The two largest groups that are opposed to shared parenting are State and Local Bar Associations and the Domestic Violence industry.  Although they both have taken up the same argument, that abusers would be given additional opportunities to abuse, this seems to be the winning argument and not the real reason for not supporting shared parenting.

Once could argue that if an abuser won custody of a child, then they would have additional opportunities to abuse.  However, these same groups argue that men are the primary abusers in domestic violence, which has been proven to be false.  It is well understood that men and women are perpetrators of incidents of domestic violence about equally.  However, it is also a well proven fact that the majority of parents winning custody of chldren is women.  By denying the women who do not get custody of their children the opportunity to have equal acess to their children this industry is missing a large percentage of the people they are trying to protect.

The common thought is that the legal profession is against shared parenting because of the devestating effect it would have on the legal profession.  A large industry has sprung up from litigation of family court issues that include custody and changes to parenting plans.  It is believed this industry has a large sector of their business to protect, which they do effectively be donating to organizations that lobby against shared parenting.