Sharing Responsibilities for Children After Separation: A European Perspective

Abstract

<p><span>(Policy frameworks in some countries encourage both parents</span><br><span>to share responsibility for children after separation, but we</span><br><span>know little about whether responsibility for major decision-</span><br><span>making or day-to-day living arrangements (placement) are</span><br><span>assigned to one parent or shared between them. In this paper</span><br><span>we use recently-released data (European Union Statistics on</span><br><span>Income and Living Conditions, EU-SILC) to document the extent</span><br><span>to which children in 20 countries have responsibilities shared</span><br><span>between the parents, assigned to only one, or a mixture. Using</span><br><span>an index that combines decision-making and placement, we</span><br><span>find</span><span> </span><span>substantial</span><span> </span><span>differences</span><span> </span><span>across</span><span> </span><span>countries,</span><span> </span><span>confirming</span><br><span>research showing great variation in living arrangements and</span><br><span>adding variation in decision-making. We explore potential rea</span><span>-</span><br><span>sons for different levels of shared responsibility across countries.</span><br><span>Using simple bivariate statistics, we find higher levels of sharing</span><br><span>when the legal context acknowledged sharing longer ago, and</span><br><span>when there are higher levels of gender equality, educational</span><br><span>attainment, and parental separation.</span><br></p>