VeV President Oliver Hunziker takes stock and looks ahead.
Thoughts for the New Year
Oliver Hunziker, President VeV Switzerland
A new year has begun.
What was is over, we don't know what's to come.
So time to pause for a moment and look back and forward.
The year 2017 brought us the new maintenance law. Postponed for a long time, it occurred on January 1st. in force. Today, a year later, the uncertainty is still exactly the same. Judges, lawyers and experts are completely divided as to how the new law should be applied. This leads to great legal uncertainty because it currently depends very much on where a judgment is made and by whom. It is more than urgent that there are finally a few guiding principles here so that there is clarity again.
With the new maintenance law, alternating custody also came into play as an option. This is very welcome, but a sobering conclusion must be drawn after the first year. Here too, there are certainly progressive authorities and authorities for whom it is a matter of course to examine the situation. Unfortunately, the dinosaurs are not yet extinct either, and they continue to fight this model with mostly untenable arguments.
Just a few weeks ago, a Geneva study came to light in which the alternating care model was described as almost unsuitable. In the same breath, all the experts from all over the world who supported it were dismissed as dreamers and fantasists, whereas the critical experts quoted are of course telling the pure truth.
Fortunately, the Federal Council only partially adopted the views of the study it commissioned and once again reiterated its favorable stance on alternating custody.
The question is not about the model itself, but rather about whether such a model is possible even if there are differences between the parents.
It is often said that arguing parents cannot live such a model.
You can read in many places that this is absolutely not true.
On the other hand, it is certainly undisputed that with the above statement as a basis, a simple, small dispute can be enough to bring down such a model. In other words, if you don't want alternating custody, all you have to do is argue a little. Unfortunately, our responsible authorities often simply do not want to see this effect. And so it happens that the parent who selfishly views the child as property and does not want to share wins.
Alternating care is an internal attitude, not an artificial model. Anyone who is convinced that a child needs both parents cannot avoid favoring this care model in the event of separation or divorce. Only those who believe they are the better parent will fight back.
Mind you - there are certainly situations where it may be more appropriate to give the child to only one parent. However, these cases are the exception, not the rule. In fact, in Switzerland today, alternating custody is the exception, not the rule. So something is obviously going wrong.
I call on our relevant institutions to look into these issues in more detail. In many cases, the authorities have the opportunity and the power to influence situations positively. The vast majority of people find themselves in a situation of separation/divorce with children for the first time. They would be open to constructive solutions if only they were made aware of them. Instead, far too many families are still being sent on a journey through the conflict, be it by heated lawyers, by uninterested specialists or even by supposedly well-meaning colleagues.
At the beginning of a conflict, it would be entirely possible to intervene. Not only when the situation has become hopeless, but as early as possible. In these moments, authorities, experts, consultants, etc. could still have an influence and convince the parents that the conflict should be resolved as peacefully as possible.
training to become separation counselors in 2017 . GeCoBi separation consultants are specifically trained to resolve separation conflicts as constructively as possible and to offer parents and especially children a good starting point for the future family structure at two locations.
But let's look a little further ahead.
GeCoBi will immediately follow in 2018 .
We will celebrate this properly, details will follow soon.
The further training will take place again in 2018 and is planned for May.
Politically and socially, we will of course stay tuned – our task is far from over.
With this in mind, I wish you all a happy 2018.
Both parents for all children!
VeV Switzerland – Association for Parental Responsibility
Oliver Hunziker
President