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A common statutory best interest factor in many states concerns the issue of how well each parent can support the other parent's relationship with the child, or to promote the continuing involvement with the child.1 This factor is found in the language in legislative declarations2 on the value assigned to both parents being substantially involved with the children following separation and divorce. Practitioners know that mutual support often becomes the focal issue in litigated cases as parents in conflict often make allegations against each other for not being supportive, impeding parenting time, or even trying to "alienate" the child. When there is evidence of an unsupportive mother, for instance, who is a strong candidate to be the custodial parent it may open the door for the father to be awarded substantial or even equal parenting time. In this case, the mother's attorney may assert there were sound and rational reasons for her not to be very supportive, for example that the father abused alcohol, used harsh discipline, or was a perpetrator of intimate partner violence.
Support for the other parent-child relationship (i.e., SOPCR) often is weighted heavily in custodial evaluations by the court-appointed expert in the role of custody or parental responsibility evaluator. Evaluators should be familiar with the research literature that shows the contributions of noncustodial parents /fathers to children's adjustment. Courts, then, may end up ordering a parenting plan that is responsive to evidence on this important factor. If a custodial /residential parent is designated, it may be the one the court believes will be more supportive of the other parent and more likely to facilitate the other parent's involvement with the child.
RESEARCH ON PARENT INVOLVEMENT AND SOCIAL CAPITAL
Three decades of research on the effects of divorce on children provides scientific support for the social policy of encouraging meaningful parental involvement by both parents. Early research concluded that frequency of a child's contact with nonresidential fathers following divorce did not seem to affect the child's adjustment.3 Hence, a limited about of parenting time for fathers, e.g., every other weekend and no overnights until 3 years old, seemed not only justified but supported by science.4 However, early research was methodologically flawed due to reliance on only the reports of mothers in survey...