As poly relationships no longer need be closeted
As as more and more people stand up and speak up for those who are persecuted for having the courage to not slink away and accept wrongful discrimination, people are going to face every bullshit false accusation you could ever imagine.
If you ever find yourself in a position where you face a custody battle, it is crucial that you contact a poly-advocate agency, as they should be able to get you the help you need.
You do not have to roll over and accept bigotry
One thing to keep in mind, is you do not have to answer any questions from idiots who will twist your words and use them against you. You are allowed to maintain a private life, and those are exactly the type of people who you should keep your private life private.
The second thing to remember, is that children are not affected in any way by healthy relationships of the parents. It is the unhealthy relationships that cause problems, and poly does not mean "unhealthy" any more than monogamy means "unhealthy" so do NOT let some idiot bully you into believing such utter bull crap, further more when children of a poly household are negatively affected, it is usually due to the bigoted, hateful behavior exhibited towards the children by those who condemn poly-relationships.
It's the sick bastards who do not approve of polyamory, and make sure to make the children feel uncomfortable about the parents, and that is abusive. If you are out to your children it may be wise to at least teach them to recognize when that may be going on, and to come to you or another trusted adult should they encounter such behavior
It is the people's attitude and treatment of those who practice polyamory, not polyamory itself that kids have a hard time with. It took a long time for family psychologists to realize this, but it is fact. The entire time bigots and so-called advocates who were so worried about a childs well being when growing up in a household with same sex parents, while it was those very people's behavior that was doing the actual damage to the kids
unless the children witness physical violence, or any occurrence that is known to negatively affect a child in traditional male/female parent households, polyamory has no negative affect on children.
if anything, the affects are positive due to all the reasons mentioned by others in this thread. You would be amazed at the positive affect that simply sharing the stress of parenting, and that weight be carried by three or more as opposed to one or two adults.
anybody who tells you it isn't a good environment is ignorant