child's custody, mom or dad?

The fairest thing would be for the mother and the father to share joint custody. The girl could be with her mother for 6 months and with her father for six months

they should share custody of the kid, like mom for 4 months, then dad the next 4 months and so on. its not really fair for both parties that the kid will only go to a mom or dad only. they have rights to see, meet and spend time to their kids. none of them is crazy or dangerous so they should share their time. i find the kid in the losing end here because she didnt do anything to deserve this.

That is actually very painful and traumatic to the child... I mean even if the child don't talk choosing between her mom and dad is very stressful and could leave a mark - an emotional effect on her... Of course she loves them both... and she doesn't want to hurt anyone of them... I assumed she is over seven years old to be given a chance to choose between the two... I cannot also blame the mom too for staying far from her daughter for what she did was to work... And it is for the future too... Sometimes, even how painful and hard, person needs to work abroad to earn a living... and that is a saddening truth. Five years is long and the bonding between the daugther and father is hard to break... and in fact it would be a big adjustmennt for the child to leave with her mom... But of course the mom would make up with the long time she was not with her child... If only they can make some arrangement so that it is not gonna be painful and traumatic to the child... Why not just meant half way? Well actually the decision lies to the child... who has more weight on her? But I still suggest if the parents can do some arrangement then better... Anyways they have their own partners already and they have moved on...They must come up with a decision that is good for their child... Choosing is very stressfull!

I feel that the father should have custody right now since the girl has already bonded with him. Although I feel that the mother should get increasing visitation allowing the girl to establish a relationship with her mother. Then the parents need to come up with a custody agreement that will be more ideal for this little girl. Basically the parents need to grow up and look out for their daughter rather than themselves.

This is a difficult question to answer. I would never have left my daughter, not even for a month, much less five years. It would have torn me up to only see her once a year. In this case, the best thing for the child is for her to stay with her father full time, and spend the weekends with her mother, maybe even summers. That poor child does not need to be uprooted and moved just because her mother decided on a whim to finally petition for custody. One thing, though, is that we do not know the full story. There could be a lot of missing information. That being said, a decision cannot be made by anybody until all problems are settled. There has to be a reason why the mother would petition for custody after five years of not wanting it. It's just something to think about.

Obviously, she should be with her father.as her father always take cake of her life,she maybe involve in the current family .it is unfair that her mother want to destroy the beatiful life.

there has to be more to it. I have known child custody cases has been drawn out for years. My thought is money goes to the layers more than the money that they could use to support the child. The father may have more money now, but if he has to spend thousand of dollars, how much does he have in the end. It makes it sound like the person with less money does not love her/his child more. Caring for a child does not make it the best just because of money.

In this situation, I think that the little girl should stay with her father. He is the one that has been caring for her and has been a constant part of her life for the last five years. She barely knows her mother, and the fact that her mother now lives closer is nice, because it means that she will be able to spend more time with her, get to know her, and hopefully develop a closer relationship with her. However, there is no reason for the custody arrangements to change, in my opinion.

I think the child should stay with her father. Clearly, the father took care of her for five long years. The mother on the other hand was absent. If she really wanted to be with her then she would've made efforts from the start.

I think up rooting the girl and making her live with her mother would be the wrong thing to do. I also think that the mother is doing wrong in fighting for full time custody of her daughters when she is happy and settled with her father. When most people split up I think they are often very selfish when it comes to their children. In this case I think the little girl should be living with her father but her mother should also have access too.

hello Emberlouis, It's really sad to hear such things but we are only concern about the child..there are certain things that need to be checked before custody of child is given to either mother or father & it's not a question of who has money more,will get the child...things need to consider is court might give custody to the mother since they always give chance to children to be with their mother to get more nurturing & care of their own mother..but if the child is more than 7 yrs old...the court will let the child choose to whom she wants to stay but of course other parent will always have visitation rights...

i feel sorry for the child.she is clearly the one who is getting hurt by this circumstances. but for me.i think it will be good if she stays with her father. since they were together for almost 5yrs