This research examines Australian trends in care time arrangements after parental separation using information on how many nights per year children of separated parents stay with each parent. It explores trends in care time arrangements since 2015, including arrangements beyond shared care and differences by child age.

While care time arrangements are just one way of measuring parental involvement following parents' separation, they provide some indication of the extent to which children's care is shared or remains predominantly with one parent. Importantly, these care time arrangements are one of the elements that determine how much child support transfers from one parent to the other.

Key findings

• Most payers and payees in the Child Support Program (CSP) data had care arrangements where the mother had primary care or above primary care. 
• About 1 in 7 payers/payees were in shared care arrangements.
• Payers and payees with father primary and father above primary care arrangements were the least common.
• Care time arrangements varied by child age. 
• These analyses confirm that within the CSP population there has been a modest shift toward shared care from 2015 to 2024.