Traditionally, sole custody to the mother was the only option considered by the courts for divorcing parents. More recently, over half of the states have enacted legislation authorizing joint custody. About 16 percent of separated/divorced couples actually have a joint custody arrangement. In a typical joint custody arrangement, the parents continue to live in close proximity to each other. The
children may spend part of each week with each parent or may spend alternating weeks with each parent. One potential disadvantage of joint custody is that it tends to put hostile ex-spouses in more frequent contact with each other, and the marital war continues. Children do not profit from being subjected to bickering, yet relationships between children and bickering parents are not significantly different from those between children and parents who do not have joint custody. In a national study of children whose parents had a joint custody arrangement, the researchers found no evidence of less conflict or better relationships with their parents than if the children lived with one parent and saw the other on a visitation basis. California, confronted with evidence that joint custody is not always in the best interest of children, has rescinded its 1979 law of "presumptive joint custody." Joint custody has a positive side, however. Ex-spouses may fight less if they have joint custody because there is no inequity in terms of their involvement in their children's lives. Children will benefit from the resultant decrease in hostility between parents who have both "won" them. Unlike sole-parent custody, in which one parent (usually the mother) wins and the other parent loses, joint custody allows children to continue to benefit from the love and attention of both parents. Children in homes where joint custody has been awarded might also have greater financial resources available to them than children in sole-custody homes-fathers awarded joint custody are more likely to pay child support. The author believes that when children live in joint custody arrangements,
a. there is less chance that the child will grow up poor.
b. children will have better relationships with both parents.
c. children will be exposed to less fighting between their parents.
d. parents are more likely to get remarried.
A
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