Participants’ Evaluations of Aspects of the Legal Child Custody Process and Preferences for Court Services

Leite, Randall W.; Clark, Kathleen M.

doi:10.1111/j.1744-1617.2007.00142.x

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…In contrast, the demographic characteristics of mediation participants have not consistently predicted agreement in, or satisfaction with mediation. Variables such as income, gender, and education have been found to be related both to higher and lower satisfaction, depending on the study (Beck & Sales, 2000; Depner, 1994; Gordon, 2002; Leite & Clark, 2007). One study found that couples who reached an agreement in mediation had fewer children and were more likely to have been previously married than couples who did not reach agreement, while no differences for age were found (Johnson, 1984).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Affecting the Outcome of Divorce and Paternity Mediations

Ballard

Holtzworth‐Munroe

Applegate

et al. 2011

Family Court Review

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Divorce mediation, an alternative to litigation when resolving disputes raised by the dissolution of a marriage or the separation of unmarried parents, has gained popularity over the past few decades. Yet, research is needed to better understand what processes make family mediation successful and for whom family mediation is successful. To study predictors of reaching agreement in family mediation, we gathered data from divorce and paternity cases at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law Viola J. Taliaferro Family and Children Mediation Clinic. Numerous factors, including history of intimate partner violence, father's reported concerns about participating in mediation, higher levels of father's income, number of mediation sessions, and attorney representation, were associated with lower rates of agreement. Associations between significant predictors are presented, as well as the combined impact of attorney representation and a history of relationship violence, which together significantly predicted lower agreement rates. The implications of these findings for understanding family mediation processes are considered.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Affecting the Outcome of Divorce and Paternity Mediations

Ballard

Holtzworth‐Munroe

Applegate

et al. 2011

Family Court Review

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show abstract

“…Agreement rates were expected to be consistent with those achieved by divorce mediation generally and fall within the 50% to 80% range. In light of the demonstrated connection between mediation satisfaction and income level (Leite & Clark, 2007) and the expected predominance of lower income parties in the population served, party satisfaction was expected to be below the 77% divorce mediation satisfaction rate found in one study (Pearson & Thoennes, 1988). Given the child-centered disputes that brought estranged parents to mediation and the concern with costs that may be reasonably attributed to lower income parties, it was also hypothesized that most parents would report improvements in their parenting relationship and reductions in court involvement rather than progress in their between-parent interactions.…”

Section: Subject Of Studymentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Research and other circumstances indicate that a clearer understanding of mediation outcomes will result from taking the influence of custodial status and income level into account. The impact of income level merits investigation because of the community mediation goal to increase participation of lower income individuals combined with research findings of a positive association between income and mediation satisfaction (Leite & Clark, 2007). The value of studying the effect of custodial status is demonstrated by evidence for increased contact between non-custodial parents and children due to mediation (Emery et al, 2005) and legal distinctions concerning parental rights and responsibilities 5 that often create differences in parents' needs and interests regarding the rearing of their child.…”

Section: Subject Of Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Addressing Parenting Disputes Between Estranged Parents Through Community Mediation

Palihapitiya

Eisenkraft

2014

Sage Open

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Conflict between couples who are divorcing or separating can thwart efforts to arrive at the decisions and agreements needed for the dissolution of their relationship. Moreover, parental conflict during divorce or separation can adversely affect children (Leite & Clark, 2007). Mediation provides these disputants with a voluntary conflict resolution process in which an impartial third party helps them discuss their issues and explore options for a mutually acceptable agreement (Shaw, 2010;Wilkinson, 2001). It has proven to be a valuable conflict resolution strategy in the divorce or separation context by providing a means of resolving disputes that reduces litigation while avoiding further damage to party relationships (Caprez & Armstrong, 2001;Shaw, 2010). Mediation and Its BenefitsRelying on the courts to resolve divorce/separation disputes has the disadvantage that the conflict and distrust between parties are often exacerbated by the adversarial stance of court trials (Moses, 2009). Mediation provides a non-confrontational alternative to litigation: the neutral mediator acts as facilitator while disputants strive to arrive at agreements of their own making by analyzing their issues, communicating needs and interests, and examining various solutions (Chandler, 1990). Evidence of the effectiveness of mediation as a dispute resolution strategy for divorce/separation disputes has been demonstrated by a 50% to 80% range of settlement rates, a high degree of party satisfaction, and, compared with litigation, less relationship damage and improved non-custodial parenting (

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The “Eye of the Beholder”: Professional Opinions About the Best Interests of a Child

Semple

2011

Family Court Review

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Child custody evaluations (CCEs) are a central feature of parenting litigation in many North American jurisdictions. However, there has been little recent research comparing CCE decisions about children's interests with decisions made by judges. This article presents empirical research about the extent to which Ontario judges accept custody and access recommendations from CCEs employed by Ontario's Office of the Children's Lawyer. The central finding was that the judges fully agreed with the CCEs only about half of the time. Possible explanations for this finding are explored, the most salient of which is the effect of delay in Ontario family litigation. In conclusion, the article suggests that a more efficient synthesis of the judicial and CCE decision-making processes might be more consonant with the best interests of children involved in these disputes.Because resolving private parenting disputes using the "best interests of the child" standard is a daunting challenge for legal decision-makers, they often turn to non-lawyers for input. While judges retain the final authority, neutral child custody evaluators are now part of the process in many Western jurisdictions. These experts have important fact-finding, therapeutic, and settlementinducing roles. 1 However, they are usually also asked to identify the parenting arrangement which would be in the best interests of the child. 2 This article reports on empirical research based on custody and access (visitation) recommendations made by social workers from Ontario's Office of the Children's Lawyer (OCL), and the extent to which judges follow these recommendations. 3 The central finding was that the courts followed only 52% of the recommendations in the reported cases used for this study.f cre_1412 760..775 This article begins by introducing the judicial decision-making process for Ontario custody and access cases. It then describes the OCL, and the process by which social workers from this agency decide what to recommend in these cases. The next part reports the central empirical finding, and then compares it with results from prior reported studies of judicial concurrence with child custody evaluations. In addition, it examines a secondary data set of recommendations made by OCL lawyers for children. Both of these other data sets indicated much higher rates of judicial concurrence than that of the central finding, and the next part explores possible explanation s for this divergence. Delay in Ontario's family courts appears to be the most compelling explanation. Finally, the next part of this article will review the normative literature about judicial and nonjudicial decision-making in private parenting disputes. This article concludes by asking whether children might be well-served by a process which more harmoniously synthesizes investigation and litigation.

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Participants’ Evaluations of Aspects of the Legal Child Custody Process and Preferences for Court Services

Cited by 4 publications

References 22 publications

Factors Affecting the Outcome of Divorce and Paternity Mediations

Factors Affecting the Outcome of Divorce and Paternity Mediations

Addressing Parenting Disputes Between Estranged Parents Through Community Mediation

The “Eye of the Beholder”: Professional Opinions About the Best Interests of a Child

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