Shared parenting should get more attention by state legislature

By Linda Reutzel

The 2022 Missouri legislative session ended with not much getting done. With redistricting, it seemed as though opposing factions were fighting the entire session. Shared parenting legislation did not even get on the House floor. In the past, this legislation has passed the full House and Senate committees with overwhelming majorities.

This is a shame because with this simple change of rebuttable presumption of equal parenting time, custody battles would be less contentious. Fear of losing significant contact with children drives the battle from the beginning. If you take that fear away, then other issues can be worked out because the balance of power between parents is more evenly distributed.

We hear complaints that if we change custody statutes, then domestic abusers will get their children. This is simply not the case. We have domestic violence factors, along with anything else that is concerning to parents or judges. The vast majority of custody orders give the father every other weekend and maybe one night through the week. If a judge can give fathers every other weekend, they are obviously not a danger to their children.