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The American Historical Family Concept

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The American Historical Family Concept. A leading change happened in the 1970s when both father and mother were preferred to be given the joint custody of their children after their parents’ separation, thus, reversing a well-rooted tradition in favor of mothers. Non-biological parents, especially step-parents, and foster parents who assisted in bringing up the children after the cracks started appearing in the traditional family system, were put on the next ladder preference-wise. The state governments gave the ever-increasing community of single-parents all support. Once again, the rights of biological parents were on the verge of secondary preference because of new technology introduced in the reproduction, separating notion, and child-upbringing (Mason, 1994).

Child custody issues open a window to observe American history of varied perspectives on childhood and parenting becoming a catalyst for social change. The transforming rank of the mother is one of the significant factors of social change. Considering the colonial time when custody of the children was an issue, to quote the Virginia Company example, children were not keen to go to the Virginia colony to work as trainees. Still, the English Privy Council allowed the Virginia Company to take the children to the Virginia Colony by any means and also permitted it to take any suitable action, such as imprisoning them as per the company’s convenience. An important thing to consider was that most of the children who immigrated to the New England colonies did it in their capacity as members of their families. Thus, separation from parents was although not forced, and all children were not with parents. The strength of slave children was one/fifth of the total number of children sent for slavery by the end of the eighteenth century, taken away from their parents. Children could never feel the blossoming of their childhood, as change did not occur before the nineteenth century. The relationship between the child and&nbsp.father in the colonial hierarchical structure got ignored before the relationship between slave and master.