Is Shared Parenting Harmful To Children Of Divorced Parents?
Preschool children from divorced parents did better psychologically if they lived in shared parenting environments compared with kids living primarily with one parent, according to recently published research in Acta Paediatrica.
Experts reviewed the adjustment of 3,656 Swedish children living in two-parent families, joint custody environments, or with one parent after a divorce. Its traditionally been argued that young children (aged 3 to 5) need the stability and consistency of one home, but this research found that assumption to be false.
This study makes me very uneasy. I’m fearful that attorneys and others will use this research to justify shared parenting arrangements that are harmful to kids. Joint custody remains uncommon for some very good reasons.
People divorce for many factors, but there are typically significant issues with communication, problem-solving, and trust. Those are exactly the skills needed to make joint custody successful for kids. In some ways, shared parenting makes no sense. We’re asking parents who failed at the skills needed to maintain their marriage to use those skills in a very challenging parenting role.
I’m not condemning all joint custody arrangements, just arguing that it is extraordinarily difficult for … Read More... “Divorced Parents Must Put Children First”
Kentucky took a step closer on April 12, 2017 to making shared parenting in instances of divorce the norm in the state. 
Previously my colleague, Anne Shale, posted a very informative article laying out the legal distinctions between sole legal custody and shared parenting in Ohio. Here is the 
For many parents contemplating a divorce or dissolution of their marriage, a primary concern is which parent shall have “custody” of the child or children of the marriage. I shall begin the article by addressing the differences between the two parenting systems in Ohio – “sole custody” and “shared parenting”.