Read the case and answer the questions below.
Case:
Alexis and Marcus got married when they were both 19 years old. Neither one of them, in retrospect, was particularly excited about the marriage. However, Alexis was pregnant (by Marcus) and both Alexis and Marcus were raised in a house in which they were taught to take care of family first and foremost. So, they decided to try marriage despite the fact that they did not really know each other all that well. Additionally, they were each getting pressure, individually, from their respective families to marry.
Once baby David came, the couple seemed to be doing relatively well. Marcus got a job working full-time at a cookie factory as a line worker in order to provide for his family and Alexis took care of baby David full-time and earned extra money cutting hair at a local salon in the evenings after Marcus got home from work. After about a year of marriage Alexis noticed that Marcus always seemed to be consuming alcohol whenever she would return from working at the salon. This didn’t initially bother her too much, but it soon became clear that Marcus was visibly intoxicated when she would arrive home from work and David would be sitting in a dirty diaper, crying in his crib. When Alexis confronted Marcus about this, he cleaned up his act and stopped drinking so much. After the confrontation, when Alexis arrived home after work, she would find Marcus hanging out with male friends.
Soon after, Marcus’s drinking resumed to the previous levels. When Alexis arrived home, Marcus would be hanging out with friends and was intoxicated. David’s needs were being ignored. The situation became worse when Marcus lost his job at the factory. Marcus stated that he was laid off, but Alexis found out from talk at the salon that Marcus had been fired for failing to come to work. Alexis picked up more clients at the salon to help with the bills and Marcus began watching David during the day.
After Alexis would get home from work, Marcus would take off, without stating where he was going, and wouldn’t return until the early morning hours. Alexis had trouble waking him up in the mornings to take care of David before she left for work.
Alexis didn’t trust Marcus anymore and was growing increasingly frustrated with Marcus, so she set up a hidden nanny camera and began doing some investigating around the house. Alexis was shocked at what she saw on the nanny camera. She found that Marcus was giving David (who was now 1 and a half years old) Benadryl every morning after she would leave so that Marcus could have uninterrupted time with his friends. As it turns out, Marcus’s “friends” were actually romantic male relationships that he was meeting online. Additionally, Alexis found a hidden stash of pain pills in a prescription bottle that was in someone else’s name. When Alexis confronted Marcus with this information… Marcus exploded. He was drunk and high and began screaming and yelling at Alexis. Marcus hit Alexis in the face several times and Alexis fled to her parent’s house with David. She filed a police report and Marcus was arrested on domestic violence charges. He plead guilty and wound-up spending three days in jail and was sentenced to 2 years’ probation before judgement. Alexis immediately filed for divorce and for sole legal and physical custody of David, which she was granted.
Now, two years later, Marcus has successful completed his probation.
Marcus is now 3.5 years old and has limited contact with Marcus in the past two years. Marcus has passed every drug test during his time on probation and not had any contact with law enforcement since his domestic violence charge. About a year after his probation began, Marcus made a public statement on Facebook in which he announced that he is gay and is now living with a caring and committed partner named Tony, whom he met through his new job as a line cook at a local greasy spoon where he works the breakfast and lunch shifts.
Alexis and David are still living with Alexis’ parents, and she continues to work at the salon. She is a committed and caring mother, and her parents watch David while she is at work. Alexis’ family is very conservative and is sternly against Marcus’ new life as a gay male.
Marcus is now asking Alexis for joint physical and legal custody of David. Marcus, and his new partner live in the same school district as Alexis’ parents and David will be beginning pre-K at the local school in the fall.
Alexis states that Marcus has a history of violence and drug use which disqualify him from being a responsible parent to David. Additionally, Alexis (and her family) state that they strongly disagree with Marcus’ new “lifestyle” and do not think it is appropriate for a child to be raised in a home with a gay male couple… citing concerns related to moral upbringing, deviant behavior, partying, and the possibility to pedophilic tendencies.
Marcus states that he used drugs to escape the fact that he was in a loveless marriage, has only engaged in one act of violence towards anyone (which he deeply regrets and has “paid for”), and has found love, a steady job, and hasn’t engaged in any drug use (legal or illegal) since the night he hit Alexis.
Answer:
It is your job to decide what happens to David. Use all legal options available to come to a decision. Imagine that you are a psychologist who has been hired by Alexis and her family to evaluate Marcus and provide your opinion as to whether or not he is fit to be a father. Keep in mind, Alexis and her family have strong viewpoints and, since they are paying you for the evaluation, have a desired outcome. Assume that Marcus has agreed to the psychological evaluation.
Do you think Marcus is now fit to be a responsible parent?
What will your decision be with respect to joint physical custody?
What will your decision be with respect to joint legal custody?
What are the reasons for this decision and how are these based on facts and evidence presented?
