ussed, the question
of whether or not the home should be broken up and the children
committed should be decided on other grounds than on the desertion
alone. Under many circumstances, it is the best thing to do. The woman,
worn out with anxiety or abuse, may be unequal to their physical care
for the present; or they may be running wild and in danger of becoming
delinquent. The mother may be morally an unfit guardian, and the
desertion may furnish the long-sought opportunity to interfere for the
children's protection. Commitment may have to be planned, and the
mother's consent won, to save the children from the return of a brutal
father, against whom she cannot protect them. Or she may desire a
temporary commitment in order to give her husband a severe lesson. The
main consideration, however, ought to be what is going, in the long run,
to be best for the children concerned.

2. Man's Whereabouts Unknown, Desertion of Long Standing.--A very
different problem from the preceding may be presented in the family of a
man who disappeared some time ago. Where the desertion is bona fide and
has persisted over a period of years, it is often possible to treat the
family as if the man were dead, and, if other circumstances make this
advisable, to plan comprehensively for the future. There is always the
chance, however, that, until the man's death is established, he may turn
up unexpectedly. If living, he usually manages to hear now and again
about his family and is often able to find them at will. A man who had
neither seen nor communicated with his family during the ten years they
had been maintained by a private family agency, nevertheless sent
promptly for his wife and eldest son by a messenger who knew exactly
where to find them (although they had moved in the interval several
times), when he lay dying of alcoholic excess in the city hospital.

The laws of many states contain a provision that the marriage of a
person who has completely disappeared and not been heard from in a
period of years can be set aside by the proper authorities. This makes
legal the remarriage of the spouse. In nearly all of the states divorce
can be obtained on the ground of long continued desertion.[27] The
wisdom of advising such a divorce, however, should receive careful
individual consideration, particularly in relation to the religious
faith of the client and the attitude of that faith toward divorce.

3. Man's Whereabouts Known; Man Unwilling to