Advancing Research on Shared Parenting
There is a compelling & growing consensus among researchers that true shared parenting by separated parents is usually best for children.
Research will help pave the way for shared parenting reform.
What matters to children's well-being is how separated parents actually handle parenting responsibilities, not what statutes and court rules say. Unfortunately, statutes, court rules and court practices heavily influence parental expectations and childrearing decisions.
As a result of the powerful influence that these factors exert on families, NPO is committed to conducting research on the state statutes concerning shared parenting and the court rules on parenting time. Improving these laws and rules is one component in promoting children's best interests and is critical to our mission of ensuring the well-being of young people experiencing divorce or parental separation.
Research provides the academic foundation for policy changes to promote shared parenting, reduce parental alienation, and develop child support policies that truly promote children’s best interests.
EXPLORE OUR PUBLICATIONS
2022 Child Support and Shared Parenting Report Card
In the first of its kind study, NPO has examined in detail the child support guidelines of each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, grading them on the degree to which they encourage or discourage shared parenting.
2019 NPO Shared Parenting Report Card
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This report examines the degree to which all 50 state legislatures have absorbed and acted on the scientific consensus on the benefits of shared parenting.
2017 Shared Parenting Conference
In partnership with the International Council on Shared Parenting, NPO organized & sponsored the most significant conference on child well-being and separated parenting.
Child Support and the Cost of Raising Children
This map illustrates the wide variations in child support orders between states and the degree to which they diverge from what would be ordered based on estimated costs of raising a child.
NPO Ohio Parenting Time Report
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This study examined the default parenting time schedules in each of Ohio’s 88 counties and uncovered extreme variations in these rules.
2014 NPO Shared Parenting Report Card
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The nation’s first comprehensive review with state-by-state grades on child custody statutes as they relate to shared parenting.