Data was analysed cross-sectionally around certain themes and categories which were extracted from the data. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. A qualitative method was used and one unstructured interview with a schedule was conducted with each of the five respondents who were selected according to non-probability purposive sampling methods. South African and international literature was perused followed by an exploratory study in the relatively uncharted terrain of paternal custody. The study was approached from a constructivist position and was further informed by a family systems theory. Fathers who challenged maternal custody were selected since it was assumed that their lived experiences would include non-custodial as well as custodial fatherhood.

An interest in these fathers prompted this study. Some divorced fathers disengage from their children’s lives but there is documented evidence of South African fathers who desire continuity in their relationships with their children after divorce.

Social work practice revealed that it is often the father who leaves the court, stripped of his fatherhood by a court order that only grants him limited access to his own children. ABSTRACT Issues concerning children may be the most intense and emotive areas of divorce and can lead to spectacular legal battles.

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