Recently I wrote a blog titled: The Case Against Joint Custody. I feel very strongly that joint physical custody, a legal term used to describe any number of configurations where both parents share in the physical parenting time of the children after divorce, is not a cure-all to the problems and traumas of divorce and absent fatherhood. However, there is no denying that the number of joint custody cases is on the rise. And with that comes not only situational benefits but social benefits as well
Joint physical custody can be an extremely beneficial way to allow children time with both parents. The greatest predicators of the success of a shared parenting situation is the level of parenting-related conflict that occurred during the marriage and the level and the ability of the parents to communicate and resolve issues effectively, post-divorce. One important aspect to note about high-conflict shared parenting situations is that they may not be better for the children than sole custody arrangements however there is no significant evidence available to determine that they are any worse than a high conflict sole custody arrangement either.
Years of studies and statistics have been compiled about the consequences of raising children of divorce without the influence of both parents. These children are more likely than average to have problems in school, run away from home, develop drug dependency, or experience other serious problems. In fact we know that a home without fatherhood contact is a more reliable predictor of criminal activity than race, socioeconomic status or environment. Joint physical custody levels the playing field. Children who are parented by both parents are statistically emotionally healthier across the board. Please note, however, that these statistics are compiled using families with NO contact with their fathers. There are no statistics that I know of to suggest that non-custodial fathers who exercise regular parenting times put their children at risk because they don’t share physical custody.
Another benefit of joint custody is that, statistically, there are fewer issues involving compliance with child support and parental involvement than in sole custody situations. Parents who are active in their children’s lives are much less inclined to refuse to pay child support or help the child with things such as homework or extracurricular activities. This seems logical enough. However be leery that fewer issues with compliance do not necessarily mean fewer issues over child support. Arguments over what constitute necessity and, especially for parents who share parenting time but child support is still ordered for one parent, resentment may exist. The situations in which money comes up the least are often the situations in which both parents see the children equally and agree to pay their own portion for the care and upbringing of their children, directly.
A very interesting and unsuspected benefit of joint custody to society is that there seems to be a direct correlation to declining divorce rates in states with a high level of joint custody. The theory is that parents are less likely to divorce if they think they will be likely to have to work closely together as co-parents anyway. Conversely, parents are more likely to divorce if they view sole custody as a bonus to escaping the marriage. This is incredibly scary, in my opinion, and speaks volumes about our morals and values as a nation.
So there is evidence enough to support the theory that joint physical custody, or shared parenting time, is more beneficial – or at very least not LESS beneficial – than sole physical custody. Parents can make joint physical custody work for their children and for themselves if they remain open, flexible, trustworthy and communicative.
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