Beliefs about parental rights and child custody have changed dramatically over the years. The purpose of this article is to give a brief history of how children and child custody were treated throughout the centuries.

In early Roman and English laws, children were considered the property of their parents. It was the father’s responsibility to protect, support, and educate his children. If there was a division between the parents, the father always had custody of the children.

This presumption changed in English law in the late 19th century, with the advent of the “Tender Years Doctrine.” According to this doctrine, a maternal presumption superseded paternal preference when the children were six years old or younger. The theory was that a mother is better suited to care for a child six years old or younger. However, the children were returned to their father’s care once they were six years old.

As society changed with the onset of the Industrial Revolution, where there was a change from rural life to urban life. Fathers increasingly sought work outside the farm or village and mothers stayed home to take care of the children and the home.

In the 1920s, the presumption completely changed from fathers automatically obtaining custody of children when fathers divorced, to mothers almost always obtaining custody of children. This trend was true in both American and English law, and it was maintained at the age of children. At the time, the prevailing theory was that mothers were better suited to raising and raising children than fathers.

This theory of maternal preference in parenting received even more credit in the 1930s with Freudian psychoanalytic theory. This theory focused exclusively on the mother-child relationship and completely ignored the father’s role in a child’s development.

In the United States, when there was a divorce, one parent was awarded Sole Administrative Custody and the other parent was awarded Possessory Custody of the children. The parent who had sole administrative custody of the children had all the rights and duties with respect to the child and the possessory conservator basically had the right to “visit” the child and had the obligation to pay child support, but had no other rights. with delays to children. Therefore, the possessory conservator had no right to access the children’s medical or educational records, he had no right to information about the children. Therefore, in a custody battle there was a clear winner and a clear loser. In the early 1900s, the mother was almost always named the Children’s Sole Administrative Curator.

In the 1960s and 1970s with the change in American culture to focus more on women’s rights, the climate regarding a father’s rights regarding children began to change. With women gaining more equality in the workplace, many began to question the idea of ​​maternal presumption.

However, the change of thought occurred very slowly. The law changed in Texas in 1995 when the legislature changed the law to presume that parents would be appointed joint administrative conservators in the event of a divorce. This change referred mainly to the rights and duties of parents. So both parents had the right to receive information that delayed the children. However, there was still one parent with the primary right of possession of the child and the other parent was given a possession schedule along with the obligation to pay child support.

With regard to the Court’s decision as to which parent should be designated the parent with primary right of possession, the law clearly states that the best interests of the child are at the center of the investigation. This proposition has been law since the mid-1970s. Very often, the mother was the one who would be named the parent with primary right of possession in Tarrant County, Texas.

The laws on the books today regarding possession and access to children have not changed much regarding the possession and access of children since 1995. However, there has been a change of opinion on the part of many judges in the county of Tarrant regarding mothers being the best option to have possession of children. There is also a trend developing in which judges are ordering parents not only to be in charge of joint custody of children, but also ordering parents to have equal time with children. This is often called a 50/50 access program.

So it will be interesting to see how custody, possession and access of children will evolve in the future. Will a 50/50 access schedule become the norm in Texas as it is in many other states in the United States?