Divorce in relation to abuse
The rate of abuse and divorce has emerged has one of the social issues that require immediate attention in Costa Rica. It has been observed that abuse and divorce has been increasing at an increasing rate in the past few years. Perhaps, this is why the government has been in the forefront in protecting marriages through establishing various laws and regulations to deal with abuse and divorce. Particularly, the laws seek to protect the interest of women and children, who are mainly the victims, against spousal abuse. The judicial protection that they enjoy was reached at after it was established that women were victims of unchecked violence for many decades (Antoine & Amazon, 2011). However, some people are of the opinion that the same laws that protect women are double edged since women use them at times to mistreat men. It is largely argued that there is abuse and divorce are connected in one way or the other, and they tend to go hand in hand.
Abuse and divorce in Costa Rica, like in the case of various other countries in the world, affect families in different ways. However, one of the most significant effect is increasing the number of children running away into the streets. Particularly, abuse of children and women has been cited as one of the contributory factors for the increasing number of street children in the country. Life at home becomes unbearable forcing children to seek refuge in the streets. Besides, because of the increasing cases of abuse and divorce, there has been an increase in cases of early school drop-outs among the children. Perhaps, this is because of lack of cohesion in most families, which leads to lack of attention to the children. In addition, the number of single families has increased drastically in Costa Rica in the past few years, as a result of high rates of divorce (Graham, 2008).
There is a close connection between abuse and divorce cases, and they tend to go hand in hand. Particularly, the law in Costa Rica considers several forms of abuse as good grounds to warrant divorce. For instance, adultery is a concrete abuse to allow divorce. The law is strict on abuses such as child abuse and this would also form grounds for irreconcilable differences that will ultimately lead to divorce. In addition to that, cases of attempted murder are a concrete abuse that the law can also factor in (Obot, 2005).
The law requires that in a situation where these abuses are taking place in marriage, the partners are required to separate legally. The separation should last for at least one year to pave way for a divorce case. It takes the court three years to give a divorce to the partners if the court will be able to establish that there was abuse taking place. Divorce is not allowed where there are irreconcilable differences but there is no abuse. Where divorce is given women are allowed by law to remain in custody of the children unless it is established that she cannot take care of them. These has psychological effect on the children where the live a life that is not their choice. The property obtained before marriage is not divide but other properties are divided equally (Antoine & Amazon, 2011).
In conclusion, abuse and divorce is one of the social issues facing the Costa Rican society. The two are closely related in the sense that abuse is one of the factors that have contributed to the increasing cases of divorce in the country. The major effects of abuse and divorce in families within the country include increasing number of street children, high cases of single families, and high rates of early school dropouts among the children.
References
Antoine, D., & Amazon.com (Firm). (2011). Three weeks in the Caribbean: A true story about divorce, the jungle, and love at first sight. S.l: Sold by Amazon Digital Services.
Obot, I. S., Room, R., GENACIS (Organization), & World Health Organization. (2005). Alcohol, gender, and drinking problems: Perspectives from low and middle income countries. Geneva: World Health Organization, Dept. of Mental Health and Substance Abuse.
Graham, K. M., & Pan American Health Organization. (2008). Unhappy hours: Alcohol and partner aggression in the Americas. Washington, D.C: Pan American Health Organization
