Study finds shared parenting detrimental to children

I came across this story in Adelaide Now, via the Australian Divorce Blog.

In 2006 the Australian Government introduced a shared parenting model, in response to lobbying by fathers' rights groups, to replace the idea of ‘custody’ or 'ownership' of children. Now, a University of South Australia research paper, which was based on interviews of children from divorced families, has found that: "the one-size-fits-all practice now favoured by the courts was focused on what parents wanted rather than children's wellbeing", and that it has resulted in bad outcomes for many children.

I'm not going to make much comment upon this, as I'm obviously not an expert upon the Australian shared parenting model, and I haven't read the research paper. However, I have previously indicated here that I am in favour of a presumption (or starting-point) of shared residence, which appears to be similar to the Australian model, and this research does remind us that any such model must remain centred upon what is best for the child, rather than what is best for the parents.