Shared Parenting Information Group (SPIG) UK
- promoting responsible shared parenting after separation and divorce -
About SPIG
The Shared Parenting Information Group (SPIG) was formed to encourage and promote the continuation of parenting after family breakdown. We believe that it is of vital importance that wherever possible both parents should continue to fulfil their responsibilities by retaining a strong positive parenting role in their children's lives, with the children actually spending substantial amounts of time living with each parent.
We feel that shared parenting offers children the opportunity to build up and maintain meaningful relationships with both their parents, and there are a wide variety of parenting arrangements to suit a range of situations, providing for time-splits from 30/70 to 50/50. This overcomes the widespread dissatisfaction of children and parents with the artificiality of traditional contact arrangements - which often relegate one parent to the role of a distant and infrequent visitor.
SPIG is a 'not for profit' organisation and was started by Arthur Baker and David Cannon who are both active in the movement and have many years experience of providing advice and support to non-resident parents. They are engaged in lobbying for shared parenting and publishing articles challenging the status quo, but they believe that a radical rethink of existing policy and practice is required before shared parenting will become accepted as the norm.
In order to critically examine parenting arrangements after family breakdown, SPIG has built up an extensive article base on children, divorce and shared parenting - see this website for details. Input from like-minded organisations would be valued.
Although SPIG appreciates the need for individual case work, they regret that they do not have the resources to offer advice to individuals, who should contact their local mothers'/fathers' movements for support.
Arthur Baker
Arthur is a Further Education Lecturer in Social Policy and is a former National Council member of Families Need Fathers. He lives in Sheffield (see also Sheffield City Net) and is the father of a son and a daughter.
David Cannon
David was a computer systems analyst and a researcher in International Family Law. He was a founder member of the Leicester Family Contact Centre (1989) and a former National Secretary of Families Need Fathers (1988-93). He was the father of three daughters and lived near Haworth in West Yorkshire (see Keighley and Worth Valley Railway).
Aims and objectives of SPIG
Last updated - 2 September 2002
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