Para sa batang na ang edad ay mababa sa pitong taon, saklaw sila ng tinatawag na tender-age presumption, at sinasabi ng batas na sa ina dapat ibigay ang kustodiya.
“The general rule is recommended in order to avoid many a tragedy where a mother has seen her baby torn away from her. No man can sound the deep sorrows of a mother who is deprived of her child of tender age. The exception allowed by the rule has to be for ‘compelling reasons’ for the good of the child; those cases must indeed be rare, if the mother’s heart is not to be unduly hurt. If she has erred, as in cases of adultery, the penalty of imprisonment and the divorce decree (relative divorce) will ordinarily be sufficient punishment for her. Moreover, moral dereliction will not have any effect upon the baby who is as yet unable to understand her situation.
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[However], even a mother may be deprived of the custody of her child who is below seven years of age for ‘compelling reasons.’ Instances of unsuitability are neglect, abandonment, unemployment and immorality, habitual drunkenness, drug addiction, maltreatment of the child, insanity, and affliction with a communicable illness.”
Ibig sabihin, laging sa nanay ang custody ng mga nasa tender age below seven years old, bukod na lamang kung may rasong makakasama sa bata.