Fatherhood Crisis

It is well recognized that a fatherhood crisis exists in America and it is simplistically defined by the fact that millions of children are forced to grow up in fatherless households. I've been there, on both sides, as a child and as a noncustodial parent. My experience boils down to "Nobody wins!" Divorce in a family is pure devastation and the only hope is survival.

Via John Ray, I found an analysis of the fatherhood crisis prepared by Stephen Baskerville in The Independent Review. Here's the abstract:

Virtually every major social pathology has been linked to fatherless children: violent crime, drug and alcohol abuse, truancy, unwed pregnancy, suicide, and psychological disorders - all correlating more strongly with fatherlessness than with any other single factor. Tragically, however, government policies intended to deal with the "fatherhood crisis" have been ineffective at best because the root cause is not child abandonment by fathers but policies that give mothers an incentive to initiate marital separation and divorce.

I'm no longer a long distance dad since my children from my previous marriage are now adults. But I can easily recall the fifteen years of misery and heartache I experienced. Stephen Baskerville's piece is dead-on with respect to my experience and, I'm sure, many other dads.

The article is moderately long and necessarily so. The issues and complexities of a divorce with children involved are many and varied. However, take it from me, I would have felt a lot better having it available when I was going through the turmoil. At least, I would have understood all that was happening to me.