A 38-year-old woman said that she is doing her best to raise her three children from three different fathers without sending them back and forth between houses. The children live with her, period. Although her life is extremely busy, this mom said that she always makes the time to personally raise her children. She doesn’t want to rely on nannies that would raise the kids in her place while she travels for her job.
Not everyone has to travel out of town for their jobs, but this situation may seem somewhat familiar to some of our Columbus Divorce Law Blog readers. The major difference is that this mom’s name is well-known across the country, even the world. The mom is Kate Winslet, and she recently became the target of an ad attacking her custody choices.
The ad was created and paid for by a fathers’ rights group. Their focus was the fact that not all of Winslet’s children would be with their dad on Christmas. There was no questioning the message or the target of this ad. The words “Kate, every child deserves their father this Christmas” were printed in bold, right across a head shot of the actress.
Winslet has released statements defending her choices and addressing the advertisement, but even more powerful was the response from her ex-husband and father of her second child. As a father, this dad says he understands and supports fathers’ rights. However, he reminded the critics that his family’s choices are based on “personal circumstances.”
The man’s message is an important one for parents preparing for custody issues. Each family is unique, different from the one living next door. A custody agreement that works for one family may not fit the needs of another, and understanding and working with these personal circumstances is something that a good family law attorney will focus on during a child custody dispute.
Source: The Huffington Post, “Kate Winslet Targeted By Fathers’ Rights Group Over Parenting Arrangements,” Cavan Sieczkowski, Dec. 19, 2013