120. Is 9/5 the new 50:50? Care arrangements after Australia’s 2024 Family Law changes

Now, before I get into my concerns, I want to be clear about what I'm not saying.

I'm not saying that a 9-5 arrangement is inherently bad.

I'm not saying that children should never spend five nights a fortnight with one of their parents.

I'm not saying that every report writer recommending 9-5 is doing something inappropriate.

There will absolutely be families and children for whom that arrangement works really well.

What I'm questioning is something very different.

I'm questioning what happens when the arrangement becomes the starting point instead of the child or the children in question, when it becomes a formula, a compromise position, a neat mathematical solution to an incredibly complicated developmental and relational question.

Because we've actually done this before, but last time we called it 50-50.

For years, equal care developed an almost mythical status in Australian separated families.

There was an extraordinarily persistent belief that after parents separated, 50-50 was simply what happened, or what should happen, or what is ideal.

Now, it would be fair to say that that myth is still alive and well in this country, but we've got other episodes on that.

Two parents, two homes, equal time, fair.

Except kids aren't property being divided in a settlement.

Their nervous systems don't come equipped with calculators.

Seven nights here plus seven nights there does not automatically equal a secure, developmentally appropriate childhood.

And yet mathematical equality became confused with good parenting arrangements.

Now, contrary to popular belief, courts were never simply required to order equal time, but the old legislation contained a presumption of equal shared parental responsibility, which is the decision-making component of parenting.

And where that applied, there were provisions requiring consideration of substantial and significant time, including equal time.

Now, that legislative architecture mattered because it significantly influenced the culture surrounding separated parenting.

And somewhere along the way, equal parenting responsibility, equal parenting importance and equal parenting time became hopelessly tangled together.

That law changed in May 2024.

The presumption of equal shared parental responsibility was removed from the Australian Family Law Act.

The associated pathway requiring consideration of equal or substantial and significant time was removed.

And the legislation returned the focus more clearly to where it should have been, which is what arrangements are in the best interests of this particular child.

not what arrangement is fairest for the adults involved.