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Social media claim regarding suicide and child custody debunked

On Behalf of | Apr 3, 2019 | Child Custody |

In the modern age of social media, people are bombarded with statistics and claims that often prove to be false. While there is much emotional turmoil surrounding family law issues, including child custody, a recent social media post that claimed fathers were committing suicide over custody issues was debunked. Texas residents who are struggling with this issue may have seen various forms of this statistic while scrolling social media sites. 

According to a post on Facebook earlier this year, it was claimed that an estimated 21 fathers committed suicide every week after being denied access to their children. This drew the attention of certain fact checker sites that investigated to determine whether it was based on concrete facts. The post was later tracked to an earlier one from 2017 that circulated in another country and stated that men who were struggling with family-related problems were committing suicide at an alarming rate. This post was purportedly started by a candidate for office who was attempting to reform that country’s domestic violence laws.

In this country, researchers could find no information on which such a claim could be based. There are no statistics concerning suicides based on child custody issues for either men or women. Furthermore, in the U.S., fathers have been less inclined to seek full custody, and such cases comprise only an estimated 5 percent of the cases decided by the courts. Custody is generally based more on a parent’s ability to provide for a child’s needs, which includes financial resources and mental stability.

In the past, family courts were more inclined to award physical custody to the mother, who was often perceived as more nurturing to young children. However, there has been a growing shift toward shared child custody as this is usually more beneficial to children. Texas residents who are unable to arrive at an agreeable arrangement for their children are encouraged to seek the assistance of an experienced attorney.