Georgia Shared & Equal Parenting: Social Science

Here are some basic factual questions about custody cases in Georgia that need to do be answered with data and statistics from social science:

How many divorced (or separated, or similar) parents are there in Georgia?
What are the various custody arrangements, by numbers or percentages?
What percent or number of cases have something close to a 50/50% shared parenting arrangement?

In these cases, why is this the case?

Mother sought it? Father sought it? Both agreed? It was ordered? How did this happen?
What has been the parents experience with this?

What percentage of cases have a more standard 'shared' physical custody, with one parent having the child(ren) most of the time?

In these cases, why was this case?

Standard custom? Parental availability? Any good reason?
Would a parent, or both parents, prefer something close to a 50/50% shared parenting arrangement?

Did a parent seek shared parenting, but did not succeed?

If so, why? Too expensive to fight? Contrary to social expectations? Too difficult in other ways? What happened?

These are just a few questions; it'd be great to have data to answer them!

Goals and Purposes

Shared parenting advocates’ main goal is that there be a legal presumption in child custody (i.e., separation or divorce) cases that the child or children be in the care of each parent approximately 50% of the time. This results in equal responsibility and equal opportunity for flourishing parent-child relationships. Equality should be the standard or starting point: the ‘burden of proof’ is on anyone seeking a non-equal custody arrangement.

Currently, many parents must expend considerable effort and resources to achieve shared parenting equality. This is because the current common custody arrangement is that the children will spend most of their time with one parent: that is, custody is not shared. This is often unfair to, and violates the rights of, all involved.

The current purposes of this page are that it to help interested people in Georgia find each other so they can work together for change. Google searches on these topics in Georgia yield few results, but eventually this page will be found by anyone researching these topics. (If there is such a group of Georgians working on this issue, please let me know, since we don’t want to re-invent the wheel).

This page will also serve as an archive of relevant information, links and readings. There is a lot to learn about history, the courts, procedures, how laws are made and changed, relevant social science, and much more. This page will serve as a source for materials for anyone seeking to learn what's necessary to make change.

This page will also provide resources for parents currently seeking a shared parenting arrangement. The legal system does not make this option an obvious or easy one: the relevant forms and procedures are developed on the assumption that the child(ren) will be with one parent, most of the time. Avoiding that result, however, can be done, and this page will help individuals overcome the obstacles.

Contact:

georgiasharedparenting@gmail.com

Pages

Social Science