Risky Business Essay - Dogun Hong

   In the lives of adolescents, they go through various journeys as they face diverse obstacles that may interfere with their success. When dealing with these obstacles, the decisions made by these adolescents are consequential, either rewarding or a just another bitter reminiscence. Considering the millions of families that go through the tragic events of parental divorces, the children and teens go through another challenge in their life. How they deal with this problems event is all up the family as a whole. A common issue that occurs is who takes care of the child. Child custody is a controversial solution for this issue. Although some view that child custody can give burdens to adolescents, the child ultimately has a better opportunity in the long life as they are able to get care from both families, court rulings and receive a softer blow as from the divorce itself.

   Millions of children are victims of parental divorces, where their lives are altered forever. Child custody comes as a result of the inability of decision making from the parents on who gets to take care of the child. Although there are cases where it is an easy decision to some, it is yet another complicated obstacle that many teens go through. As the arrangements are set, there are some results, stating that there has been a feeling of getting "caught" between the parents as they feel they are obligated to choose a side between the two parents. Some feel that they should be siding with the weaker or the poorer parent and others have a feeling of the divorce being their fault.There has even been a Stanford Study showing that a quarter of a sample had children that were upset with their situation.

  The decision of who gets to take care of the child is determined differently for each case. For some cases, the parents are able to agree on who is going to but other cases have arguments that lead to the courts. The choices made in the courts are beneficial to the child in the case as the courts are required to go over various conditions in order to make the choice that is deemed as the most appropriate. In the article of "Long-Term Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect," it covers how the family courts operate for various cases. In the cases of child custody, both sides of the case are represented, meaning that no one is left unheard. In addition to this, the court also looks at the various conditions of the parents and the child of the case. Looking into both physical and mental health of the parents and the child. As a result, the court system looks at all the possibilities to find the best interest for the children involved in the cases. Thus making child custody a safe and beneficial for the adolescents.

   The initial blow of a parental divorce is quite devastating for the children involved. Along with this information, it is relieving to know that child custody actually, tends to help the adolescents cope with the trauma. Looking at the article from 'American Bar,' it is shown that the custody of children can help to some with the trauma of the divorce. When the custodial parent moves, it often helps to forget the past and helps to move on. Especially for those of the children who face great amounts of parental discords, the custody helps to remove the memories of the conflicts between the parents. Additionally, the change in environment also gives a new start to the child, getting rid of the old reminiscence of the pain and suffering. Many families have experienced the discomfort of staying in the house before the divorce. As a result, the child custody helps children cope with the blow from the divorce itself.

   Contradicting to all the negative thoughts on Child Custody, there are many supporting pieces of evidence that support the idea that child custody is actually beneficial to both the parents and the child. There are multiple varieties of custody that parents can have a child. As there are three choices of where with one parent takes full custody or there is a shared/joint custody. According to the 'Family Law' article, it shows to us that the kids are able to maintain a healthy relationship with their parents for they are granted visitations from the nonresidential parents. The visitations are additionally planned ahead of time so that it does not conflict with the child's personal life and rather helps the child. Additionally from the article, "The Physiological of Relocation for Children of Divorce," the article displays that only around 20% of the children of sole custody have zero contact with their noncustodial fathers. Thus meaning that the other 80% are able to maintain contact with both parents. Another study shows that a difference between joint custody and intact families are inexistent. The studies overall show that child custody is beneficial as it is able to give care from both parents to the child.

  Regarding all the evidence supporting the benefits of child custody, it is reasonable to say that it is indeed an advantage for the adolescents to have child custody. Although there are some studies, showing that children in child custody are may have loyalty issues, there are more beneficial sides to child custody such as care from both parents, court decisions and a softer blow from the divorce. With the family courts, adolescents are able to get the best of interests, as in the best logical solution for their predicament. Additionally, the conditions of child custody also help to cope with the fact of the divorce, as memories of conflict are not easily brought up. Lastly, the care the child is able to receive from both parents is the most rewarding. Like Winston Churchill quotes, "The pessimist see difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty," no matter what we go through we should look for the good in every difficulty.