There has been a great deal of debate taking place regarding different aspects of child support and child custody laws. Although lawmakers want to ensure that children are cared for, they don't want to do it by placing unfair expectations on one parent. As most Ohio readers are probably aware, in some situations, one parent pays significantly more than the other. Yet, in other situations one parent does not meet their child support obligations at all.

A recent report sheds an interesting light on how other cultures handle some of the problems associated with parenting in the event of separation or death. A researcher from the University of Missouri has determined that in some cultures, women marry multiple husbands as a way to ensure the safety and wellbeing of their children.

At least 52 cultures were found from every continent except Europe that involved polyandry. Such cultures tend to be small scale and egalitarian. It was found that in most cases, the second husband was closely related to the first. In many of these cultures inheritance traditions required that land be divided evenly among male offspring after the passing of a parent. When several brothers married the same wife they could keep the family farm intact.

Americans are far from meeting the criteria necessary to be defined as a polyandrous culture. Our current laws were put in place to ensure the safety of a child in the event of separation or the death of one parent. The system is not perfect and lawmakers are working to find a way to improve the system. Realistically, the system is probably not perfect anywhere else, no matter what their method of dealing with similar issues.

Source: Kansas City InfoZine, "Multiple Husbands Serve As Child Support and Life Insurance In Some Cultures," August 6, 2012