- 50-50 joint custody challenged
- By Ian Munro - Law and Justice Editor
- The Age
- 12/07/2003 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: admin ( 75 articles in 2003 )
The push for children of separated parents to spend equal time with each is irrational and ignores the needs of the youngest children, according to an international authority on children's adjustment to divorce.
California Dispute Resolution Institute president Joan Kelly told The Age yesterday that arrangements for children needed to be flexible.
Commenting on a Federal Government inquiry into equal custody, she said: "The biggest concern for me is the way in which such a statute would be applied to very young children in terms of actual parenting plans.
"Neither lawyers nor judges understand attachment issues in infants and toddlers and preschoolers. They require shorter visits, to avoid separation anxiety, and therefore, ironically, more transitions."
Dr Kelly, a clinical psychologist, is, however, a strong supporter of shared custody. In an article to be published later this year, she notes recent research showing children raised in joint custody are better adjusted emotionally and academically than those raised by one parent.
Also, joint-custody children appeared no different to children in still-married families, according to the article by Dr Kelly and Professor Robert Emery of the University of Virginia, to be published in October in the US journal Family Relations.
The findings appear to be a boost for men's groups urging the adoption of "rebuttable joint custody" for Australian law.
But Dr Kelly said: "To assume that joint physical custody must be 50-50 is irrational."
University of Sydney law professor Patrick Parkinson said most fathers were not in a position to engage in equal-time custody. "The idea . . . is attractive from the point of view of fairness to the parents, but this is not about fairness to the parents. It's about fairness to the children," he said.
This story was found at: https://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/11/1057783356090.html
California Dispute Resolution Institute president Joan Kelly told The Age yesterday that arrangements for children needed to be flexible.
Commenting on a Federal Government inquiry into equal custody, she said: "The biggest concern for me is the way in which such a statute would be applied to very young children in terms of actual parenting plans.
"Neither lawyers nor judges understand attachment issues in infants and toddlers and preschoolers. They require shorter visits, to avoid separation anxiety, and therefore, ironically, more transitions."
Dr Kelly, a clinical psychologist, is, however, a strong supporter of shared custody. In an article to be published later this year, she notes recent research showing children raised in joint custody are better adjusted emotionally and academically than those raised by one parent.
Also, joint-custody children appeared no different to children in still-married families, according to the article by Dr Kelly and Professor Robert Emery of the University of Virginia, to be published in October in the US journal Family Relations.
The findings appear to be a boost for men's groups urging the adoption of "rebuttable joint custody" for Australian law.
But Dr Kelly said: "To assume that joint physical custody must be 50-50 is irrational."
University of Sydney law professor Patrick Parkinson said most fathers were not in a position to engage in equal-time custody. "The idea . . . is attractive from the point of view of fairness to the parents, but this is not about fairness to the parents. It's about fairness to the children," he said.
This story was found at: https://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/11/1057783356090.html
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