'It's an invisible wound': the disenfranchised grief of post-separation mothers who lose care time. Issue 1 (2nd January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Elizabeth, Vivienne
• Is Part Of: Journal of social welfare and family law. Volume 41:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 34
• Page End: 52
• Publication Date: 2019-01-02
• Subjects: Mothers -- post-separation -- custody law -- shared care -- non-resident parent -- grief -- relational welfare; Public welfare -- Law and legislation -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 344.410305
• DOI: 10.1080/09649069.2019.1554788
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0964-9069

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This paper enriches understandings of the implications of contemporary custody law for mothers and their children. It does so through a discussion of mothers' grief and emotional pain over involuntarily losing care time with children. Mothers involuntarily lose care time by becoming non-resident parents against their will or by having a shared care parenting order imposed on them. Both experiences of losing maternal care time are becoming more commonplace as a result of the gender neutrality of custody laws across the Anglo-West and the increased emphasis given to shared care parenting as a viable post-separation parenting arrangement. Yet investigations into the emotions engendered by mothers' loss of care time are sparse. Exploratory qualitative research with twelve mothers who involuntarily lost care time reveals the intensity and durability of their grief, its entanglement with emotions like fear, and its significance, as a relational welfare approach emphasises, to children's best interests.