0 used, especially in newspapers, to refer to a situation in which one of the separated parents of a child takes care of the child but the other parent claims that right, or a situation in which a child is being taken care of by people other than the child's parents but the parents claim that right:
[ before noun ] a tug-of-love battle
I find it difficult to imagine anyone involved with a child in a "tug of love" situation.
I refer to children who are caught up in a so-called tug of love.
We all know of the "tug of love" headlines within the borders of our own country.
Of course the rights of the natural parents were fully considered before the order was made, but it avoided the tug of love heartbreak of former times.
These circumstances have given rise to what the press have come to call "tug of love" cases; where there is this terrible battle as to who is to have custody.
The first is the "tug of love" case, in which a parent removes a child from this country's jurisdiction altogether.
