Guests: Katharine Bartlett
Dean, Duke University Law School
Ron Henry
Child advocacy attorney in Washington, DC
Martha Fineman
Professor, Cornell University
Twenty years ago, a divorced family photo album generally showed mom and the kids at the dinner table and the school parking lot, with the pictures of dad and the kids at the zoo or the ballpark. Today, more parents are opting for custody arrangements that share day-to-day childrearing duties as well as legal responsibilities. Fathers' rights groups say joint physical custody is a vindication for dads who have been relegated to the unemotional role of financial provider. But opponents say courts that prescribe shared parenting have lost sight of children's best interest. Does the time kids spend with their divorced parents need to be equal time to be quality time, or have the courts taken gender equity too far? Join guest host Lynn Neary for a look at the pros and cons of joint physical custody for divorced families.
Copyright 2000 NPR
