Last year, Kentucky passed the nation’s first complete “shared parenting law,” which was called the state’s most popular law of the year. The law created a starting point that both parents have equal child custody time if the parents are fit caregivers. The Bluegrass State’s citizens voiced their support by a whopping factor of 6 to 1. Now, the Administrative Office of the Courts has issued a report that the law is as effective as it is popular.

Matt Hancock, a Bullitt County resident, joined the National Parents Organization when he noticed how backwards he felt the court system was.

“I’m a single father and I wasn’t getting a lot of time with my daughter,” Hancock said.

Kentucky passed House Bill 492 in 2017 that said parents going through a separation and in a temporary order are given joint custody and equal parenting time.

April 26 was already a special day for the children and families of Kentucky, as it was the one-year anniversary of Gov. Matt Bevin signing into law our nation’s first shared parenting law. The groundbreaking law, which passed with near unanimous support, provides children of the commonwealth the benefit of having equal involvement with both of their parents in the case of divorce or separation.

But now April 26 gets an even greater meaning, as Bevin has issued a proclamation to establish this day as Shared Parenting Day in the state of Kentucky.

Every family has its traditions and many, such as Easter or Cinco de Mayo, we share in common. But now, all families in Kentucky have a day to celebrate with pride. One year ago on April 26th, Kentucky became the first state in the country to officially declare that children deserve both parents by passing the Shared Parenting Law. To celebrate the anniversary, the state of Kentucky has just officially proclaimed April 26th as Shared Parenting Day.

Kentucky Republicans had to defend their control of the House for the first time in one hundred years in the face of massive teacher strikes. When Kentucky passed the teacher pension law, it also enacted the nation’s first ever shared parenting law (equal parenting time for fit parents). The teacher strikes failed to make much difference while the lower profile child custody law issue emerged as a potential national issue. House Majority Whip Kevin Bratcher said, “Kentucky’s shared parenting law is so popular and effective that it will spread to other states.”