Post-separation parenting arrangements: patterns and developmental outcomes. Studies of two risk groups

The importance for children's wellbeing, long-term adjustment and maintenance of loving and supportive relationships with both parents after divorce is well documented. However, questions remain about links between parenting arrangements and relationship outcomes, specifically in terms of the ways that shared overnight care after separation may interact with complex developmental or family circumstances to influence children's outcomes. This article summarises two recent Australian studies of post-separation shared parenting arrangements, with a focus on developmental outcomes for children in two risk groups: children living with ongoing parental conflict after separation, and infants and pre-schoolers. Both studies help to illuminate the socio-economic, relationship and developmental "equipment" required for translating a shared time arrangement post separation into a developmentally supportive experience for the children concerned.