While there is no cut-and-dry answer to this question, one report in 2018 showed that our state’s fathers are typically awarded 32 percent less parenting time than mothers. Research, across the board, shows that states lack sufficient laws to support, or to entice court decisions for equal shared parenting time.

There is no doubt that, when both parties are fit to be parents, a child will benefit from spending time and building bonds with both. No child deserves to be forced to cut-off communication with a parent just because the adults are unable to set their differences aside. The child’s best interests should always come first.

Statistics show an overwhelming number of fatherless or single-parent children make up some of our nations most troubled youth. In 2018, 71 percent of the total number of high school dropouts, and 90 percent of homeless and runaway children were derived from this group. Such astounding numbers should send a wake-up call to lawmakers that relationships with fathers are equally as important as those with mothers.

The states of Kentucky and Arizona are the only two in the country to receive a grade of, “A” from the National Parents Organization regarding shared parenting legislation. All others ranged from, “C” to “F”. Those standards are determined with a goal of neither parent receiving less than one-third parenting time, and as close to equal parenting time as possible.

Even in our current society, when children need the guidance of both parents more than ever, custody and parenting time is still an uphill battle for fathers in almost any courtroom in the nation. No father should face it alone.