Why States Can Protect Kids And Support Equal Shared Parenting

A recent article in The Guardian took a horrific incident in which an Ohio father killed his two children and inexplicably warned that a trend of states pushing for joint custody laws is somehow putting more kids in danger. As the Chair of National Parents Organization, I am concerned that such a poorly informed conclusion threatens to roll back significant progress being made toward establishing laws that ensure that more children reap the benefits of shared parenting.

The most recent progress was in the States of Florida and Missouri. Just last month, Republican Governor DeSantis signed into law House Bill 1301 making the Sunshine State the fourth state — following Kentucky, Arkansas, and West Virginia — to enact an explicit equal parenting presumption. And earlier this month, Governor Parson (R) signed Senate Bill 35 to add Missouri to the equal shared parenting states.