Keeping the Child in Mind? Family Functioning and Experiences of Shared Parenting After Separation

到5岁时，英国25%的孩子将经历父母分居，这是一个情感和行为问题的风险因素，对个人和社会都有长期的影响。除了处理情绪、财务问题，对许多人来说，还有离婚问题，有孩子的夫妇还必须妥善处理分居后的生活和照顾安排。许多家长和专业人士主张，体验“共同照顾”（即父母双方至少分配30%的育儿时间）符合孩子的最大利益。然而，探索不同的分居后养育安排与孩子的社会、情感和学业适应之间联系的证据，主要是基于英国以外的研究，这些研究比较了与主要居住地共同照顾的孩子的结果。对结果的强调往往掩盖了孩子们对这些安排的体验。儿童和年轻人通常对与父母双方的关系质量感到满意，但他们也报告了与日常生活相关的独特挑战，这些日常生活不灵活，不能满足他们的需求。然而，八岁以下儿童的声音在很大程度上被忽视了，90%在家事法庭之外做出安排的家庭的经历也是如此。尽管据估计，9%的英国家庭在分居后会共同照顾孩子，但人们对共同抚养孩子的内容（例如，过夜次数）和方式（例如，共同抚养的质量）的差异的理解非常有限，最重要的是，这些差异如何与共同抚养孩子的经历和结果联系在一起。现在，父母和支持他们的专业人士比以往任何时候都更需要经验证据来回答关于最佳分居后养育的基本问题。分居的夫妻如何共同抚养孩子？这些家庭的关系是怎样的？孩子们对这种安排有什么看法？家庭应该如何得到最好的支持？最近的事件使解决这一证据差距变得紧迫。首先，大流行导致英国父母冲突和离婚调查增加。其次，生活成本危机可能会加剧分居父母的压力和住房困难。第三，法律的变化可能会导致生活在英国不同司法管辖区的家庭分离后的不同经历。例如，《离婚、解散和分居法案》于2022年4月在英格兰和威尔士生效，其中包括从诉讼开始到法院确认至少5个月的时间，以便有更多的时间进行实际安排，包括与孩子有关的安排。为了解决这些问题，该项目有三个目标：1。收集新颖的经验证据，研究120个有4至8岁儿童的共享父母家庭的家庭功能和儿童适应。探索苏格兰和英格兰共同养育孩子的经验。举办一个混合的国际研讨会，汇集学者、家庭司法专业人士和支持分离后家庭的组织，探讨成功的共同养育对父母和孩子意味着什么。本研究建立在首席研究员作为ESRC博士后研究员进行的试点工作的基础上，研究问题来自与父母，儿童，律师，大律师，调解人，慈善机构，家庭支持专业人员和家庭法，心理学，教育和儿童权利学者的对话。通过在项目期间与这些团体合作，研究结果将通过为正在经历分离的父母提供的资源直接使家庭受益。虽然这项研究将重点放在没有上法庭的家庭上，但与家庭司法从业者和政策制定者分享这些发现将为家庭经历和儿童参与分居后的育儿安排提供更广阔的视角。

By age five, 25% of children in the UK will have experienced their parents' separation, a risk factor for emotional and behavioural problems which have long-term personal and societal costs. Alongside managing emotions, finances, and, for many, divorce, couples with children must also navigate post-separation living and care arrangements. Many parents and professionals advocate that it is in the child's best interests to experience 'shared care' (i.e., a minimum of 30% of the parenting time is allocated to each parent). Yet, the evidence exploring links between different post-separation parenting arrangements and children's social, emotional and academic adjustment is largely based on studies outside of the UK that compare outcomes for children in shared care with a primary residence. The emphasis on outcomes often eclipses children's experiences of these arrangements. Children and young adults often describe feeling satisfied with the quality of the relationship with both parents but report unique challenges associated with routines that aren't flexible and responsive to their needs. However, the voices of children under eight have been largely overlooked, as have the experiences of the 90% of families who make arrangements outside of the family courts. Though it is estimated 9% of UK families engage in shared care after separating, there is very limited understanding of differences in both the what (e.g., number of overnight stays) and the how of shared parenting (i.e., co-parenting quality) and, crucially, how these link to children's experiences of and outcomes within shared-parenting families. Now, more than ever, parents and the professionals who support them need empirical evidence that answers fundamental questions about optimal post-separation parenting. How do separated couples manage shared parenting? What are relationships like within these families? How do children feel about this arrangement? How should families be best supported? Recent events make addressing this evidence gap pressing. First, the pandemic has seen an increase in parental conflict and divorce enquiries in the UK. Second, the cost of living crisis is likely to exacerbate stress and housing difficulties for separating parents. Third, changes in the law may lead to different post-separation experiences for families living in different UK jurisdictions. For example the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill came into law in England and Wales in April 2022 and includes a minimum period of 5 months from the start of proceedings to court confirmation to enable more time for practical arrangements, including in relation to children. To address these questions, the project has three objectives:1. Collect NOVEL EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE to examine family functioning and child adjustment in 120 shared-parenting families with children aged 4 to 8 years old.2. Explore CHILDREN'S EXPERIENCES of shared parenting in Scotland and England.3. Host a hybrid, international WORKSHOP to bring together academics, family-justice professionals and organisations that support families after separation to explore what successful shared parenting might mean for parents and children. This study builds on pilot work conducted by the Principal Investigator as an ESRC Post-Doctoral Fellow and the research questions arise from conversations with parents, children, solicitors, barristers, mediators, charities, family-support professionals and scholars in family law, psychology, education and children's rights. By working with these groups during the project, the findings will benefit families directly via resources offered to parents going through separation. Though this study will focus on families who do not go to court, sharing these findings with family-justice practitioners and policy makers will provide a wider perspective of family experiences and children's involvement in post-separation parenting arrangements.