Joint Child Custody as a New Kindergarten Teachers’ Experience

Introduction: The possibility of joint child care after divorce in which parental responsibilities are distributed equally among parents has been implemented in the Czech Republic since 1998. Under certain circumstances, joint custody is considered to be the best solution with regard to further prospects of individual children and also their relationships with their divorcing parents. The solution of joint custody issues happens between parents and/or their family members. Lawyers, psychologists, doctors, and social workers adopt a legitimate attitude to each individual case. Primarily, psychologists provide empirical proofs of the beneficial effect of joint custody concept. In Czech conditions, teachers are the least heard group in this respect. Methods: A research was carried out in which we utilized the method of thematic writing. Twenty-seven written products, written by the kindergarten teachers were analyzed (the length ranged from 2000 to 2500 words). The content analysis was used with the research aim to reveal their point of view of the joint child custody concept and their experience with children in joint custody. Results: The teachers’ attitude to joint custody was negative, they more leaned towards the opinion that joint custody is not an optimal solution. They perceived the concept of joint custody as beneficial but, on the other hand, as problematic and hardly feasible by divorced people as they often remain in conflict. Based on their experience with children in joint custody, it is fully dependent on the ability of parents to agree on it and to fulfil their children’s interests together. However, these are not, according to the teachers, very often taken into consideration in joint custody. Discussion: In their reflections, kindergarten teachers confirmed the generally accepted controversial conclusions and experience related to primarily practical side of joint custody. They underlined the accepted opinion that it is always necessary to assess joint custody in its relations to a particular case and in respect to its inability to substitute normally functioning and complete families. Limitaitons: The main research limit concerns the choices of research sample and amount of material based on 27 written products. The first version of the report underwent a participant validation in order to reduce possible distortion during the interpretation of empirical data. Conclusions: The research results have the potential to introduce further valuable and pedagogical perspective into the discussion about joint custody issues. It can even serve as a stimulus to optimize the content of teacher education with the aim to encompass various elements of educational reality of current kindergarten.