Shared-Time Parenting After Separation in Australia: Precursors, Prevalence, and Postreform Patterns This work is supported by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (No. FT110100757) awarded to Smyth. Thanks to Bryan Rodgers for valuable comments on an earlier draft and to staff at the Australian Government Department of Human Services, particularly Mark Morrison, for providing customized tables from the Child Support Program administrative caseload. Any shortcomings or errors, of cou

In 2006, sweeping changes to the family law system were introduced in Australia. A central plank running through the changes was the need for courts and divorce professionals to consider whether a child spending 'equal' or else 'substantial and significant' periods of time with each parent would be in the child's best interests and be reasonably practicable. More recently, family violence amendments have led to greater weight being given to protecting children from harm. Yet neither set of legislative amendments appears to have led to marked changes in the incidence of shared-time arrangements. We explore possible reasons for this surprising outcome. Key Points for the Family Court Community: In Australia, shared-time arrangements in the general population of separating parents gradually increased early this century but appear to have plateaued in recent years. Legislation to encourage shared-time parenting did not result in a marked increase in the prevalence or incidence of these arrangements. Nor did subsequent family violence amendments that give greater weight to protecting children from harm lead to a marked decline in shared time. Consent orders for shared time without litigation have increased steadily over the past decade. By contrast, the proportion (10%) of orders made by a judge for shared time has remained relatively consistent over the past decade. Curiously, the proportion of children in shared-time arrangements arrived at by consent orders after proceedings have been instituted appear to have almost doubled following the shared-parenting amendments of 2006 (from 13% to 24%) and then almost halved after the family violence amendments of 2011 (back to 14%). However, caution is needed in interpreting these data because of sampling issues. Over the past decade, parenting orders have generally become more detailed in setting out the division of parenting time. The introduction of mandatory mediation along with new and expanded relationship support services may be helping parents to consider the benefits and risks of shared-time arrangements for their children.