable him to develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and socially in a healthy and normal manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity. In the enactment of laws for this purpose, the best interests of the child shall be the paramount consideration.

That in Principle 4: The child shall enjoy the benefits of social security. He shall be entitled to grow and develop in health; to this end, special care and protection shall be provided both to him and to his mother, including adequate pre-natal and post-natal care. The child shall have the right to adequate nutrition, housing, recreation and medical services.
That in Principle 6: The child, for the full and harmonious development of his personality, needs love and understanding. He shall, wherever possible, grow up in the care and under the responsibility

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