April 29, 2015
By Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors, National Parents Organization
Shared parenting continues to make national headlines with some 20 bills before state legislatures this year. This article, in one of the nation’s most-read weekly magazines, is not only favorable to shared parenting, but gives NPO Chairman Ned Holstein prominence (Time, 4/27/15).
Shared parenting is less common in the U.S., says Ned Holstein, MD, founder and acting executive director of the National Parents Organization, and he estimates the rate is less than 20%. Still, he says that the research in favor of shared parenting for kids is overwhelming. “You’ll hear opponents say, ‘You’ll turn them into suitcase kids; they don’t want to be dragged back and forth,’” Holstein says. “Clearly, taking the suitcase back and forth once or twice a week so that you spend a lot of time with both parents is way better for the kids than the alternative of basically losing an intimate and closely loving relationship with one parent.”
The main thrust of the article is a new study out of Sweden authored by Malin Bergström of the Center for Health Equity Studies in Stockholm. She was one of the featured speakers at Joe Sorge’s conference in Washington, D.C. last November and impressed with her thorough knowledge of the literature on shared parenting. Her study, the article in Time and Holstein’s favorably presented views are yet another milestone on the road toward sensible family court reform.