Is shared care indicated or contraindicated following parental separation?

There is currently a multitude of research relating to shared care and its effect on a child's psychosocial wellbeing following parental separation. However, there is no clear consensus in the literature about what custody arrangement is best for the child following parental separation, especially when there is inter-parental conflict. This systematic literature review aimed to provide a synthesis of the current literature surrounding shared care following separation. The review aimed to ascertain when shared care is indicated or contraindicated in families with children under the age of 12, across both conflict and no conflict families. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA; Moher, Liberati, Tetzlaff, & Altman, 2009) guidelines were implemented for this systematic literature review, with data being extracted from a total of 24 included studies. Of these studies, 18 indicated that shared care was no worse for children's wellbeing than sole custody arrangements. Furthermore, it appears that it is not the care arrangement itself that affects child wellbeing, but a number of other positive and negative factors. These factors have been discussed at length with recommendations being provided for practitioners working in psychology, family therapy and family law.