Balancing Act:

MU Study Explores How

Abused Women

Make Parenting Decisions

Post-Divorce

Contact: Pam Roe
S218 School of Nursing
(573) 884-2690

by the MU News Bureau

December 11 , 2006

COLUMBIA , Mo. – Mothers want what is best for their children no matter what, including women who divorce from abusive husbands. However, these women struggle to balance the pressure they receive from family and society, and the fear their children will suffer without a father. A study, co-authored by University of Missouri-Columbia's Lawrence Ganong, explores the decision-making processes of these women when it comes to custody.

The study, “How Women Make Custody Decisions and Manage Co-Parenting with Abusive Former Husbands,” involved 19 abused Missouri women. In-depth interviews were conducted with each to determine the processes they go through when making custody decisions and managing co-parenting with an abusive ex-husband after divorce.

“Fear is always a factor for women,” said Ganong, professor of human development and family studies with dual appointments in the College of Human Environmental Science and the Sinclair School of Nursing. “The women continue to maintain contact because they fear their children will not have a normal childhood without a father. There also is the constant threat for some that the father will leave with the children.”

Not only does fear influence women to opt for co-parenting, but it is difficult for women to win sole custody in court unless they have a history of documenting the abuse, most often through calls to the police. Additionally, pragmatic concerns (e.g. affordable childcare) and family ideology push them toward custody agreements that continue their involvement with former husbands after divorce.

“Often family members reinforce the belief that a child needs a father figure, and the family maintains that the decision to divorce is a sin and women must deal with the consequences of it,” Ganong said.

Divorced parents are given resources and support in 36 counties in Missouri through a program created by Ganong and other MU researchers called Focus on Kids. This is a court mandated course that prepares parents for the challenges of co-parenting and how to alleviate the tensions that may arise. Currently, more than 28,000 parents have gone through the two-and-a-half-hour session and more than 1,000 each year in Boone County alone.

“Focus on Kids strengthens the belief that children benefit when parents work together after divorce,” said Ganong.  “It is built around the idea that parents can get along and focus on their children.”

The study was co-authored by Jennifer L. Hardesty of the University of Illinois .

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