The raison d'être of the father’s rights movement is the implementation of presumed 50/50 custody laws in all fifty states.
Many fathers’ rights groups in Illinois, such as “Dads Can Too,” emphasize the importance of beginning from a presumption of 50-50 custody because it pushes back against the historical assumption that children should spend a majority of the time living with the mother, while the father has less parenting time. In other words, historically, courts have favored giving more parenting time (or physical custody, as it used to be called) to mothers, while many fathers believed that they had an uphill battle and the burden of proving that they should share custody.
Presumed 50/50 is the argument made in the propaganda film We the Parents. The National Parents Organization (NPO), a notorious father’s rights group, is one of the sponsors of the film.
In Australia, they’ve gone the other way, reversing this failed experiment. The country has had presumed shared parenting since 2006, but no more.
In October 2023, the federal parliament passed major changes to how children’s cases are decided under the Family Law Act, which kick in next month.
Among other things, they repeal a controversial legal presumption introduced in 2006. It was presumed that “equal shared parental responsibility” is in the best interests of children.
In many cases, this is true. But in cases of family violence, assuming both parents should have equal responsibility for a child can be dangerous.
The journey to having this presumption removed has been long and littered with countless reviews, inquiries and evaluations. How did it come to be in the first place, and what effect will these legal changes have on children?
Now that its failure has ended in the land down under, it’s important to examine why and the implications for the US.
