 Fathers fighting for custody actually win sole custody or joint custody in 40 to 70 percent of these disputes. This statement appears in the text of HCR 182, a resolution sponsored by Rep. Constance Morella (R-MD), and in HR 3514, the Violence Against Women Act of 1998. The statement is false. Custody is disputed in 50% of divorce cases overall. [Maccoby and Mnookin, Dividing the Child, Harvard University Press, 1995] According to the 17th Report of the Office of Child Support Enforcement, in 1994, 89.2% of custodial parents were women; 10.1% were men. In 1996, the figures were 87.3% women and 12.7% men (19th report of the OCSE). There is a study, done in 1978, which found that 70% of men who sought custody won. That study concerned men who already had custody, and whose custody was being disputed later. To use that study as the basis for a claim like the above is extremely misleading. |