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Fathers' Rights Attorney says Baby Jace Should Be with Father by Default, Not Grandma

BOULDER, Colo. - In the dramatic premiere of "Teen Mom 2," viewers learned that teen mother and hard partier Jenelle Evans lost custody of her baby son, Jace. The one-year-old is now in the custody of Jenelle's mother, Babara Evans, whose contentious relationship with her troubled daughter has played out on television over the last two years.

Jenelle's most recent hijinks in October netted her drug possession and breaking and entering charges, and this is only the most recent episode in a long line of problems, legal or otherwise, she has faced.

So, it's perhaps less-than-shocking that Jenelle no longer has custody of her son. However, what is shocking is the lack of attention paid to the father of the child, Andrew Lewis, who is hardly ever mentioned in news reports related to the custody battle surrounding Jace, says Anne P. Mitchell, a leading fathers' rights attorney and publisher of the website DadsRights.org.

"DadsRights.org would like to remind people that every child has two biological parents, and that when a mother is deemed unable to adequately care for their child, the default (absent any issues which would endanger the child) should be for that child to be with their other parent: their father," Mitchell says.

"Because of the lack of details available to the public, it's impossible to assert definitively that Andrew should have custody of Jace," continued Mitchell, "but what is manifestly evident is that Andrew should be one of the two individuals focused on in the custody battle. The rights and interests of fathers and mothers must be considered equally."

At best, Lewis is relegated to a parenthetical remark or passing comment that indicates he is the father of Jace in news reports centering on the custody dispute. Absurdly, says Mitchell, Jenelle's 57-year-old mother is treated as the natural parent of Jace, as if grandmothers are the next in line to take custody of a child when a mother is deemed unfit for the task (and, as an important corollary, the mother shouldn't be presumed to be first in line to take custody over the father to begin with).

"The negligible coverage in the media of Jace's father reveals the deep-rooted bias against fathers that pervades our society," Mitchell says. "Far too often fathers are overlooked in matters of custody when a mother cannot take care of her child. In the vast majority of cases, it's better for a child to be with dad than to have no dad at all, and it's unfortunate that this isn't reflected in the way courts dole out custody."

The lack of attention paid to fathers in custody battles is merely one of many ways men are discriminated against in familial matters. Among other things, fathers are falsely accused of abusing their children to a staggeringly disproportionate degree relative to mothers, and fathers often have to pay more than their fair share for child support as a way to spend time with their children, says Mitchell.

For more information on fathers' rights and related issues, visit DadsRights.org. You can also purchase Mitchell's book Surving Divorce and Custody Issues: A Single Father's Guide through Amazon.

DadsRights.org

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