Fathers gain greater rights in child custody battles - Text 2

Fathers gain greater rights in child custody battles

A The Czech Republic has a high divorce rate. Even though property nearly always becomes an issue, the biggest problem is often the custody of children. In most cases in the Czech Republic mothers are given full custody, only in 7 or 8 percent it is the father. But now it seems that a decision of the Czech Constitutional Court could bring a crucial change. Mr. Slavíček complained about a decision by a lower court which had limited his contact with his children only to every second weekend, but the Constitutional Court ruled that courts should be less reluctant when deciding about shared custody between divorced parents.

B Many Czech fathers feel discriminated by court decisions, and many of them have appealed to higher instances, even to European Court of Justice in Strasbourg. But Luboš Patera from the Justice for Children Association says it is not the legislation but deeply rooted stereotypes that determine the courts’ decisions. “The legislation is good. Regarding the care of children laws do not discriminate either of the two parents. Unfortunately the problem is in the wrong application of the law, and in the attitude of judges. Most judges in these cases are women.”

C The most common practice is that mothers get full custody of their children, and the fathers have the right to see them once every two weeks. But many fathers are unsatisfied with this situation. They would like shared custody to be applied more often. One father, who wished to remain anonymous, achieved this goal, but it took him six long years. “Initially it was very wild separation. My son was abducted by my wife and I was looking for him for a couple of months. I was advised by my lawyer not only to find my son, but also to abduct him to get some attention from the court. That’s what I did, but after two months my wife had my son back again. That’s the first period of a very tenuous and terrible legal battle that went on for six years, in which eventually shared custody was achieved.”

D Michaela Marksová Tominová from the Social Affairs Ministry says that the current situation is rooted in the widely held prejudice that a mother will always take better care of a child than a father. “I discussed this matter with some social workers and judges, and I was told that if the judge is not able to decide, they somehow feel that the mother is always responsible. The truth is that it’s just a stereotype.”

E Although in many areas of social life it is women who are discriminated, when it comes to custody of children in divorced families, it is men who are complaining about unequal treatment. Attitudes towards the role of the genders are changing rapidly in the Czech Republic, and with them, long-held stereotypes are also gradually being undermined.

abducted – unesený

crucial change – klíčová změna

reluctant – neochotný

1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.

1 Problem is in the wrong application of the law

2 Stereotypical decisions of judges

3 The situation is slowly changing

4 Mr. Slavíček succeed by the Czech Constitutional Court

5 Patera’s son was abducted

2) Read the article and answer the questions.

       1 What is the article about?

2 What was Mr. Slavíček’s success?

3 What is Luboš Patera’s problem?

4 What does Michaela Marksová Tominová think?

5 How does the situation change?

3) Explain the following words.

1 high divorce rate

2 property

3 custody

4 separation

5 stereotype

4) Answer the following questions.

What is a marriage? What is a divorce? What are types of child custody? What do they mean?

Adjusted to:

http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/fathers-gain-greater-rights-in-child-custody-battles