New Study Finds Non-Custodial Parents Only See Children Five Days per Month

 Posted on March 28,2014 in Child Custody

A new study conducted on behalf of Nebraska's State Court Administrator's Office revealed that non-custodial parents spend an average of five days per month with their children. The results came from analyzing child custody and divorce decisions made in Nebraska's family courts for the past 10 years.

The State Court Administrator's Office said that although the numbers were low and inequitable for non-custodial parents, more and more custody decisions that are being made do include a more equitable amount of parenting time, although the office does admit that change has been a slow, gradual one. Multiple past studies have shown that children who have equal contact with both parents do much better emotionally and physically than those who have limited contact with their non-custodial parent. Children also do much better in school. The study looked at 392 cases that came from 67 of Nebraska's counties. There were 663 children whose custodies were decided. Most of the custody cases involved divorce. Some of the findings included:

• In the majority of the cases, it was the mother who was the plaintiff and father who was the defendant.
• Mothers were granted sole custody in 50 percent of the cases. In about 30 percent of the cases, mothers were granted joint custody with the father. Fathers only received sole custody in about 20 percent of the cases.
• One-third of the parenting plans were weekly visitations with the non-custodial parent. Another one-third of the cases had children visiting every other week with the non-custodial parent. The rest had a variety of other arrangements.

Child custody can be the most difficult area to agree on in a divorce. Although this study was conducted in the state of Nebraska, issues of inequitable time and access for non-custodial parents is an issue nationwide, including Illinois. If you are involved in a custody battle, you need an experienced Wheaton divorce attorney representing you and fighting for your parental rights in the courtroom.