Regarding the wellbeing of kids with divorced parents, the debate over what kind of custody arrangement is best rages on. But a new study, published Monday in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, suggests that children fare better when they spend time living with both of their parents.
What is the best custody arrangement for children after divorce? Most of us outside of family lawyers and courts don’t think about that question until we are faced with it. And then adults tend to choose administrative stability, figuring the kids are as exhausted and spent as themselves. Children of divorce face such an upheaval that it makes sense to adults that the children need time to rest and recover, and so we prioritize routine.
Dear friends,
Please join me in a rare opportunity for personal growth and social reform: the Family Law Reform Conference hosted by Divorce Corp, November 15-16, 2014 in Alexandria, Virginia!
Family Law Reform Conference
This will be an unprecedented opportunity for you to learn about family court trends, meet leaders in the reform movement, learn the latest research on shared parenting and other subjects that can help you, learn how to keep court costs down, and debate the best strategies for reforming the courts, child support agencies, and child protective services.
A rival statistic to the nation’s divorce rate shakes up the conversation on societal expectations that mom shoulder sole responsibility for child rearing while dad serves as breadwinner. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than 40 percent of children born in the United States are born to unmarried parents.
This means that outside of divorce, a significant portion of our nation’s children enter child custody courts by default, which is where the problem becomes worse for today’s modern families. Contrary to common belief, when child custody cases turn ugly, judges rarely equally divide parenting. The old-fashioned model from the ‘50s where mom receives custody and dad gets “visitation” reigns more than 90 percent of the time.
The First International Conference on Shared Parenting has just concluded, a conference organized by the International Council on Shared Parenting (ICSP), the first international interdisciplinary organization of divorce scholars and family (medical, legal and mental health) practitioners interested in issues related to co-parenting after divorce. The aim of the Council is to develop evidence-based approaches to the needs and rights of children whose parents are living apart, and to explore the feasibility of shared parenting in different child and family contexts. The theme of the Council's first annual conference was, “Bridging the Gap between Empirical Evidence and Socio-Legal Practice,” and it drew delegates from over twenty countries to Bonn, Germany, from the scientific, family profession and civil society sectors.
On October 4th, 2013 the conference on “Equally shared parenting and residence after divorce – children’s psychological stability. Legal and psychological aspects.” was organised at the Lithuanian Parliament Building” in Vilnius by:
1. Mrs Rimantė Šalaševičiūtė, chairmen of the Child Welfare Group of the Lithuanian Parliament;
2. Mr. Kestutis Griciunas, President of the Lithuanian Association Against Parental Alienation (APTA);
3. Mrs. Birutė van der Weg – Bražiūnienė, founder of the Lithuanian Association Against Parental Alienation (APTA), Netherlands.
The conference has resulted in the establishment of a Lithuanian taskforce preparing proposals for the reform of family law in Lithuania.
Last July, National Parents Organization agreed to serve as a founding member of “Two Homes: The International Platform on Shared Parenting.” This is an umbrella organization with representatives from fourteen countries in Europe and North America. Of these, National Parents Organization may be the only component group with a major grassroots presence. The other organizations consist primarily of child development experts, social scientists, psychologists and lawyers who wish to promote better lives for children through shared parenting after separation or divorce of the parents. Our Founder and Chairman of the Board, Ned Holstein, M.D., M.S., was asked to serve on the Scientific Committee of the new umbrella organization.
On 23rd October the European Parliament in Strasbourg hosted an important conference on parental separation and divorce in Europe “Facing the crisis of the family in the name of the children”.
A parents separation or divorce may end their relationship, but parents must be encouraged to work together to ensure that both remain a part of their children’s lives.
Historically, courts favored mothers having “custody” and fathers having “visitation”. Courts began to recognize how damaging these labels are (and possibly unconstitutional) and lawmakers began rewriting custody laws to reflect the concept of time-sharing. States then began moving in the direction of shared parenting.
Although courts are becoming more receptive to shared parenting, not every court or Judge is on board. Judges must make custody decisions based on a “best interest of the child” standard. This phrase sounds comforting, but, since judges are not required to explain their decisions, many argue the standard is nebulous. Many Judges retain the belief that it’s preferable for children to have one primary residence. Although there is a plethora of research showing this is not the case, many remain unaware or unwilling to acknowledge it.
Weiterlesen
Abstract
The current research examined the question of child custody with regard to divorced families in Italy. This study proposed to evaluate, following the introduction of Law 54/2006 in March 2006 concerning shared custody, whether or not changes occurred in either the decisions on judicial divorce in the Court of Rome or in the choices of the parents who divorced by mutual consent in the same court. The archival research examined 100 judgments on judicial divorce (50 before Law 54/2006-2005 and 50 after Law 54/2006-2007) and 100 judgments on divorce by mutual consent (by the same procedure). The instrument employed was a schedule of content analysis. The data were examined by means of frequency analyses and statistical tests (chi-square test and ANOVA). Consistently with the expectations of the authors, the results showed that after the enactment of Law 54/2006, there were significant changes in the management of child custody and visit planning with the nonresidential parent. Research and clinical implications are discussed.
http://jfi.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/34/11/1536