When dealing with divorce and its impact on children, one of the best potential ways to mitigate complications is through the use of certain custody measures.
Joint custody, for example, can help a child through the years following a split. But is this an actually viable option for every family?
When a parent cannot get involved
Psychology Today discusses joint custody. Despite the numerous benefits associated with it, it does not necessarily fit every family’s needs or wants.
For example, in some families, one parent has no desire or means to stay involved in their child’s life. Some parents simply want no contact with a child after a divorce. Others, such as active duty service people or incarcerated individuals, do not have the ability to spend time with their child freely.
In other cases, one parent may actually be under investigation for abuse or neglect. Whether this is toward their spouse or child is negligible because the outcome is the same: the parent should not have contact with the child, as a vulnerable individual.
Working through disagreements
However, joint custody should not necessarily be removed from the potential options if the biggest concern of the parents is whether or not they can manage to cooperate with one another.
After all, joint custody has numerous documented benefits for children of divorce. This includes lower rates of anxiety and depression as directly tied to divorce, as well as better coping mechanisms that can last a lifetime.
Parents who cannot agree with one another could evoke the help of a mediator or make other choices that allow them to manage their disagreements while also providing the stability of joint custody.