On May 29, 2020 Vancouver is going to host the Fifth International Conference on Shared Parenting. The four previous International Conferences on Shared Parenting considered the implementation of shared parenting, the validity of the research on shared parenting and how shared parenting is consistent with the rights of the child. This time will be different.
Imagine academics and professional practitioners in the fields of Shared Parenting and Family Violence learning from these opposing fields of study to focus on developing best practices and robust safety guidelines for co-parenting after separation within the context of family violence.
Not an easy task considering that shared parenting experts ideally want to ensure equal parenting access during the separation and divorce process. And family violence experts want to protect parents and children from physical, emotional and psychological harm during the separation and divorce process.
Will the facilitated discussion produce a draft framework for a rebuttable legal presumption for shared parenting in the absence of family violence? And will it also produce the foundational agreement that a rebuttable legal presumption should exist against shared parenting in situations of proven family violence?
Scholars, counselors and divorce practitioners are encouraged to attend this history making conference on the intersection of shared parenting and family violence to be part of these landmark discussions.