Another goofy Wallerstein argument

Glenn Sacks answers Trish Wilson, a feminist opponent of shared parenting:

"Dr. Judith Wallerstein found that in cases where judges ordered joint custody/shared parenting to force warring parents to get along, that 'three and one-half years after separation, these couples were experiencing considerably more conflict and less co-operative parenting than were couples for whom joint custody was the first choice of each parent.'"

This sounds impressive at first reading, but in reality it is almost meaningless. She doesn't say there's too much conflict in court ordered joint custody arrangements--she says there's more than with "couples for whom joint custody was the first choice of each parent." It is to be expected that joint custody will be smoother in couples who both originally opted for it, as opposed to couples where one parent tried to push the other parent to the margins of the children's lives but later had to "settle" for joint custody.

We don't need Judith Wallerstein or Trish Wilson to tell us that warring parents are less cooperative than other parents. It is still quite likely that ordering joint custody for warring parents is the best way to make them cooperate.