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4 - Reasons for the Demise of Sole Custody

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2011

Patrick Parkinson
Patrick Parkinson
Affiliation:
University of Sydney
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Summary

How are we to understand the profound change in the language and content of custody laws over the last forty years, and the equally profound changes in patterns of parenting after separation? The legislative changes have been all the more remarkable because they have not gone unchallenged. Yet in the main, the tide of change has flowed inexorably away from traditional conceptualizations of custody and toward an understanding of divorce as a restructuring of the arrangements in a family that continues after separation.

One way of understanding this tide of change is in terms of winners and losers, with every gain for men being a defeat for women in a zero-sum game. This was, for example, how the movement toward joint legal custody was characterized by some in the 1980s. Although there can be little doubt that debates about custody law reform have been strongly influenced by the advocacy of gender-based pressure groups, this advocacy has reflected larger social trends and attitudinal changes. Away from the dust of battle in legislatures and the rhetoric of law reviews and Internet sites, it is evident that there has been a quiet sea change occurring in the hearts and minds of the general population around the western world concerning parenting after separation, including those who are separated or divorced.

CHANGES IN COMMUNITY ATTITUDES TOWARD PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

The extent of change in community attitudes about parenting after separation can be illustrated by reference to studies in Australia that indicate that the concept of shared parenting has very widespread support, including in the divorced population.

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Family Law and the Indissolubility of Parenthood , pp. 66 - 90
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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