Fathers and Families Board Member Robert Franklin, Esq. lays out the case for shared parenting in his new column For Father”s Day, give the gift of equal parenting (Buffalo News, 6/19/11).
To write a Letter to the Editor about the column, please click here. To post a comment on it, please click here.
In the column, Franklin writes:
[W]hen parents divorce, keeping both actively involved in the child”s life is vital to the child”s well-being. Dr. Edward Kruk of the University of British Columbia examined the findings of every North American study comparing sole and joint custody arrangements. He concluded:
“On every measure of adjustment, children in joint physical custody arrangements were faring significantly better than children in sole custody arrangements: Children in joint custody arrangements had fewer behavior and emotional problems, higher self-esteem, and better family relations and school performance than children in sole custody arrangements’…
With the great weight of social science solidly behind shared parenting, you”d think that courts and legislatures would be doing their utmost to promote it. Sadly, existing laws and court practices often seem designed more to inhibit father-child relationships than to promote them.
To read Franklin’s full column, click here.