As part of the activities carried out by the Federation of Cuban Women, FMC, for the jornada NO to gender violence, the women’s and family counseling center held a workshop with pregnant women from the Clodomira Acosta Ferrales maternity home in Contramaestre, who also got information about the care of minors.
The issues discussed were related to the custody and care of minors and alimony, based on concerns, mainly from single mothers, because sometimes they do not know what the law establishes in this regard, or where to turn to in situations like these.
The directions were given by Diannelis Pérez López, judge of the Municipal Court here: “You have every right to demand that the fathers of your children help you to support them. You can go to court and file a claim for child support. This claim means that you will demand that the father pay you an amount that will be proportional to the father’s income and also takes into account the mother’s income.
To make this demand you must bring the child’s card, the salary letter of the father in case he works with the state and bring a proposal of the amount that you believe the father of your child can give you. The court assesses and in proportion to that fixes a provisional alimony until the hearing is held.
There are mothers who must also pay child support. This depends on who has custody and care of minorsu who must pay the alimony, because both of you are obliged to watch over the child’s development”.
Legal guidelines on the care of minors
The judge clarified the lack of knowledge of some of the women participating in the workshop about the steps to follow to decide to whom the custody and care of the children corresponds, in case of separation of the parents, as well as the regulations that must be respected by both the mother and the father:
“You go to the law firm and hire a lawyer and establish a process of determination of guardianship and care and regulation of the communication regime. It is so called because it is determined who is going to have custody of the minor, that is, who is going to live with him and the communication of the other person is regulated because it is assumed that this person is not going to be seeing the minor all the time, because the child has sleeping schedules, feeding schedules, if he is an infant, he cannot be separated from the mother for a long time.
There are cases in which this regulation is established in a broad manner, that is to say that the other person can visit the child, can take him/her home and take him/her for a walk, but in other cases communication is established in a limited manner, meaning that he/she can visit the child on alternate weekends, and take him/her during the vacation period when the child already attends school”.
