PRESS RELEASE
G. Lawrence DeMarco, LLM
Email: info@menandboys.net
Phone: +1-215-901-1930

To Protect Our Children’s Futures, Equal Shared Parenting Must Become the Norm

July 10, 2025 – Child welfare organizations around the world are reporting a surge in cases of abuse and neglect by single mothers. For example, recent cases in South Africa include:

  • A six-year-old boy badly beaten by his mother, resulting in bruises on his face, back, and arms.
  • A two-year-old girl left unsupervised and subsequently raped by a neighbor.
  • A four-week baby girl assaulted by her mother.

The causes of this abuse were attributed in part to father separation, as well as loss of financial support, poverty, and unemployment (1).

These cases highlight a worldwide crisis: children raised without fathers face a broad range of elevated risks. Around 85% of incarcerated youth, 71% of high school dropouts, and 85% of children with behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes (2).

A British study found children of single mothers face a 14-fold higher risk of serious abuse and a 7-fold higher risk of fatal abuse, compared to children raised by married biological parents (3).

Similarly, the U.S. National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect found that children living with a single parent are at significantly higher risk of abuse, compared to those living with both parents (4):

  • 64% greater risk of emotional neglect
    • 165% greater risk of physical neglect
    • 77% greater risk of physical abuse
    • 80% greater risk of serious injury or harm

A Journal of Family Psychology meta-analysis found that children in joint custody arrangements have significantly better emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes (5). And family courts that don’t presume equal shared parenting tend to marginalize one parent, usually the father.

The 2023 International Council on Shared Parenting, held in Athens, Greece, concluded that shared parenting improves child well-being and reduces abuse risk (6). Dr. Linda Nielsen’s review of over 40 studies also supports these findings (7).

Global Prevalence and Trends

  • Northern and Western Europe: Recent data from 17 European countries shows that only 12.5% of children from separated families live in equal joint physical custody (JPC) arrangements, with substantial variation across countries. Fortunately, the prevalence of JPC has doubled in less than 20 years, and is most common in Sweden, Finland, Belgium, and several other Northern and Western European nations. (8)(9)
  • United States: The 2025 Shared Parenting Report Card found that only four U.S. states earned top grades for supporting shared parenting, while nearly half scored “D” or “F” (10).

In a survey of 34 Western countries, shared parenting was most prevalent in Scandinavia (Sweden: 17% in 2006, rising to 28% by 2017), with lower rates in Eastern and Southern Europe, North America, and the UK. (11)

Equal shared parenting must become the legal default around the world. It is the pathway to child safety, emotional stability, and fairness in family law.

 The International Council for Men and Boys is a non-governmental organization addressing the 12 major disparities affecting men and boys worldwide. Achieving #GenderEqualityForMen will also benefit women. https://www.menandboys.net/

Links:

  1. https://iol.co.za/thepost/community-news/2025-02-15-child-neglect-and-abuse-cases-by-mothers-and-their-partners-surge/#google_vignette
  2. https://www.nolongerfatherless.org/statistics
  3. https://endtodv.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/False-Allegations-Harm-Families.pdf: Whelan R. Broken Homes and Battered Children. London: Family Education Trust, 1993.
  4. https://endtodv.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/False-Allegations-Harm-Families.pdf: Sedlak AJ and Broadhurst DD. The Third National Incidence Study of Child Abuse andNeglect (NIS-3): Final Report, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, Washington, DC, September 1996.
  5. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.16.1.91
  6. https://www.twohomes.org/conclusions-of-the-sixth-international-conference-on-shared-parenting/
  7. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-47436-003
  8. https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol49/18/49-18.pdf
  9. https://www.niussp.org/family-and-households/joint-physical-custody-of-children-in-europe-a-growing-phenomenon/
  10. https://www.sharedparenting.org/2025-shared-parenting-report-card
  11. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/articles/Shared_custody