In case you have not read the papers lately there is a renewed push to re-visit the idea of a presumption of shared parenting, but this time to revoke it. Of course the Family Law Act does not actually provide that there should be shared parenting, it states that there is a presumption for shared parental responsibility, which is the platform for a Judge to consider shared parenting.
It should not come as a surprise to anyone that no matter how much you try and put a round peg into a square hole, it won't work.
Shared care does not work for everyone, nor in every case. It is extremely unlikely to work if the parents find themselves in the Court arena. Why? Because if the parties are so hostile toward one another that they cannot discuss and work out what is in their children's best interest common sense dictates shared care will not work.
The shame in the research and debate and statistics is that none of the cases where shared care works are cited or probably even examined, because those parents had enough sense to stay out of system.
The other shame is that the knee jerk reaction to any parental dispute (if one is unfortunate to be in the court system) of most Judges and Magistrates will be to minimise time one parent can spend with the child or children, which no doubt leads to more conflict between the parents.
If you find yourself in this predicament you should read publications by Jill Burrett. You can find her work at the following link:
http://www.carringtonpsychology.com.au/
What should be important in cases where parents have separated should be the quality of time parents spent with their children, which of course means they have to be able to spend some time with them and not snatches here and there.
No doubt this problem won't go away. However, it can be minimised if people would approach the dispute from a different perspective and not rely so much on the legal system to solve their dispute, instead using services like psychologists/counsellors and mediators.
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