Shared Parenting and Never Married Families

Abstract

This commentary on the AFCC Think Tank Report identifies the social, legal, and economic barriers to shared parenting that disproportionately impact never-married, low-income, African American, and Latino parents, including difficulties establishing parental rights, maternal gatekeeping, lack of access to legal services, and the norm of economic fatherhood. This commentary argues that, by focusing on divorcing parents to the exclusion of nonmarital families, the Report missed an opportunity to address the needs of children who are most likely to experience poor outcomes associated with single-parent families.

Keywords: African American families, Latino/Hispanic families, custody, low-Income fathers, nonmarital children, nonmarital Families, shared parenting, unmarried/never-married parents