Proposed Divorce Legislation: Children Gets Equal Time With Divorced Mom And Dad

A divorce is always sad, especially when there are kids involved. Children might become deprived of having both parents guiding and taking care of them when a divorce happens.

Fortunately, a proposed legislation in Missouri is pushing for children to get equal time between their divorced parents, according to KY3. The legislation has already been pushed in both the Missouri house and in the Senate.

The proposed legislation will require the father and mother to alternately take care of the child every week. However, parents can also submit an agreed-upon alternative schedule for approval if they do not like the weekly alternate custody plan that is set up by the legislation.

"The one thing that's in common is what the children need, and generally speaking, they are hard wired; children are just hard wired to need both biological parents," Andrea Bishop, executive director of the Betty and Bobby Allison Ozarks Counseling Center told KY3.  Bishop also said that children are more harmed by the absence of a parent compared to the presence of a flawed and imperfect parent.

This new legislation will not only be beneficial for children but also to parents. "The ability for me to be in her life more frequently than every other weekend is something that I think is very beneficial," divorced parent Jeff Brannock told KY3.

Divorce can also bring different harmful effects on children, according to The Week. Children of divorced parents are more likely to start smoking; acquire attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and get prescriptions of Ritalin; have poorer math skills; become more socially awkward and withdrawn; become more vulnerable to different diseases; drop out of school; engage in various criminal behaviors; have a stroke; become divorced themselves in the future; and have a shorter lifespan compared to children who have their parents together.