Post-separation patterns of children's overnight stays with each parent: A detailed snapshot

Bruce Smyth*, Bryan Rodgers, Liz Allen, Vu Son

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    9 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Despite widespread interest in patterns of parenting after separation over the past decade - especially in shared-time arrangements - few studies have explored the detail of post-separation parenting time schedules. This article: (a) provides a detailed snapshot of children's overnight stays with each parent among a national random sample of 408 separated parents registered with the Australian Child Support Agency (CSA); and (b) develops a typology of parenting time that emphasises the contiguity of overnights and the frequency of children's transitions between parents' homes. Parenting time schedules are examined across a range of residence levels from 1-8 overnight stays per fortnight with fathers. While many separated fathers see their children mainly on weekends, the immense diversity of modern parenting time schedules points to a greater sharing of parental responsibilities and richer range of parenting contexts post-separation than previously evident in Australia. The article encourages researchers, parents, practitioners and policymakers to adopt a multi-dimensional view of parenting time rather than focus on time simply as a number or percentage.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)202-221
    Number of pages20
    JournalJournal of Family Studies
    Volume18
    Issue number2-3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Dec 2012

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