In a divorce there is one protective parent who is the advocate for the children? Nonsense.
That “good parent v. evil parent” nonsense is probably one of the biggest loads of nonsense in divorce litigation.
Expensive/wasteful nonsense that profits only the divorce lawyers and actually HARMS the children (who have their parents litigating and their college/orthodontia fund transferred to the children of the divorce lawyers).
Divorce is not the time and divorce court is not the place for family social work.
Divorce courts should order equal placement and remove children from the clutches of the divorce industry.
You want the government to “protect” the children?
Protection of children by government is for your state’s child protective services agency.
Even if you are in a marriage or a divorce where you feel you must “protect” the children from the other parent, the divorce court should decline the issue and have you go to the child protective services agency.
Your complaint that the divorcing dad is five minutes late to get the children to a girl scouts meeting will be heard in that agency between the case where the parents had the child locked in the basement and the case where the mom was buying drugs with the child in the back seat.