How Often Do Separated and Divorced Fathers Live with Their Children?
By: John Hoffman Anecdotal evidence suggests that more and more parents who reach separation or divorce agreements outside of court are opting for shared living arrangements, where their children reside more or less equal time with each parent. However, it has been difficult to assess the exact prevalence of this practice. Clearly, there is a trend towards more joint custody in court-contested divorces. In 2003, 44% of court-contested divorces resulted in joint custody, up from 21% in 1995 (Statistics Canada). However, joint custody seldom results shared living arrangements. Analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Children and Youth (NLSCY) showed that, in 1998/99 shared living arrangements were in place in only 12% of children whose parents had separated in the previous two years (Department of Justice. 2004). It has been more difficult to obtain data on living arrangements for the majority (72%) of parents (Statistics Canada, 2004) whose agreements are not decided by
