There are indications in many western countries of a very significant growth in shared parenting arrangements over the last ten-to-fifteen years, particularly where parents had previously been married. A substantial number of children, even quite young children, alternate between their parents' homes. At the policy level, a number of jurisdictions now have legislation that gives some encouragement to consider shared parenting arrangements, and the trend in terms of law reform is strongly in that direction in situations where there are no issues of violence or abuse.

THE GROWTH OF SHARED PARENTING

There is no set definition of what shared parenting means, but there is widespread agreement that it need not mean equal time. In some jurisdictions, the definition is set by legislation. In Utah, for example, joint physical custody is defined to mean that the child stays with each parent overnight for more than 30 percent of the year. In Australia, shared care is defined as 35 percent of nights or more per year for each parent as a result of changes made in 2008 to the child support legislation.

Perhaps the most dramatic example of the growth of shared parenting is Sweden, where equal time, or alternating residence arrangements, have become quite common. In 1984–85, 1 percent of Swedish parents who were living apart had equal time arrangements. By 2006–07 it had increased to 28 percent. Almost half of the children aged six to nine whose parents do not live together live in approximately equal time arrangements.