A women’s group yesterday called on judges to consider the best interests of the children when ruling in custody cases, saying that changes in judicial mindsets are needed to benefit divorced families.
Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容), executive director of the Garden of Hope Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping abused females, said at a press conference that over the past 10 years, the foundation has assisted more than 38,000 abused women.
It found that serious problems can arise when women are fighting for custody of their children.
In court, judges prefer not to change the status quo in the family. If the father takes the child away from the mother before or after the parents separate, for example, the judge will usually grant custody to the father, for fear that the child will have difficulty adjusting to a new lifestyle, she said.
Should the mother ask for a retrial, the case is heard in the same court and very often the judges still award custody to the father, Chi said.
Last year, judges ruled 61 percent of child custody disputes in favor of the father, she said.
“The judges are supposed to make their decisions based on the best interests of the child, but what we are seeing is totally different,” Chi said.
One woman, who gave her name only as Amy, told reporters at the press conference about struggle. She was married with two daughters for five years in Taoyuan. Unable to bear her abusive husband, she filed for divorce, leaving behind her children and began a long custody battle.
The husband wanted custody of the younger daughter and took her away to his parents’ home in Pingtung.
Judges at both first and second trials granted the father custody, saying the child had become accustomed to life with him.
“Both my daughters have witnessed me getting beaten by my ex-husband. They are very afraid,” Amy said. “My older daughter always asks me when her sister can come home, but I am never able to give her a satisfactory answer.”
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
SOVEREIGNTY: The rigs show that Beijing ‘rejects Taiwan’s jurisdiction’ by building in areas where Taipei demands permission to build or alter installations Chinese oil rigs have been sighted just 26 nautical miles (42km), from Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙島), posing a threat to Taiwan’s sovereignty if left unchallenged, a brief published by the Jamestown Foundation on Tuesday said. Pratas Island, 444km from Kaohsiung, is northeast of the South China Sea and houses a Taiwanese garrison. The brief, titled “Rigging the Game: PRC Oil Structures Encroach on Taiwan’s Pratas Island” — referring to the People’s Republic of China — analyzed photographs and said that Beijing’s tools to pressure Taiwan now include oil rigs. “Oil rigs now constitute part of Beijing’s
The Taiwan Experience Education Program (TEEP) has funded short-term internships in Taiwan for more than 4,500 young people from more than 40 countries since 2015, with the goal of attracting and retaining international talent, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. Fifty-five colleges launched 514 projects this year, including in fields such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, medicine and biotechnology, green energy, and sustainability, it said. The program provides research and practical internships in Taiwan for two to six months, and offers cultural exchange and networking opportunities, the ministry said. For example, National Formosa University’s Embedded System and Autopilot Laboratory developed two solar-powered drones in
RSS