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*the extent to which the parents' share a common approach to parenting and a common view of the children's needs and interests,
*each parents' understanding of the needs of the children and their ability to make appropriate decisions that address those needs,
*each parents' character, fitness, and overall parenting capacity, depending on the circumstances of the case and as long as issues like this are genuinely important and relevant, and*each parents' mental and physical capacity, again depending on the circumstances of the case and as long as issues like this are genuinely important and relevant, and *the impact of any family violence, and the steps taken by a parent to prevent further family violence from occurring.
There is no guaranteed way to predict the outcome of a court proceeding about the allocation of parental responsibilities and decision-making responsibility. In most cases, it seems that parental responsibilities and decision-making responsibility wind up being shared. Conflict between parents, including basic disagreements about parenting philosophy, is usually resolved by making one parent the decision-maker in the event parents cannot agree on a particular decision or by dividing parental responsibilities and decision-making responsibility about particular categories of decision. Either way, the critical factor in orders about parental responsibilities and decision-making responsibility is the best interests of the child.