Scholars from around the world are expected to gather in Boston to present research results on how shared parenting after divorce or separation affects children.
The International Conference on Shared Parenting will be held Monday and Tuesday at the Westin Copley Place Hotel in downtown Boston. The National Parents Organization and the European-based International Council on Shared Parenting will serve as hosts.
Scholars from around the world are expected to gather in Boston to present research results on how shared parenting after divorce or separation affects children.
The International Conference on Shared Parenting will be held Monday and Tuesday at the Westin Copley Place Hotel in downtown Boston. The National Parents Organization and the European-based International Council on Shared Parenting will serve as hosts.
We now have more than 50 studies of joint physical custody. Using different methods, and examining families in the United States and abroad, the results are encouraging: children who spend at least 35 percent time with each parent, rather than live with one and visit the other, have better relationships with their fathers and mothers and do better academically, socially, and psychologically. As will be described next week at the International Conference on Shared Parenting in Boston, they get better grades; are less likely to smoke, get drunk, and use drugs; and are less susceptible to anxiety, depression, and stress-related illnesses.
Despite the obvious benefits of shared parenting, gender barriers don’t crumble easily and legal reform doesn’t usually happen without pushback. Although critics of shared parenting concede that children whose parents share physical custody enjoy many advantages, they reason that these children do better because their parents have more money and less conflict, not because their children spend nearly equal time with each parent. The critics also believe that if one parent opposes shared custody, it’s a bad plan for that family.
Dr. Ned Holstein of National Parents Organization previews the 2017 International Conference on Shared Parenting – listen here
Listen to Adriana Cohen interview National Parents Organization Founder and Board Chair Ned Holstein, MD, on the 2017 International Conference on Shared Parenting – click here
As a physician in internal medicine, Newton’s Dr. Ned Holstein encountered families torn apart by byzantine child-custody arrangements. This led him to found the National Parents Organization, which aims to improve children’s lives through family court reform so that mothers and fathers share equal parenting responsibilities post-divorce.
“I became aware of many stories of people who had been divorced and dealt with the family courts. I didn’t believe the stories. I found it outlandish until I heard so many. And being Jewish, I couldn’t just go along with it. I had to meddle,” he says with a laugh.
Holstein will host the third International Conference on Shared Parenting over Memorial Day weekend at Boston’s Westin Copley Place, bringing together experts around the world to discuss how to protect children’s best interests after divorce.
I became a new mom last summer, and what a wonderful blessing my new son has been to my family. As I experience the joys and challenges of parenthood, it is hard to imagine my husband not being able to experience the same. Children need both parents. As I have had my own son, I find myself much more supportive of shared parenting and more frustrated with what my husband and I have endured in the custody battle over my stepson, which has spanned three states.
Importantly though, as a society, we must recognize that women and men together are indispensable partners to our country’s most valuable treasure: our children. We need to celebrate both mothers and fathers as often as possible.
If Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were truly under serious scrutiny by child protective services, this statement makes sense. Apart from the outside accusations, Angelina Jolie’s statement and actions seem a bit illogical, since she has also confirmed recently that Brad Pitt is a good father. As Dr. Ned Holstein, Founder and Board Chair of the National Parents Organization, stated in relation to the case, the best interest of the children is served by joint custody.
With National Parental Alienation Awareness Day falling this week, two Alabama mayors once again made national news by declaring this week, April 23-29, National Parental Alienation Prevention Week – and wouldn’t it be wonderful if this could be the last Parental Alienation Prevention Week? Then, we could celebrate a much more joyous occasion, National Happy Children Week, perhaps.
What is “Parental Alienation?” Imagine two loving parents, but they don’t get along, and they divorce. Sometimes, a child who previously loved the parent now turns against him or her, and professes to hate the parent. We’ve all seen this, unfortunately.
We must protect children from the brainwashing that produces this tragic result, which often has lifelong consequences. With that in mind, I’d like to extend a big thank you to Mayor Woody Jacobs of Cullman, Mayor Hollie Cost of Montevallo and the Alabama Family Rights Association for bringing attention to the issue and its consequences for children, the innocent victims.
“Children are now more likely to see both parents regularly after a divorce, which is a huge win for the children of Kentucky considering research consistently shows shared parenting is in the best interest of children when their parents divorce,” said Matt Hale, Chairman of National Parents Organization of Kentucky. “Plus, parents are no longer in the high-conflict winner win all and loser lose all situation.”
HB 492 was initiated by National Parents Organization and sponsored by Speaker Pro Tem David Osborne, R-Prospect, and Representatives Jason Petrie, R-Elkton, and Robby Mills, R-Henderson. Petrie; Hale and Dr. Ryan Schroeder, University of Louisville Sociology Department chairman, testified supporting the law.