Divorce, also known as dissolution of marriage, is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the bonds of matrimony between a married couple under the rule of law of the particular country or state. Divorce laws vary considerably around the world, but in most countries, divorce requires the sanction of a court or other authority in a legal process, which may involve issues of distribution of property, child custody, alimony, child visitation / access, parenting time, child support, and division of debt. In most countries, monogamy is required by law, so divorce allows each former partner to marry another person.
A single parent is a person who lives with a child or children and who does not have a spouse or live-in partner. Reasons for becoming a single parent include divorce, break-up, abandonment, death of the other parent, childbirth by a single person or single-person adoption. A single parent family is a family with children that is headed by a single parent.
Shared parenting, shared residence, joint residence, shared custody or joint physical custody is a child custody arrangement after divorce or separation, in which both parents share the responsibility of raising their child(ren), with equal or close to equal parenting time. A regime of shared parenting is based on the idea that children have the right to and benefit from a close relationship with both their parents, and that no child should be separated from a parent.
Joint custody is a court order whereby custody of a child is awarded to both parties. In the United States, there are two forms of joint custody, joint physical custody and joint legal custody. In joint physical custody, the lodging and care of the child is shared according to a court-ordered parenting schedule with equal or close to equal parenting time. In joint legal custody, both parents share the ability to make decisions about the child, regarding e.g. education, medical care and religion, and both can access their children's educational and health records.
Child custody is a legal term regarding guardianship which is used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent or guardian and a child in that person's care. Child custody consists of legal custody, which is the right to make decisions about the child, and physical custody, which is the right and duty to house, provide and care for the child. Married parents normally have joint legal and physical custody of their children. Decisions about child custody typically arise in proceedings involving divorce, annulment, separation, adoption or parental death. In most jurisdictions child custody is determined in accordance with the best interests of the child standard.
Richard A. Warshak is an American clinical and research psychologist and author. He is best known for his research and advocacy in the areas of child custody, shared parenting, and claims of parental alienation in the context of divorce. Warshak has written three books, The Custody Revolution, Divorce Poison: Protecting the Parent-Child Bond From a Vindictive Ex, and the revised edition, Divorce Poison: How to Protect Your Family from Bad-mouthing and Brainwashing.
The National Parents Organization (NPO) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charitable and educational organization in the United States that promotes shared parenting. The organization focuses on family court reform, research and public education with the goal to make shared parenting the general norm in every state. The stated mission of the organization is to improves the lives of children and strengthen society by protecting every child's right to the love and care of both parents after separation or divorce and to seek better lives for children through family court reform that establishes equal rights and responsibilities for fathers and mothers.
Co-parenting is an enterprise undertaken by parents who together take on the socialization, care, and upbringing of children for whom they share equal responsibility The co-parent relationship differs from an intimate relationship between adults in that it focuses solely on the child. The equivalent term in evolutionary biology is bi-parental care, where parental investment is provided by both the mother and father.
The fathers' rights movement has simultaneously evolved in many countries, advocating for shared parenting after divorce or separation, and the right of children and fathers to have close and meaningful relationships. This article provides details about the fathers' rights movement in specific countries.
Andrzej Nowak is a Polish historian and opinion journalist.
Cecilia Muñoz is an American political advisor who served as Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under President Obama, a position she held for five years. Prior to that, she served as the White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for three years.
David Lawrence Levy was a children's rights activist. The National Partnership for Community Leadership (NPCL) presented Levy with the 2011 Charles Ballard Advocacy Award at NPCL's conference in Washington, D.C.
Joint custody is a form of child custody pursuant to which custody rights are awarded to both parents. Joint custody may refer to joint physical custody, joint legal custody, or both combined.
Families Need Fathers (FNF), founded in 1974, is a registered charitable social care organization in the United Kingdom that provides information, advice and support to parents whose children's relationship with them is under threat during or after divorce or separation, or who have become alienated or estranged from their children. FNF also advocates for shared parenting, more time for children with their non-custodial parent, and stronger court actions when a custodial parent defies court orders requiring them to allow their children a relationship with the other parent. The organisation's goal is that children of divorce or separation should not lose the love and care of one of their parents.
Malin Bergström is a child psychologist and scientist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. She is a specialist in studies concerning the effect on children with different child custody arrangements after divorce or separation. Using cross-sectional and longitudinal study designs, her research group has shown that children have better physical, mental and social outcomes if they live in a shared parenting arrangement compared to primarily living with only one parent.
Edward Kruk is a Canadian sociologist and social worker. He has conducted internationally recognized research on child custody, shared parenting, family mediation, divorced fathers, parental alienation, parental addiction, child protection, and grandparent access to their grandchildren. Kruk is an associate professor of social work at the University of British Columbia. He is the founding president of the International Council on Shared Parenting.
Hildegund Sünderhauf-Kravets is a family law professor at the Lutheran University of Applied Sciences Nuremberg in Germany. She is published in the area of child custody and has authored a book on the topic of shared parenting.
Edwin C. "Ned" Holstein is an American physician and children's rights advocate. He is a founder and chairman of the National Parents Organization, and an advocate for shared parenting as being in the best interest of most children after separation or divorce.
The European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) is a membership and networking organisation for practitioners and researchers of citizen science in Europe. ECSA was founded in 2014 in Germany and is ruled as charitable and member-based professional organization.
