Moreover, the hurdles in enforcing financial contributions lay bare a system that often fails to ensure the basic economic security of children post-separation. When these obligations fall by the wayside, it's the children who suffer most – a fact seemingly lost in the legal quagmire.

Furthermore, the system's limitations in addressing the economic disparities arising from separation are glaring. In a country that prides itself on its social model, the inability to safeguard the economic well-being of custodial parents, who are predominantly women, is a failing that cannot be overlooked.

Deep societal and institutional biases, a relic of a bygone era, continue to tilt the scales in these custody battles. The persistence of these biases within the judiciary is not just a reflection of ingrained societal norms but an indictment of a system that has failed to evolve.

The introduction of concepts such as ‘parental alienation’ into legal disputes, often unverified and contentious, has become a tool disproportionately wielded against mothers. These pseudo-concepts, lacking solid legal grounding, have no place in a system that claims to be anchored in rational jurisprudence.

These systemic flaws call for urgent and comprehensive reform. The French legal system, if it truly aspires to uphold the principles of equality and justice, must confront these biases head-on, reorienting itself to protect the rights and welfare of mothers and children in custody disputes. Anything less would be a continued disservice to the ideals France purports to uphold.

The courts' alarming tendency to dismiss or underplay the history of domestic violence in custody cases is not just a failure but a travesty of justice. When mothers, as primary caregivers, come forward with credible allegations of abuse, they are often met with scepticism or indifference. This isn’t just negligence; it's an institutional betrayal of those the system is meant to protect.