A new study has found that shared custody arrangements in child custody cases are the best for the children involved. It found that having both parents in a child’s life increases the likelihood of a child having a happy and healthy life after a divorce.
A team of researchers at Wake Forest University conducted the study. The team said that unless the child needs protection from a parent who is abusive, either emotionally or physically, the child should have a relationship with both parents as much as possible. The team also found that more than 80 percent of the time courts award mothers custody of the children.
Trends Still Support Mothers for Custody
And so, the reason that this trend continues is that judges still feel that mothers are better able to shield their children from conflict. Specifically, if conflict is present between divorcing spouses. Not surprisingly, a lot of this conflict comes out during child custody battles. The research team also found that it’s hard to judge conflict because some parents exaggerate issues simply to win custody.
Things Do Get Better
Ultimately, however, the research team stated that conflict will typically subside after a year or two following the divorce. This is nice, but a child custody arrangement tends to last through childhood. Unfortunately, it can be too late to mend the relationships between parents and children when joint custody is not an option.
An experienced divorce attorney in Warwick can answer all of your questions and make it easier to understand how important joint custody arrangements can be.
Source: Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, “New research supports shared custody for children in divorce,” Oct. 03, 2017