What are the considerations to consider in a custody/primary care case?

The considerations outlined in Foley v. Foley, supra and other similar cases addressed the factors to consider when the court was faced with the necessity of making a choice between parents in respect to custody or primary care. Shared parenting was not considered in these cases or if it was, it was considered impractical. Parents in applying the considerations in Foley generally resorted to an analysis of who was the “best” parent instead of an analysis about which parent, given the intellectual, moral, emotional and physical needs of the child, had the more appropriate parenting plan for that child. Ultimately this type of analysis encouraged parents to allege and attempt to prove that the other parent had parenting failures, character faults and deficiencies disentitling him or her from any designation as the “best” parent to have care of the child.