CHILD CUSTODY, ACCESS AND PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY: THE SEARCH FOR A JUST AND EQUITABLE STANDARD

Dear Peter: Our thanks to Jeremy Swanson from Canada for alerting us to this report by University of British Columbia professor, Dr. Ed Kruk. 
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CHILD CUSTODY, ACCESS AND PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY: THE SEARCH FOR A JUST AND EQUITABLE STANDARD

Edward Kruk, M.S.W., Ph.D. The University of British Columbia December, 2008  

This paper was commissioned by the Father Involvement Research Alliance (FIRA) based at the University of Guelph . Funding support for FIRA and this paper was provided through a Community University Research Alliance grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The intent of this paper is to promote informed dialogue and debate. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of FIRA or of other researchers/collaborators associated with FIRA. Communications can be addressed to the author. 

Entitled "Child Custody, Access, and Parental Responsibility: The Search for a Just and Equitable Standard,", it has been published December, 2008 by Fatherhood Involvement Research Alliance (FIRA). Edward Kruk, professor of social work at the University of British Columbia , proposes a four-pillar approach to child custody determination in Canada (or elsewhere for that matter):

• a rebuttable legal presumption of joint physical custody after divorce
• parenting plans, mediation and intervention/ support in high conflict cases
• shared parenting education and judicial determination in cases of established abuse, along with enforcement of shared parental responsibility orders

The paper provides an empirical foundation for, and a step-by-step process, for implementation of an  equal parenting bill. 

The paper examines the issues, surveys approaches in UK, USA, Sweden and Australia, examines Canadian Child custody legislation at a provincial level, reviews Canadian efforts to make changes, and critiques the traditional sole custody approach as a basis leading up to the universal four-pillar approach for Equal Parenting.

The link to the  full paper (101 pages with over a 100 references) is: http://www.fira. ca/cms/documents /181/ChildCustod y.Kruk.Fullpdf. pdf

The link to the executive summary (9 pages) is: http://www.fira.ca/cms/documents/179/ChildCustody-ExecSummary.pdf

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Enjoy the paper, it should be useful to your Shared Parenting efforts.
Sincerely,
Mike McCormick, Exec. Dir.
ACFC