Considerations regarding child and parent neurodiversity in family court

Abstract

Family court professionals must continually be developing a greater appreciation of diversity in its many forms. As with cultural diversity and non-traditional families, neurodiversity in children and parents is another social justice issue in which overt or implicit bias may impact child custody decision-making, such as when a divorcing parent has a significant psychiatric or neurocognitive condition. The neurodiversity perspective, while having its limitations, can help reduce bias in family court by recognizing that there is a broad range of brain functioning, while taking a strengthsbased approach, as opposed to a pathology orientation. This article will define neurodiversity, address how the stigma of mental health conditions can lead to automatic negative presumptions about parental competency, as well examine how the voices of neurodiverse children can be better heard in family court processes. Lastly, principles for court personnel to consider with neurodiverse parents and children will be elucidated.

Marriage Law in Religious Court: Regulation and Decision on Marital Property in Sustainable Legal Development

“…The form of juridical protection leads to private or civil law (Khotynska-Nor & Moskvych, 2021), the purpose and purpose of this nature that the court in its decision chooses to prioritize the rights of children as a result of divorce (Pickar, 2022). Usually, this private right is one of the human rights that must be fulfilled by the state to secure its citizens, including children who have not yet become adults.…”

“…The problem of marital property matters and solutions to overcome these matters is indeed difficult and complicated to solve (Doty, 2022a). This is happened because each party claims to be most involved and fully contributes to the acquisition of marital property among the other parties (Pickar, 2022). When exploring cases that occur in considering and deciding marital property disputes (Suwadi et al, 2023), the judge handling the case must have provisions based on legal provisions (Koumoutzis, 2023) (Katz et al, 2023), including judges in Indonesia.…”

“…Marriage Law in Religious Court: Regulation and Decision on Marital Property in Sustainable Legal Development 4 future needs (Binford et al, 2023), some rights regarding children have been regulated in Law Number 23 of 2022 concerning Child Protection (Beni Kurniawan, 2017). This provision is a consequence and concern of the Indonesian constitution as a state of law protecting citizens including children (Pickar, 2022).…”

Increasing multidisciplinary professionals' capacity to support neurodiverse families

“…Such efforts include raising awareness among lawyers (Hartness & Bowers, 2020) and judges, including those in juvenile court settings that focus on supporting neurodivergent youth (Dicker & Marion, 2012; Drapela, 2022). Training for judges in family court highlights the communication challenges of neurodivergent children, who may be unable to express their needs, and of neurodivergent parents, who should be judged by their strengths and abilities to care for their children (Pickar, 2022). Researchers have also called for systemic training for all criminal justice and law enforcement workers (Slavny‐Cross et al, 2022).…”