Shared placement in nonmarital families: An initial look

Abstract

AbstractObjectiveWe aim to examine the prevalence of shared placement in nonmarital cases, and we then consider whether and how nonmarital shared placement cases differ from sole mother cases across a variety of case characteristics and child support outcomes.BackgroundIn recent decades, shared placement has become increasingly common after divorce, but less is known about the prevalence of shared placement in nonmarital cases. Shared placement may have important implications for families, and little is known about its prevalence in cases of unmarried parents or about characteristics of nonmarital families that have shared placement arrangements.MethodLeveraging unique administrative data on more than 6,000 nonmarital court cases, we examine the prevalence of shared placement, case characteristics of shared placement compared with sole placement cases, and child support measures by placement type. We use multivariate regression and bivariate analyses.ResultsAlthough sole mother placement remains the norm, data indicate an increase in shared placement arrangements in recent cohorts of nonmarital cases. We find parents with shared placement arrangements tend to be slightly more advantaged across several measures. On average, shared placement cases have lower child support orders and payments and substantively higher compliance rates in the year after petition.ConclusionShared placement is increasing in nonmarital cases in recent years. Nonmarital families who have shared placement arrangements differ in important ways from families with sole mother custody.ImplicationsFindings suggest the importance of expanding the relevant shared placement literature and policy discussion to consider nonmarital cases in addition to divorce cases.