“only to have the breadwinner later hook up with another person and then try to take the children away — “change partners and dance” — as if the marriage and childcare agreement never existed.”
In fact, I think if a spouse commits adultery, that should be a custody breaker right there; how on earth can a parent who puts the life of their spouse in danger (mistresses/lovers of married people have been notorious for being the murderer of the wife/husband of their lovers) and have custody yanked and also, have visitations limited.
Adultery has been one of the top reasons that people get killed; the wife or husband fools around, the lover ends up killing the spouse of their lover. Like for example, Carolyn Warmus murdered the wife of her lover, hoping to become the next spouse.
As for this mess, I hope the kid finds some kind of peace and someone should be listening to what the kid wants, not what the moron judge wants.
I agree with you completely; however the courts have veered far left since the 60s, even OJ Simpson got custody of his kids away from their grandparents in spite of being convicted in civil court of wrongful death (killing their mother), after the travesty of his criminal trial.
Many judges also have a double standard -- a divorcing husband has "needs", so it's ok if he sleeps with another woman he's not married to in front of his kids, even before the divorce is final; but if a woman dates, she can lose custody, even if she was not the adulterer. Thank you, "no-fault" divorce, which has done nothing but remove all justice from marriage-breaking. There is no universal standard, and results are all over the map when it comes to custody, or any other part of divorce.
It is ironic, given that one of the rallying cries of the feminist movement was "biology is NOT destiny" when the feminists wanted fathers to take a more active role so they could go to work outside the home -- but now the courts favor any kind of nasty biological parent over any upstanding adoptive parent. Biology seems to trump every other consideration. Disgraceful.
Statistically, the worst category of child abusers is mommy's boyfriend.