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I can't speak for fathers rights groups or anyone else. In Sweden, where I've been living for the past eight years, joint custody is presumed and preserved even against the objection of one parent. All of Scandinavia is a presumptive joint custody zone. Contrary to what representatives of the divorce industry in the United States say it really works quite well.

In my work on child support decision science, I've come to the definite and absolute conclusion that the labels a court puts on parents -- "custodial" and "noncustodial" have no rational relationship to deciding the appropriate amount of child support to be awarded. The ability of parents to pay, the amount of time children spend with each parent, and other aspects of the financial arrangements are important.

Come to think of it, I have read articles by reformers taking a position. "Custody," I've heard it said is that you take a prisoner into. And, now that I think about it, some reformers got the law changed in West Virginia to eliminate the labels. In one or two states people were disappointed when they simply got "custodial" replaced by "primary care" but I think some places did better than others.

"I can't speak for fathers rights groups or anyone else."

Common sense so obvious that it escaped me. "Child support" has spawned a tangible government infrastructure of waste and abuse that literally begs for dismantling. There is no corollary infrastructure to attack w/r/t the custody issue... it's almost entirely an ideological system held together by feminists and their sympathizers in the judicial system - smoke and mirrors if you will. The most frustrating thing about speaking out against the child-support status quo is that it will be neo-conservatives who first come to the chivalrous rescue of the poor wyminnz and their starving orfinks. With that kind of sympathy, the liberals can rest assured that nobody will mess with the best laid booby trap in their war against the traditional family.

Semantics. Call it what you will if you don't like the word "custody" then fine. That wasn't the point.

I'm just curious why father's rights activists in the US aren't actively lobbying for JPC. Still haven't gotten a good answer from you or anyone else.

Since you're living in Sweden and claim JPC works so well there and you're a writer concentrating on family issues, why wouldn't you write about JPC and get the word out to more people?

Also, I understand Sweden has a very different (some say socialist) system of child care, health care and more women work outside the home, and there is a higher standard of living overall, compared to the USA. Care to speculate how these things play into the prevalence of JPC there?