Unmarried Parents and the Court of Last Resort

Maureen Waller, Cornell University

This paper analyzes data from focus group interviews with 40 low-income, unmarried mothers and fathers in New York to examine their perceptions of engaging the legal system to establish custody and visitation agreements. In group discussions, parents emphasized several disadvantages of using Family Court to resolve questions about parenting time, such as the emotional costs to families, the likelihood of increased family conflict, the loss of control they experienced, and the fear of involving government agencies in family disputes. At the same time, they viewed participation in Family Court as a “last resort” in situations where informal agreements were highly unsatisfactory or where the safety of children was threatened. Parents’ perceptions of Family Court colored their views of new proposals to increase noncustodial parents’ access and visitation by making parenting time provisions part of the child support establishment process. Group differences by gender and race are also discussed.