NPO: Shared Parenting Solves Child Support Delinquency

Article here. Excerpt:

'Twenty-one years ago this month, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed August as National Child Support Enforcement Month but in doing so focused attention on the symptom of a greater problem — a family court system that discourages shared parenting and gender equality in instances of divorce or separation.

As an increasing amount of research on parental roles has emerged in recent years, it has become clear in hindsight that family courts should focus instead on what children benefit from most — equal time with both their parents, even in instances of divorce or separation. By doing so, they would resolve not only delinquencies associated with “child support” in the financial sense, but also problems tied to gender inequality and, most importantly, the court’s continued practice of depriving children from the countless benefits associated with constant love and caring from both their parents.

Still, our family courts operate relying on precedent set in the 50s and look past research that shows clearly that shared parenting benefits the entire modern family. In the latest example, for instance, the American Psychological Association published a University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center paper by Richard Warshak earlier this year, titled “Social Science and Parenting Plans for Young Children: A Consensus Report,” that concluded “a broad consensus of accomplished researchers and practitioners agree that, in normal circumstances, the evidence supports shared residential arrangements for children under 4 years of age whose parents live apart from each other.” The paper was endorsed by an international group of 110 top experts in early child development.'