For the second year in a row, the House of Representatives passed a law making 50/50 child care regulations the standard.

House Bill 2363, the “Best Interests of the Child Protection Act” passed on Monday, states that courts should assume that joint legal and physical custody, including the same time spent with both parents, is over the child is best unless other conditions such as abuse are met.

Currently, the standard is based on who does the most care, e.g. B. Feeding and clothing, with a child spending at least 35% of their time with the other parent.

HB 2363 would also allow parents to resume their cases and try to get 50/50 custody.

Delegate Geoff Foster, R-Putnam, main sponsor of the bill, said parents want to hang out with their children and the judicial system is in the way. As a child of a 50/50 divorce, Foster believes these types of arrangements are in the best interests of most children.

Foster has introduced the law in the past few years and passed the law in 2020. He cites an analysis by Richard Warshak, the author of the book “Divorce Poison”.

While this analysis found that studies “favor parenting plans that more evenly distribute children’s time between two households” and that both parents “should maximize the time they spend with their children,” it does not say that the legislature created a 50/50 standard template for child custody.

In fact, the analysis says that templates should be avoided that require a specific timing that is imposed on all families.

Delegate Danielle Walker, D-Monongalia, said she agreed that there were problems with the system. Citing an editorial by a retired family judge, Walker said some ways to help would be to have an attorney or mediator at every child custody hearing and to ensure that family judges are experienced.

Walker, also a child with a 50/50 divorce, said with tears in his eyes that the trauma of living with her alcoholic father remains with her.

She said she spoke to her father about the bill and he told her he had cut the custody process because he knew his ex-wife couldn’t afford it. The judge asked Walker who she wanted to live with, and she said both.

Lawyers are not appointed in civil family court proceedings.

Kentucky passed a similar law in 2017. Foster said family court cases were down 11%, but Kentucky law didn’t allow old cases to be reopened.

The bill was passed 68-31 with one missing. It is now going to the Senate for examination. The Senate passed the bill last year, but the entire panel ran out of time to approve changes before the end of the session, nullifying the bill.

Reporter Taylor Stuck can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook

@TaylorStuckHD.