Custody Battles-Who Gets the Kids?

October 14, 7:11 PMRelationship ExaminerKristen Houghton

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Alec Baldwin wants it clear. There is no fair-play in the Family Court system in deciding child custody battles. He is so angered over what he calls the “Parental Alienation Syndrome or (PAS), a controversial theory about how one parent, often the father, is effectively demonized by the other parent, with the child's help that he wrote a book to help other fathers who are going through the same thing.

He blames a court system that effectively drains both the soul and pocketbook of the father and made pointed references to “family law and feminism, and (the basic) civil rights of both parents.”

His book, "A Promise to Ourselves," written with Mark Tabb, details the painful process of both his divorce from actor Kim Basinger and the consequent estrangement from their daughter Ireland brought about by the inequities of a court system that allows for no mistakes or emotional mishaps on the part of the father who is trying to have equal custody rights.

Baldwin admits he "snapped and exploded” after trying for days to reach his daughter by phone. This lead to the infamous phone message where he called  Ireland a "rude, thoughtless little pig." The tape was leaked to the media and then to the public leaving Baldwin feeling both humiliated and  suicidal. A private matter had not only become fodder for the gossip mills but also had an effect on his custodial rights.

Baldwin is not the only celebrity to have the dirty laundry of a marriage, divorce, and child custody aired in public. Christie Brinkley had hers aired not too long ago.

In one way celebrities are no different than we are when it comes to bitter divorces and even more bitter custody cases. They have the same rights as anyone else. But they are famous people in the public eye and everything they do is under the microscope of the media. The courts unfortunately, are part of the reading and hearing public and the notoriety of any celebrity misdeeds, no matter if done in frustration or emotional turmoil, are noted and remembered.

There are men who, like Alec Baldwin, are wonderful fathers and their children will benefit immensely by having them consistently in their lives. The courts should acknowledge good parents and not be influenced by negative media coverage of a private matter.

Justice should indeed be blind and deaf to all but the pertinent information of a child custody case; a loving parent who cares deeply for his or her child and has only their best interest at heart.

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