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Cautionary notes on the shared care of children in conflicted parental separation
Jennifer McIntosh
Senior Consultant and Director, Family Transitions; Director, Children-in-Focus Program, Australian Institute for Primary Care, La Trobe University; Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Public Health, La Trobe University, VIC
Richard Chisholm
University of Sydney, Sydney NSW
Abstract
The Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act 2006 has brought into sharp focus the issue of shared physical care of children, post separation. In this paper, we explore new data suggesting accumulative risks for children whose care is divided between parents who lack the core relational infrastructure to support a healthy environment for shared care.
Developmental background is provided, giving context to the complex dynamics at play, particularly for young children who experience divided care in a hostile climate. A discussion of the amendments shows that, rather than endorsing an assumption of shared care, the legislation supports and indeed requires professionals to engage in active consideration of the child’s ‘best interests’ in each case.
The paper outlines a tighter ‘safety net’ of considerations through which the ‘best interests’ question might be filtered. Implications for supporting separated parents to develop and maintain adequate foundations for shared care are discussed.
Cited in: 'Children at risk in rise of shared care' by Adele Horin, 04 March 2008 - Sydney Morning Herald
Keywords
children, infants, divorce, shared parenting, family law, conflict, legislation
Article Text
The shared physical care of children following separation has long been a complex issue and is again in the spotlight following the passing of the Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act 2006. In this paper, we introduce new Australian data on the patterns of shared care, parental conflict and the emotional well-being of children. We suggest that these patterns provide food for thought about the pluses and minuses of shared care arrangements in circumstances of continuing conflict in which parents are unable or unwilling to protect their children from experiencing that conflict. In the context of the current legal and perhaps social support in Australia for greater shared care, these findings sound a cautionary note. While these new data relate to children over four years of age, we also present a brief overview of psychological aspects of shared care for young children and infants.
We hope that the following discussion will reinforce how important it is for all dispute resolution practitioners, lawyers and others to evaluate the likely developmental consequences of shared care arrangements in each individual case. Predicting outcomes of care arrangements will never be an easy task, but professionals may be assisted by maintaining a close regard for emerging social science findings, including the factors outlined here, and by accurate interpretation of the new legislative guidelines as they try to assist conflicted parents towards developmentally sound post-separation care arrangements, whether agreed or adjudicated.
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