Iowa children poised to join elite club

by Matt Hale

Iowa’s lawmakers are poised to make the state’s children winners. They have a great opportunity to help Iowa’s kids have better a chance at a good life by passing a simple law that nearly everyone supports. The Hawkeye House and Senate are both preparing to pass a wonderful bill supporting shared parenting so that children can more easily spend quality time with both parents after the parents separate.

It seems so obvious that children should see both parents equally, or as close to equal as possible, that it is hard to believe it is not the law already. In fact, poll after poll shows that in excess of 80% of Americans want shared parenting to be the law. However, not only is shared parenting not the law (yet) in Iowa, it is not the law in 49 other states.

In 2018, Kentucky became the first state to pass an explicit equal shared parenting law although Arizona also has a law that encourages shared parenting. The law passed the House 81-2 and unanimously in the Senate. After it passed, BOTH parties tweeted proudly about the shared parenting bill becoming law. How often does that happen? Further, Kentuckians have expressed huge support for the law, domestic violence has dropped and the state even declared the law’s signing day as Shared Parenting Day. Kentucky and all of its children are benefiting from shared parenting.