Judiciary committee member, Delegate Jill Carter, has been a great friend of Shared Parenting and last year introduced House Bill 925 calling for a presumption of equal physical placement and joint legal custody. She is reintroducing the bill this year (it will have a different bill number but the language will be substantively the same). It should be filed sometime next week.
Shared parenting or joint custody, which would include joint legal custody and joint physical custody, is the common term used to describe a family arrangement after separation or divorce, in which the care of the children is substantially shared between the father and mother, leading to a situation where the child knows that both of his/her parent’s are involved in his/her upbringing.
Research and studies that are over a quarter century old show the significant benefits for children of shared parenting or joint physical custody (see Shared Parenting – Fact and Fiction).
