Shared Parenting News.
The posts below are a selection of the most recent shared parenting news. To view our blog , which has been discontinued and archived, please visit our Blog Archive.
Parenting Time – Did You Know?
While most domestic courts offer guidelines and may even suggest predefined schedules for divorcing parents to divide time with their children, in many cases, you have a far broader array of options to pick from. In fact, you may be able to design your own schedule, which is more creative, flexible, and well suited for your family’s specific circumstances.
Of course, it is important for you and your co-parent to consult local laws and seek professional assistance to ensure that whatever schedule you devise is properly documented and will be accepted by the courts. Additionally, family professionals such as lawyers and mediators can help to facilitate the process between you and your co-parent. As a family and divorce mediator trained by the Ohio Supreme Court, I work with parents to help them create equitable parenting plans that the courts will accept. Leveraging a mediator can help divorcing parents maintain control of their outcome while avoiding the high cost of litigation.
Preparing to Co-parent: Step 1 - Adopting an Empathetic Mindset
What do we do when we have something important coming up? In most cases, given the chance, we prepare for it – mentally, physically, and emotionally. Why do we prepare? Because it gives us the greatest chance of success. I’ve always admired the improv – the person who can respond with ease in a moment. The person who always seems to have the right comeback and can articulate their thoughts as they desire without any preparation at all. But for many, this simply isn’t how we operate. How often do you have a conversation with someone and then afterward say to yourself, “Dang, I should have said (insert your perfect response here). Why didn’t I think of that then?” Yes, why didn’t you think of that then? Because not all of us are great at improv. I know I personally am not. Yet, when I prepare in advance, I am confident I can navigate most interactions with grace.
Collaborative Family Law Promotes Shared Parenting Around the World
Divorce rates are on the rise across the United States and family law attorneys handling these cases are busier than they’ve been in recent years. As a result, many children are experiencing conflict in the home. While the majority of divorces are done using litigation, there’s a new type of divorce that prioritizes shared parenting and encourages children spending time with both parents. For that reason, and many others, collaborative law is gaining in popularly not only in the United States, but around the world. National Parents Organization (NPO) has been studying this type of law for many years and recognizes its important role in promotion of co-parenting.
South Dakota Becomes Sixth State to Officially Proclaim Shared Parenting Day
Thanks to South Dakota’s lawmakers coming together, the state just became the sixth state to honor shared parenting arrangements by proclaiming April 26th as Shared Parenting Day. The legislature’s proclamation states that children are “South Dakota’s most important asset”. Further, the proclamation declares that children “benefit greatly if they have a relationship with two parents who are fit caregivers.”
Does Child Support Really Support Children?
The goal of the child support system is to ensure that children receive the financial support they need and deserve from their parents even when the parents are living apart. A new report from National Parents Organization (NPO) calls into question the effectiveness of our current child support system in promoting children’s well-being. Indeed, the report alleges, in many states the current child support laws are detrimental to children’s best interests.
The new research from NPO focuses on the way states’ child support guidelines either facilitate shared parenting or create barriers to it. The groundbreaking NPO report, 2022 NPO Child Support and Shared Parenting Report Card, grades each state on eight metrics measuring how their child support guidelines allocate child support funds between the children’s two homes when the separated parents are sharing substantially in raising their children.
Creating a Co-parenting Plan
After you and your child’s other parent split up romantically, your relationship as co-parents lives on. How well that works out is up to both of you. It will require intention, compromise, thoughtfulness, and focus on the right things. Establishing a parenting plan can provide you with a blueprint for success.
Many local court systems offer divorcing parent coaching programs which will walk you through the basics. There are also many highly qualified co-parenting coaches, mediators, and divorce attorneys who can guide you through the process. However you decide to proceed with laying out your co-parenting plan, be sure to incorporate these principles as you create it:
Bright Spot In Texas’s Legislative Session
The 87th Texas Legislature heard a few bills to change the outdated custody laws that affect families in the Lone Star State. To address this issue, Texas House Bill 803 was introduced to the state legislature on April 26th, 2021. This bill has been called the “equal parenting bill” or “shared parenting bill” because it proposes 50/50 custody as a part of family law reform. Parents all over the state were lending full support to this piece of legislation because they want more time with their children. After many hours of testimony from parents all over the state, the bill died in committee. Even though HB 803 didn’t pass, we did see a huge bright spot in family law reform. One such bright spot was Senate Bill 1936.
Family Reunion’s 2021 President’s Award Given to NPO’s Don Hubin
Earlier this month, I received an extremely pleasant surprise in the mail. I opened a small package, not knowing what was inside, and found that the Family Reunion organization has awarded me its 2021 President’s Award in “recognition of [my] diligent and tireless effort in bringing public awareness to the importance of shared parenting for the benefit of children and for your advocacy to achieve legislative changes.”
Researcher Examines How Inequality in the Court System Impacts Corporations
New research is being conducted that will uncover the impact that inequality in the United States Family Court System and child custody laws have on corporations. As a shared parenting advocacy nonprofit, the National Parents Organization (NPO) supports this research effort and ongoing studies to shed light on these issues that are plaguing families, communities, and corporations nationwide.
“Inequality in the family court system is a bigger issue that people realize. This is truly a human rights issue,” said Casey Sowers, the lead researcher for this study.
Sowers is the Executive Director of The Fathers’ Rights Movement and also a doctoral candidate at Florida International University’s Chapman Graduate School of Business. NPO spoke with him to learn more about his research.
New Jersey polling results show tremendous support for equal shared parenting
A recent National Parents Organization (NPO) independently commissioned poll shows overwhelming support for shared parenting in New Jersey. In the latest round of polling, 95% of New Jersey respondents believe it is in the child's best interest to have as much time as possible with each parent in cases of separation or divorce. New Jersey boasts some of the highest percentages of all states that support equal shared parenting. These results are especially timely as the New Jersey State Legislature looks at current proposed legislation, Bill A1812, that would create an equal shared parenting law.
Polling results in New York show overwhelming support for equal shared parenting
The most recent round of National Parents Organization (NPO) shared parenting polling shows overwhelming support for shared parenting in New York. In fact, 92% of those who were polled in New York believe it is in the child's best interest to have as much time as possible with each parent in cases of separation or divorce.
Recent polling results show Georgia voters support equal shared parenting
The most recent round of National Parents Organization (NPO) shared parenting polling, in coordination with United Georgia Families, shows overwhelming support for shared parenting in Georgia. According to the research, 92% of those who were polled in Georgia believe it is in the child's best interest to have as much time as possible with each parent in cases of separation or divorce.
Recent poll of Washington residents shows tremendous support for shared parenting
The most recent round of National Parents Organization (NPO) shared parenting polling in Washington shows overwhelming and wide-ranging support for shared parenting in the state. Ninety-five percent of those who were polled in Washington believe it is in the child's best interest to have as much time as possible with each parent in cases of separation or divorce.
West Virginians show overwhelming support for shared parenting, according to recent poll
The most recent round of National Parents Organization (NPO) shared parenting polling shows overwhelming support for shared parenting in West Virginia. According to this groundbreaking research in the state of West Virginia, 97% of those who were polled believe it is in the child's best interest to have as much time as possible with each parent in cases of separation or divorce. In addition, a high percentage of those polled also admitted that they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supported equal shared parenting.
Recent polling data shows overwhelming support for equal shared parenting in Connecticut
The most recent round of National Parents Organization (NPO) shared parenting polling shows that voters in Connecticut express overwhelming support for shared parenting. Ninety-six percent of those who were polled believe it is in the child's best interest to have as much time as possible with each parent in cases of separation or divorce. The majority of individuals polled are also willing to let this issue influence how they vote in elections.
What Americans Agree On: Shared Parenting
Forty years of research on child well-being has firmly established that, when parents are living apart, it is almost always best for children to spend equal time with each of their parents, assuming both are fit. (Some of the best of this research is highlighted on NPO’s website.) Despite this, in most states, legislators have been slow to enact laws that will protect children’s interests by ensuring both parents share equally in raising them.
If legislators won’t listen to the science, maybe they’ll listen to the people!
In Memoriam: Bruce Rogers
The shared parenting movement and National Parents Organization, in particular, have lost a valued fighter. On October 14, Bruce Rogers lost his more than two-year battle with glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer.
Children Need Both Parents: Ohio’s Equal Parenting Bill 2021
By Elizabeth McNeese
To date, there is no specific policy for Ohio on how parent-child relationships are to be viewed or approached when parents separate. There are places in the Ohio Revised Code which state that it’s best for children to have “continued and frequent contact with both parents,” but this falls far short of a clear statement of policy to guide the courts. Further, since most Ohio counties have adopted standard parenting guidelines that follow the every-other-weekend schedule for non-custodial parents, it’s clear that “continued and frequent contact” is insufficient to ensure that children are allowed to fully benefit from the love and guidance of both parents equally after divorce or separation.
Finding Support During Divorce
By Deb Lauren, Mindset Coach
It’s safe to say that divorce can be a messy, stressful and emotionally draining process.
The act of ending a marriage brings with it a myriad of pain, loss, uncertainty and fear. Add to that a complicated, and often short sighted, legal system and you have yourself one daunting situation. What we don’t always realize, especially when in the thick of transition, is that our emotional and physical wellbeing provide the building blocks to the bridge over those choppy waters. And knowing where you can find support to build that bridge can make the difference in how you experience, recover, and move forward post divorce.
Calling Out Bad Research on Parental Alienation
National Parents Organization is proud to collaborate with 17 other organizations in the U.S. and abroad to challenge some very bad research on parental alienation that is, unfortunately, being cited in efforts to question the reality of parental alienation. The flawed research in question was paid for by your tax dollars!
In 2015 Joan Meier, Professor of Clinical Law at George Washington Law School, and four collaborators, received a grant of more than $500,000 from the National Institute of Justice, which is part of the Department of Justice, to do research premised on the presumption that parental alienation is a “pseudo-scientific theory” that is used to suggest that “when mothers allege that a child is not safe with the father, they are doing so illegitimately, to alienate the child from the father.”
Those familiar with parental alienation and aware of the more than 1,000 books, book chapters, and peer-reviewed articles on the topic, know that parental alienation is a well-researched phenomenon that is not gender-based in the way that Meier suggests. This research was done, in fact, by highly respected scientists, including psychologists and psychiatrists. Many know, as well, from painful personal experience how damaging parental alienation can be to the children and targeted parents—fathers and mothers—who are the victims of it.