This white paper describes the purpose and background of a two-year project to stem the tide of misinformation that was generating confusion about where the scientific community stood on shared parenting for preschool children. Four decades of research were reviewed, analyzed, and vetted by incorporating feedback from an international group of experts in the fields of attachment, early child development, parent-child relations, and divorce. Social Science and Parenting Plans for Young Children: A Consensus Report was published in the American Psychological Association’s journal, Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, with the endorsement of 110 highly accomplished researchers and practitioners, several who contributed seminal studies cited in the report.

With his usual flair for presenting complex data in a form all can grasp and understand, Joe Sorge quickly made the case for how home and work life in the United States have changed dramatically yet our family laws and our family law courts and child support guidelines have remained stuck in the past. Modern family roles and structures have evolved, yet the laws have not.

A highlight of the conference was Malin Bergstrom, PhD, a developmental psychologist with the Division of Reproductive Health at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Bergstrom and her colleagues have completed a study of the well-being of every (176,000) 12-15-year-old child in Sweden in order to ascertain the effects of family structure on the children. Children in intact families perform better on a wide variety of measures of physical health, mental health, and educational outcomes than do the children of divorce. Children of divorce whose parents share their care equally do better on all those measures than do the children of single parents.

The other striking piece of her presentation was that Bergstrom stated that the legal reform came first; followed by social change. Obviously, this confirms National Parents Organization’s work and strategy.

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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.

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Die gleichwertige, abwechselnde Betreuung von Kindern
durch ihre getrennt lebenden bzw. geschiedenen Eltern wird allgemein als „Paritätische Doppelresidenz“ oder auch als „Wechselmodell“ bezeichnet. In Deutschland wächst die Zahl der Mütter und Väter, die nach dem Scheitern einer Beziehung mit dem Ex-Partner eine hälftige Betreuung der Kinder vereinbaren.

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.

With our founder and chair, Ned Holstein, MD, MS, being a founding member of the International Council on Shared Parenting, National Parents Organization is promoting shared parenting internationally. This includes promoting the work our Canadian neighbors are doing to pass Bill C-560, a private members Bill to amend Canada’s federal Divorce Act to introduce a rebuttable presumption of equal shared parenting.

A belief that children under three should not stay overnight with their separated or divorced father has underpinned our family law system for years. Has it all been a mistake? Bettina Arndt reports.

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In recent days, the National Post has brought forward two sides of the current debate on Bill C-560, An Act to amend the Divorce Act (equal parenting), set for second reading in the House of Commons today.

Die Schweiz will das Modell der alternierenden Obhut stärken – Väter übernehmen dabei mindestens ein Drittel der Betreuung. Studien belegen, dass diese Lösung Kinder gesünder und glücklicher aufwachsen lässt.

Bonn, 27. Februar 2014.
Vor dem Hintergrund des alarmierenden Anstiegs von psychosozialen Problemen und Entwicklungsstörungen bei Kindern getrennt lebender Eltern trafen sich am 21.-23. Februar 2014 in Bonn, Deutschland, 26 führende Vertreterinnen und Vertreter aus Wissenschaft, familialen Professionen und Zivilgesellschaft, um eine neue internationale Organisation zu gründen, die sich der Forschung und Praxis der Paritätischen Doppelresidenz (Wechselmodell) als gangbarer und förderlicher Lösung für Kinder widmet.