Securing Children’s Best Interests While Resisting the Lure of Simple Solutions

Warshak, Richard A.

doi:10.1080/10502556.2014.972186

Cited by 10 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…v. E.M.B.R., 2013, p. 659), the best interests standard allows the decision maker to examine the child's needs and make the case by case decisions that best serve those needs (Warshak, 2015).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…v. Dep't of Children & Families, 2015, p. 873). In fact, since the 1970s, courts have applied the “best interests of the child” (best interests) standard (Warshak, 2015) to refocus custody decisions from upholding the parents’ rights to the needs and interests of the child (Braver, Ellman, Votruba, & Fabricius, 2011). The best interests standard views the child's welfare to be more important than parents’ rights or presumed entitlements (Warshak, 2015).…”

Section: The Best Interests Of the Child Standardmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Proponents praise the best interests standard for its flexibility, which promotes decision‐making on an individualized basis taking into account all of the circumstances unique to a family's particular situation. Further, the standard's flexibility allows it to adjust and adapt as new information arises or circumstances change (Braver et al., 2011; Washak, 2015).…”

Section: The Best Interests Of the Child Standardmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Custody Judgments, Ex‐offender Parents, and Best Interests of the Child

Wertheimer

Wiener

2020

Anal Soc Iss & Public Policy

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One collateral consequence of a criminal conviction for parents with young children is the loss of custody, which turns on the subjective "best interests of the child" standard. This research explored whether criminal conviction and substance abuse history influenced custody decisions. Experiment 1 presented community participants with a vignette describing a parent with combinations of manipulated stigmatized characteristics (i.e., gender, race, offender status, and substance abuse). Participants completed a custody determination scale, which showed that mothers with an offense received more favorable custody decisions than fathers with an offense, as did ex-offenders without substance abuse. Experiment 2 added a positive or negative psychological fitness evaluation of the ex-offender. It found main effects of the professional parenting evaluation and replicated the parent's substance abuse findings from Experiment 1, but not the offense status result. Most importantly, these results were significant after controlling for the participants' ratings of the best interests of the child in question and mediation analyses revealed that the child's best interests only partially explained the relationships between substance abuse, the parental evaluation, and the custody determination. This suggests that participants made custody decisions based on factors extraneous to the current legal standard, namely, the best interests of the child.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Best Interests Of the Child Standardmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Best Interests Of the Child Standardmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Custody Judgments, Ex‐offender Parents, and Best Interests of the Child

Wertheimer

Wiener

2020

Anal Soc Iss & Public Policy

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“…Since this study's release, many social scientists have noted its shortcomings and stated that it should not be used as a basis for making recommendations for parenting plans Lamb, 2012;Ludolph & Dale, 2012;Nielsen, 2013;Pruett et al, 2012;Warshak, 2012Warshak, , 2014.…”

Section: The Australian Preschooler Studymentioning

confidence: 97%

Parenting Plans for Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers: Research and Issues

Nielsen

2014

Journal of Divorce & Remarriage

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“…This controversy is visible not only in research studies but has also generated commentaries and policy debates that reach outside of the research community, for example, in the fathers' rights movement. The available literature reviews on the issue suggest overnight stays with both parents are unproblematic in general (Nielsen, 2014(Nielsen, , 2017Warshak, 2015Warshak, , 2018, although more research is undoubtedly needed in this regard. Pruett and colleagues (2014) suggest that sensitive parenting and flexible schedules are more important for children's wellbeing than the number of overnights, but point out that it is not yet known how such flexibility and sensitivity should be performed in practice (Pruett et al, 2014).…”

Section: Themes In the Selected Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children in dual-residence arrangements: a literature review

Berman

Daneback

2020

Journal of Family Studies

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Dual residence is a post-divorce living arrangement where children spend up to 50% of their time in each parent's household after separation or divorce. Reflecting societal changes and shifting norms, these arrangements have increased in many Western societies during recent years. The consequences for children have attracted much interest, resulting in a growing body of research. This literature review has a broad scope, reviewing three decades' international research about children's dual-residence arrangements (111 peer-reviewed articles in total) with the aim of analysing the development of the research field. Findings demonstrate that research on the topic has progressed since the first-generation studies and reached several important conclusions. However, it is geographically restricted and heterogeneous in terms of disciplinary perspectives, the choice of aspects to investigate, methodology, data and research design. Furthermore, diverse terms, definitions and cultural, demographic and jurisdictional contexts complicate cross-country comparisons. While some distinct components of dual-residence arrangements seem to increase the likelihood of positive outcomes for children, this study points out the difficulties in using the cumulative body of research in the field when drawing conclusions and making recommendations for practice. Despite the rapidly growing body of research, essential gaps in our understanding of dual residence still remain.

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Securing Children’s Best Interests While Resisting the Lure of Simple Solutions

Cited by 10 publications

References 48 publications

Custody Judgments, Ex‐offender Parents, and Best Interests of the Child

Custody Judgments, Ex‐offender Parents, and Best Interests of the Child

Parenting Plans for Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers: Research and Issues

Children in dual-residence arrangements: a literature review

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