# The Path Back
_Six states have passed a strong Shared Parenting presumption: Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia, Florida, Missouri, and Mississippi. When South Dakota finishes the job in 2027, we become the seventh._
By Zac Martin. Published 2026-06-13.
Canonical URL: https://zac4sd.com/blog/the-path-back
Six states have passed a strong Shared Parenting presumption: Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia, Florida, Missouri, and Mississippi. When South Dakota finishes the job in 2027, we become the seventh.

But I do not want South Dakota to be seventh at something. I want us to be first at something. This is the piece of the 2027 bill that no other state has written into law, and it is the piece I care about most.

## What every other state's law does

A Shared Parenting presumption says fit parents begin equal. When a marriage with minor children ends, the court starts from joint physical custody and deviates only on real evidence: abuse, neglect, substance abuse, danger to the child. That is the right starting point, and it is what SB 172 nearly passed in 2025, failing the House by a single vote after clearing the Senate 20 to 13.

Here is what none of those laws answer: what happens to the parent who has already lost time? The parent who made real mistakes three years ago and has done the work since. The parent who was pushed out by allegations that never became findings. The parent who fell apart at the worst moment of their life, got help, got sober, got stable, and now stands outside a door the law gives them no way to reopen.

## What South Dakota's law will do

The 2027 bill adds the Path Back: when a parent has lost parenting time, the court must provide a clear and reasonable route to restoration. Counseling. Testing. Completed programs. Supervised steps that demonstrate fitness over time. Each step passed reopens more of the door, and the child's safety and well-being stay at the center of every step on that route.

We do not just pull parents out of their children's lives, and we do not keep them out forever. We give the willing parent a route home.

This is not softness. A parent who will not do the work never advances down the path, and a parent who poses a danger never starts it. The Path Back only exists for the parent willing to be tested, supervised, and proven. What it removes is permanence without purpose: the current reality where losing time means losing your child, no matter what you do about it afterward.

## Why this matters to me

A family court case is what brought my son to Rapid City eight years ago, and it is what brought me here after him. Through Kids Deserve Dads, the nonprofit I founded in 2017, I have heard from thousands of parents across the country. The single most common story is not the custody battle itself. It is what comes after: a fit, healed, willing parent with no road back to their kid.

The system never built the road. So we will build it in statute.

## Redemption is a South Dakota value

We believe people can change. We believe in second chances earned through work, not handed out for free. We believe a child's best interest includes the parent who fought their way back to fitness. The Path Back writes those beliefs into family law, and it makes South Dakota the first state in the country to pair a Shared Parenting presumption with a statutory route to restoration.

Kentucky led in 2017. South Dakota can lead in 2027.

## Take the next step

Read the full 11-bill Family Court Reform Stack at **zac4sd.com/platform/family-court-reform**. If you believe in the Path Back, share this with one parent who needs to hear it, and consider a donation to help us finish what SB 172 started.
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Paid for by Zac Martin for South Dakota.