The overarching goal of the study was to gather information about how parents seeking a dissolution of marriage make arrangements for parenting, and how those arrangements operate after the marriage is dissolved. The Washington State Parenting Act Study has four distinct components. Each one of these components addresses specific research questions posed by the Commissions that illuminate the larger research goal. Ten focus group meetings were held at four locations around the state. The focus groups provided information about how parents formulate their parenting plans, their satisfaction with the civil justice system, how parents use their parenting plans, whether they are satisfied with their parenting plans, and whether they follow their parenting plans.
Few parents exercise joint decision-making.
Many parents follow their parenting plans rather loosely. Parents are profoundly frustrated by the lack of enforcement mechanisms when an ex-spouse is uncooperative. Domestic violence survivors find the civil justice system especially difficult to access and utilize, and often have plans they believe compromise their own and their children's safety. These key informants were recruited from throughout the state, and include judges, court commissioners, attorneys, family law facilitators, mental health professionals, parenting evaluators, guardians ad litem, and activists. The key informants were recruited to represent the breadth and diversity of professional experience working with the Parenting Act.