
1.
Shared parenting
Stating that "children need two parents" and that "children
have a fundamental human right to an opportunity and relationship with both
their mother and father", members of the fathers’ rights movement call for
greater equality in parental responsibility following separation and divorce.
They call for laws creating a rebuttable presumption of 50/50 shared custody
after divorce or separation, so that children would spend equal time with each
parent unless there were reasons against it. They point to studies showing that
children in shared custody settings are better adjusted and have fewer social
problems such as low academic achievement, crime, pregnancy, substance abuse,
depression and suicide, and state that shared parenting is in fact in the best
interests of the child. Warren Farrell states that for children, equally shared
parenting with three conditions (the child has about equal time with mom and
dad, the parents live close enough to each other that the child does not need
to forfeit friends or activities when visiting the other parent, and there is
no bad-mouthing) is the second best family arrangement to the intact two-parent
family, followed by primary father custody and then primary mother custody, and
he adds that if shared parenting cannot be agreed upon, children on average are
better off psychologically, socially, academically, and physically, have higher
levels of empathy and assertiveness, and lower levels of ADHD, if their father
is their primary custodial parent rather than their mother.
