The effect of such legislation has been to create gradual change in the attitudes of parents, lawyers, mental health professionals, and judges regarding parental involvement after divorce. Among parents, for example, gender differences found in satisfaction with joint custody in the early 80's, appear to be diminishing as mothers indicate more acceptance of shared residential arrangements a decade later. Debate continues, however, regarding the appropriateness of joint custody for some parents, and whether it has a deleterious or positive effect on the economic and psychological well-being of children. Nearly all states have distinguished in their legislation, either explicitly or implicitly, between legal and physical custody. Legal custody refers to the parental right to make major decisions regarding the child's health, education, and welfare.
Physical custody refers to the living arrangements of the child on a day to day basis.
There are two basic custody arrangements in the United States, sole custody, the most common, and joint custody. Sole custody assigns to one parent all legal rights, duties, and powers as a parent, including the right to make all decisions. The limited rights and privileges of the noncustodial parent have been expanded in most states over the past decade to provide equal legal access to child-related information of an educational and medical nature, and to make medical decisions in emergencies when the child is in the noncustodial parent's care. In joint custody arrangements, each parent retains certain rights and responsibilities with respect to the post-divorce parenting of the children. Considerable variation exists between states in the definition of joint custody, and under what circumstances it will be permitted and denied.