During the height of the COVID disruptions in 2020, Chief Administrative Justice Michael A. Albis reformed Connecticut’s family court system through his bold Triage & Pathways initiative. Key provisions of the new approach, early intervention by Family Relations and new court proceedings effective October 1, 2021 (under Public Act 21-104), allow two fit parents who meet certain conditions to adopt their parenting plan , without hiring lawyers and filing motions or arguing before a judge.
Mediation through family relationships or a parent-chosen mediator is now encouraged by Triage and Pathways. Judge Albis’ own words explain:
This approach encourages collaborative, child-centric solutions rather than adversarial litigation, which often prevents separated parents from focusing on raising their children. Triage & Pathways procedures encourage parents to find out about the joint and parallel upbringing of their children in separate households. Parents can use the money they pay attorneys and court-appointed professionals — typically $15,000 and often much, much more — to benefit their children.
The National Parents Organization (sharedparenting.org), along with the Shared Parenting Council of Connecticut (sharedparentinginc.org), commissioned a survey of Connecticut citizens’ views on raising children from separate households. The poll, conducted in late summer 2021 by respected independent polling firm Researchscape International, found a stunning consensus: strong support for Triage & Pathways and for co-parenting as the norm when parents are separated.
When asked if children are best served with processes that allow them to “develop a parenting plan without hiring attorneys, filing applications, or arguing in front of a judge,” 80% of men and women said “yes” . Should a child have plenty of time with each fit and willing parent? Over 95% say this arrangement is extremely or very beneficial!
Over 85% of men and women support changing Connecticut law to “create a rebuttable presumption that co-parenting after a parental separation is in a child’s best interests.” And an impressive 94% say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate that “supports children who spend significant, up to equal, periods of time with each parent following a parent’s separation or divorce.” 83 percent think giving sole custody to just one parent increases conflict. Here is a link to the full survey results.
What convinces Connecticut parents to support co-parenting? Well, we now have over 40 years of scientific research showing that in the vast majority of cases, children are well served when both parents share parenting responsibilities, provided both parents are fit. On every metric of well-being, children who enjoy co-parenting perform about as well as children whose parents live together. And they fare much better than children raised by only one parent with minimal involvement of the other parent. These conclusions are not supported by a handful of studies, but by more than 60 independent studies conducted by Dr. Linda Nielsen (Wake Forest University) were evaluated. (See here for significant recent research.)
The Connecticut legislature can and should take steps to make co-parenting the norm. Creating a legal presumption that broad sharing of parental responsibilities is in the best interests of children would help break the outdated custodial/non-custodial parent model that too many parents fall into by default. And it would reassure parents that a divorce/separation need not affect their relationship with their children, thereby reducing the level of anxiety and trauma some parents face when faced with the prospect of making a difference in their children’s lives to be marginalized.
That’s what Connecticut voters overwhelmingly want. More kids in Connecticut deserve that.
John M. Clapp, PhD, and Eric L. Gladstein, DMD, are Chair and Vice Chair, respectively, of the Connecticut, Inc. Shared Parenting Council. The Board of Directors of the SPC unanimously voted to publish this commentary.
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