Executive summary of a policy paper commissioned by the Father Involvement Research Alliance. Dr Edward Kruk, professor of social work at the University of British Columbia, proposes a four-pillar approach to child custody determination in Canada: • a rebuttable legal presumption of joint physical custody after divorce • parenting plans, mediation and intervention/support in high conflict cases • shared parenting education • judicial determination in cases of established abuse, along with enforcement of shared parental responsibility orders.