The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for children in custody: An analysis of inspection reports.

BACKGROUND: Children in custodial settings are a vulnerable group. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic there were concerns about the safety of children in these settings. COVID-19 has had an impact on everyone but given the vulnerability of children in custody, there were concerns about the impact of COVID-19 restrictions. All custody settings for children are independently inspected and this research aimed to analyse data from inspection reports. Twenty-six inspection reports undertaken between March 2020 and October 2021 were analysed to understand the impact of COVID-19 on delivery of usual care/regime. RESULTS: Data showed that across all site's children spent considerable amounts of time isolated and in some cases, this was deemed to amount to solitary confinement. There was evidence of some positive experiences, in the smaller sites, around COVID-19 slowing the pace of life allowing staff and children could foster relationships. However, in the larger sites, isolation was extreme and COVID-19 policies such as 'bubbles' appear to have created unintended consequences as sites have moved into recovery, leading to increased violence and stress. COVID-19 directly impacted staffing levels. This and the COVID-19 policies to reduce mixing also had an impact on how children's behaviour, welfare and safeguarding was managed. In some larger sites, being COVID-19 secure was prioritised over the needs of the children. CONCLUSIONS: This research highlights the importance of multi-site longitudinal research to understand how children, staff and institution's function. The experiences of children in custody during COVID-19 differed by site type. The research suggests that the larger sites are struggling to keep children safe and there should be a shift towards smaller, more therapeutic environments. More research is needed to understand the longer-term unintended consequences of COVID-19 policy in custody, for these vulnerable children.

Pediatric Decision-Making for Children in State Custody.

In summer 2022, six points of consensus emerged from a symposium addressing the question, "In the context of U.S. pediatric care, what moral precepts ought to guide parents and clinicians in medical decision making for children?" (Salter et al. 2023). The authors of this statement wrote, however, that the points of consensus may require modification or may not apply in their entirety to children in state custody. This article addresses the consensus recommendations in the context of the thousands of children removed annually from the custody of their parents. While the consensus statements developed at the symposium provide a good starting point for decision-making in the context of these children, some alterations and nuance must be applied to attend to the specific needs of this population. The article works through what special considerations and changes ought to be made to expand the reach of the original points of consensus without neglecting the particular conditions of children in state custody, as well as their parents and caregivers.

A model for predicting court decisions on child custody.

Awarding joint or sole custody is of crucial importance for the lives of both the child and the parents. This paper first models the factors explaining a court's decision to grant child custody and later tests the predictive capacity of the proposed model. We conducted an empirical study using data from 1,884 court rulings, identifying and labeling factual elements, legal principles, and other relevant information. We developed a neural network model that includes eight factual findings, such as the relationship between the parents and their economic resources, the child's opinion, and the psychological report on the type of custody. We performed a temporal validation using cases later in time than those in the training sample for prediction. Our system predicted the court's decisions with an accuracy exceeding 85%. We obtained easy-to-apply decision rules with the decision tree technique. The paper contributes by identifying the factors that best predict joint custody, which is useful for parents, lawyers, and prosecutors. Parents would do well to know these findings before venturing into a courtroom.

The Psychiatric Genetic Data of Children in Proceedings to Terminate Parental Rights.

The introduction of psychiatric genetic evidence in court proceedings to terminate parental rights raises concerns that such information will result in misconceived assumptions about the child's mental health trajectory and unjust rulings on termination of parental rights. We conducted an online vignette-based survey with a nationally representative sample of adults from the general public (n = 300 respondents) to assess their views on how evidence about a child's psychiatric genetic makeup may affect key decisions in termination proceedings. Our findings indicate that genetic evidence increased the child's labeling as having a psychiatric disorder, regardless of the presence of symptoms, treatment recommendations, evaluation of prescription medication, and beliefs in treatment efficacy. Genetic evidence alone did not affect whether participants would terminate parental rights, but participants who thought that the child did not have a psychiatric disorder were more likely to terminate in the presence of genetic test results. We conclude that psychiatric genetic evidence in termination proceedings may have unintended consequences, and that measures should be taken to ensure that it does not unfairly affect outcomes.

The Effect of CASA on Child Welfare Permanency Outcomes.

The present study is the largest and most rigorous study to date on the effects of being appointed a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) on permanency outcomes of children in foster care. The intent-to-treat study accounts for selection bias by applying inverse probability weighting to logistic and sequential logistic regressions in a large sample of children in foster care in the state of Texas (N = 31,754). Overall, children appointed a CASA have significantly lower odds than children without a CASA of achieving permanency. They have lower odds of being reunified, greater odds of being adopted (if not reunified), and lower odds of being placed in permanent kin guardianship (if not reunified or adopted) than children who are not appointed CASA. This study makes an additional contribution by looking beyond the aggregate effect of CASA on permanency by examining the effect of CASA for different age groups and different types of first placement after removal.

Safely surrendered infants in Los Angeles County: A medically vulnerable population.

BACKGROUND: As a means to provide safety for a population at great risk of harm through abandonment, every state in the United States now has laws and practices for the safe relinquishment of newborns and infants. However, there is no national database tracking the population of infants surrendered through such programmes, and few states monitor these numbers. The primary aim of this study was therefore to examine the descriptive characteristics of infants who have been safely surrendered in a large, socio-economically diverse urban area. The secondary aim was to compare them with local population norms to determine whether differences exist and to begin exploring what implications such differences may have for the treatment provided to these infants. METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted among safely surrendered infants. RESULTS: Over half of the infants had medical issues, and the majority of the infants were surrendered in communities characterized by low median income. CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary information highlights potential economic, social, and medical risk factors, suggesting that these infants may require increased monitoring and/or specialized care.

Parental alienation, coaching and the best interests of the child: Allegations of child sexual abuse in the Family Court of Australia.

BACKGROUND: Allegations of child sexual abuse provide complex challenges to family court systems. OBJECTIVES: Despite being highly criticised in the academic research, this analysis examined whether and how the gendered concepts of parental alienation syndrome or parental alienation more broadly are still being used to rebut allegations of child sexual abuse in family court cases in Australia. Parental Alienation is broadly understood as the deliberate actions of one parent to disrupt and prevent children's ongoing relationships with their other parent, in this case through allegations of abuse. METHODS: We examined 357 publicly available judgements of the Family Court of Australia between 2010 and 2015. Judgements were analysed qualitatively for key themes using N-VIVO software. RESULTS: Five themes emerged in the data, including use of the concept of parental alienation, coaching, mothers as manipulative, mothers as mentally ill, and impact of the best interest of the child. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that judgements made in the Family Court of Australia are both similar and divergent from those made in other jurisdictions internationally. The complexity of responding to allegations of child sexual abuse for parents is discussed.

The Influence of Professionals' Empathy on Parents' Anxiety in Cases of Juvenile Criminology.

In situations of juvenile delinquency, abuse, or neglect, determination of child custody relies on interviews with parents. This study aims to examine the effects of the interviewer's empathy on parents' anxiety, and to explore how parents experience these situations. A measure of anxiety was applied to 41 parents under evaluation for child custody before and after the assessment interview. Professionals' empathy was rated by both parents and professionals after each appointment. Parents participated in semistructured interviews. Data were analyzed through statistical and content analyses. The decrease in anxiety was significantly greater for parents who perceived professionals as "perfect" than for parents who perceived professionals as "less than perfect" in empathy. Parents' and professionals' empathy scores correlated positively, but the association between professionals' self-rated empathy and parents' anxiety was nonsignificant. Reactions to the justice system's intervention emerging in the semistructured interviews were "unjustifiable intrusion," "disconcerting information," and "reality confirmation." Each associated differently with parents' expectations for the assessment interview (respectively, that the process be over quickly, that it be over successfully, and that help start quickly). Our results support the important effects, from parents' perspectives, of empathy in assessment interviews in the context of juvenile criminology.

The Israel Family Court - Therapeutic jurisprudence and jurisprudential therapy from the start.

Based on the recommendations of a commission set up to review the handling of Family Law cases in Israel, the Family Courts Law 5755-1995 included a revolutionary provision - that a Social Services Unit, staffed by senior social workers, would be an integral part of each Family Court. Their mandate includes giving assessment, advice and assistance services to litigants and to the court, and this provision has been broadly interpreted, to include mediation and referrals for therapy. The activities of the Unit are confidential and free of charge to the parties. More recently the Units were given the task of seeing children whose future is the subject of litigation, to find out their needs and views; and also to serve as the agency which parties who want to start proceedings are required to attend, in order to receive information about the effect of proceedings on their children and advice about alternative dispute resolution to avoid litigation. The resulting synergy between the social workers and the Judges ensures that the needs of all those involved are met in a therapeutic fashion where this is necessary and possible, alongside the judicial powers to make orders as needed. Thus unnecessary suffering can be mitigated.

Children's and Parents' Well-Being in Joint Physical Custody: A Literature Review.

Joint physical custody (JPC), a parental care arrangement in which a child lives with each parent for at least 25-50% of the time after separation or divorce, is increasingly common in many Western societies. This is a major shift from the standard of sole physical custody, with mostly mothers providing primary childcare after a parental separation or divorce. The increasing share of separated or divorced parents who practice JPC, which in some countries, US states, and regions reaches 30% and more, results from increasing gender equality due to mothers participating considerably in the labor force and fathers being actively involved in their children's daily lives. This review focuses on the effects of JPC on children's and parents' well-being, based on 40 studies from North America, Australia, and Europe published between 2007 and 2018. In sum, there is empirical evidence from different countries that suggests that JPC arrangements can have positive effects on the well-being of children and of parents. However, the existing studies are conceptually, methodologically, and contextually very heterogeneous. In addition, self-selected highly educated parents with a high socio-economic status, a low conflict level, and children between the ages of 6-15 practicing JPC dominate the samples. Thus, the risks and benefits of JPC are not clear yet and are heavily debated by advocates and academics. The review concludes with suggestions for future research.

La tenencia compartida, un acuerdo entre los padres respecto del cuidado de los hijos por el cual un niño vive con cada padre al menos entre el 25 % y el 50 % del tiempo después de la separación o el divorcio, es cada vez más común en varias sociedades occidentales. Este es un cambio trascendental con respecto a la tradicional tenencia individual, donde principalmente las madres se encargan del cuidado primordial de los niños después del divorcio o la separación. La proporción cada vez mayor de padres separados o divorciados que ejercen la tenencia compartida, que en algunos países y en estados y regiones de Estados Unidos alcanza el 30 % o más, resulta de la creciente igualdad de género debido a que las madres participan considerablemente en el mercado laboral y a que los padres participan activamente en las vidas diarias de sus hijos. Este análisis se centra en los efectos que produce la tenencia compartida en el bienestar de los padres y de los niños basándose en 40 estudios de Norteamérica, Australia y Europa publicados entre 2007 y 2018. En resumen, existen datos empíricos de diferentes países que sugieren que los acuerdos de tenencia compartida pueden tener efectos positivos en el bienestar de los niños y de los padres. Sin embargo, los estudios existentes son muy heterogéneos conceptualmente, metodológicamente y contextualmente. Además, entre las muestras de padres que ejercen la tenencia compartida predominan los autoseleccionados, con un alto nivel de educación, un alto nivel socioeconómico, un bajo nivel de conflicto e hijos de entre seis y quince años. Por lo tanto, los riesgos y los beneficios de la tenencia compartida no son claros todavía y los abogados y académicos los debaten intensamente. El análisis concluye con sugerencias para futuras investigaciones.

Tempo de convivência entre pais e filhos: reflexões sobre a parentalidade residencial compartilhada / Parent-child quantity time: reflections on shared residential parenting

A legislação brasileira instituiu mecanismos de estímulo à guarda compartilhada na última década; contudo, o exercício da guarda unilateral prevalece. O presente trabalho teve o intuito de analisar estudos empíricos acerca dos possíveis benefícios e prejuízos desta modalidade de guarda, por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica, para maior esclarecimento do tema. A maioria destes estudos mostra que o contato estreito (de um terço a metade do tempo da criança) com ambos os genitores ao longo do desenvolvimento melhora não somente o bem-estar, o desempenho acadêmico e a saúde física e emocional dos filhos, como também a relação pai-filho. Além da quantidade de tempo, a ocorrência de pernoites também se mostrou relevante, possibilitando maior qualidade na interação. Evidencia-se a necessidade de superar a hierarquização dos papéis parentais na definição da guarda dos filhos e a noção de que seria nociva a permanência do filho em dois lares em proporções de tempo semelhantes.(AU)

The Brazilian legislation has instituted mechanisms to encourage shared custody over the past decade; however, sole custody remains predominant. The present work had the goal to analyse empirical studies about the possible benefits and disadvantages of this modality of custody using bibliography research to elucidate that topic. The majority of these studies suggest that close contact (from one third to half of the children's time) with both parents throughout development improves not only the children's well-being, academic performance, physical and emotional health, but also the parent-child relationship. Besides the amount of time, the occurrence of overnight stays showed importance, making possible a better interaction. There is a need to overcome the hierarchy of parental roles in the definition of child custody, as well as the notion that the permanence of the child in two homes in a similar proportion of time would be harmful.(AU)

Violência doméstica e rompimento conjugal: repercussões do litígio na família / Domestic violence and conjugal breakup: repercussions of the litigation in the family

O objetivo deste estudo é investigar a violência doméstica associada ao rompimento conjugal. Foram entrevistados 12 sujeitos, 10 homens e duas mulheres, recrutados diretamente em comunidades virtuais do Facebook que atuam como grupos de apoio para pais que lutam na justiça para obter a guarda compartilhada dos filhos. Os participantes relataram dificuldades de manutenção dos laços parentais após o rompimento da relação conjugal, associadas à violência doméstica vivenciada após a decisão de separação conjugal. Dentre os principais tipos de violência relatados, ressalta-se a violência física, a sexual e a psicológica. Conclui-se que a compreensão do fenômeno da violência associada ao rompimento conjugal pode contribuir para a proteção psicológica dos filhos e para a desconstrução de modelos de violência familiar.(AU)

The present article is part of a broader research on the experience of parents who fight for the shared custody of their children. The purpose of this study was to investigate domestic and intrafamilial violence associated to the conjugal breakup. The authors interviewed 12 subjects - 10 men and two women - recruited directly online, from Facebook communities that serve as a support network for parents that dispute in court the shared custody of their children. The participants mentioned difficulties in maintaining parental bonds after the breakup of the conjugal relationship, a process accompanied by an increase of violence between family members. Among the main types of violence mentioned, the authors highlight physical, sexual and psychological violence. The authors conclude that the comprehension of the violence phenomenon associated to the conjugal breakup may contribute not only to the psychological protection of children but also to the deconstruction of models of family violence.(AU)

Predictors of psychological recommendations in child protection evaluation.

Child protection matters from an important social and legal challenge, in which psychologists may be called upon to address a series of questions relevant for judicial decision-making. In an explorative manner, the current study investigates variables that influence psychological evaluators' recommendations in child protection cases. The data is based on a quantitative content review of 103 psychological evaluation reports, conducted at an institute of forensic psychology in Germany. Using bivariate and logistic regression analyses, the following predictors were analyzed in this study: Child-related factors, familial risk factors, and general custody criteria. The outcome measure was the evaluator's recommendation regarding long-term placement of the child and long-term custody arrangements. Evaluators were more likely to recommend permanent foster placement if the child showed insecure or disorganized attachment patterns, especially when combined with developmental delays, or if the child was temporarily in institutional or foster placement at the time of evaluation. The results support the conclusion that the most important factors for psychological expert recommendations refer to the "harm of the child" criterion in terms of developmental and psychological maladaptation.

So not mothers: responsibility for surrogate orphans.

The law ordinarily recognises the woman who gives birth as the mother of a child, but in certain jurisdictions, it will recognise the commissioning couple as the legal parents of a child born to a commercial surrogate. Some commissioning parents have, however, effectively abandoned the children they commission, and in such cases, commercial surrogates may find themselves facing unexpected maternal responsibility for children they had fully intended to give up. Any assumption that commercial surrogates ought to assume maternal responsibility for abandoned children runs contrary to the moral suppositions that typically govern contract surrogacy, in particular, assumptions that gestational carriers are not 'mothers' in any morally significant sense. In general, commercial gestational surrogates are almost entirely conceptualised as 'vessels'. In a moral sense, it is deeply inconsistent to expect commercial surrogates to assume maternal responsibility simply because commissioning parents abandon children for one reason or another. We identify several instances of child abandonment and discuss their implications with regard to the moral conceptualisation of commercial gestational surrogates. We conclude that if gestational surrogates are to remain conceptualised as mere vessels, they should not be expected to assume responsibility for children abandoned by commissioning parents, not even the limited responsibility of giving them up for adoption or surrendering them to the state.

Coparentalidade em famílias pós-divórcio: uma ação desenvolvida em um núcleo de práticas judiciárias / Co-parenting in families post-divorce: an action developed into a judicial practices center

Mudanças importantes têm sido vivenciadas pelas famílias, em especial por aquelas que passam por uma dissolução conjugal e precisam reorganizar as relações de parentalidade após o divórcio. Nesse contexto, é fundamental a responsabilização conjunta pelos cuidados com os filhos. Construir uma vivência de coparentalidade tem sido um dos principais objetivos do projeto que norteia esse ensaio, no qual é realizado um trabalho em um núcleo de práticas judiciárias, que objetiva oferecer um acompanhamento quanto ao exercício da parentalidade aos pais que realizaram acordo de guarda de filhos. Através do projeto tem sido oportunizado apoio e possibilidade de compartilhar, buscar superar as dificuldades, evitando afastamentos, distanciamentos ou rupturas, decorrentes de conflitos conjugais que, muitas vezes, atravessam de forma decisiva a experiência parental. Por fim, as considerações finais destacam a relevância dessas ações e a importância de que possam ser compartilhadas a fim de que sejam ampliadas para outros contextos e instituições.(AU)

Important changes have been experienced by families, especially for those undergoing a marital dissolution and need to reorganize the relations of parenting after divorce. In this context, joint accountability for child care is fundamental. Building a co-parenting experience has been one of the main objectives of the project that guides this essay, in which it is held a task in a center of judicial practices, which aims to provide an accompaniment on the exercise of parenting to parents who underwent guard children agreement. Through the project has been offered support and ability to share, seeking to overcome the difficulties, avoiding clearances, distancing or breaks, arising from marital conflicts that often cross on a decisively way the parental experience. Lastly, the final considerations show the importance of these actions and the importance of which they can be shared in order to be extended to other contexts and institutions.(AU)

The adoption of children from out-of-home care: The understandings of key decision makers in Victoria, Australia.

Adoption is one of a range of options that can provide children in out-of-home care with permanency when they are unable to be reunified with their birth parents. This paper reports on how the adoption of children from out-of-home care is understood by professionals involved in making decisions about the permanent placement of children in out-of-home care in Victoria, Australia, where adoption is rarely used. Data were collected through a single, face-to-face semi-structured interview with 21 professionals; eight child welfare specialists, eight adoption and permanent care specialists and five judicial officers. The adoption of children from out-of-home care was primarily understood as a child-centered practice that can afford children stability and a sense of belonging. Adoption was largely viewed as a voluntary process dependent upon the consent of a child's birth parents. Adoption and permanent care specialists were the only group to refer to the dispensation of parental consent as a means of obtaining an adoption order. Most decision makers understood that contact between children and their birth parents is possible following adoption, but this was not understood by all judicial officers or all child welfare specialists. Children's connection to their cultural heritage was viewed as important to the consideration of adoption for children in out-of-home care. This research provides insight into the foundations upon which decision makers may appraise adoption, within a hierarchy of options, as a potential outcome for children in need of permanency.

Parental Fitness Questioned on the Grounds of Narcolepsy: Presentation of Two Cases.

ABSTRACT: We report two cases of fathers whose parental fitness was questioned during divorce and custody litigation because of narcolepsy type 2 and type 1, respectively. These cases highlighted both the existence of a narcolepsy-related stigma and the need to involve sleep experts in custody assessments when concerns about the parental fitness are related to a sleep disorder, expanding the field of interest of the growing "sleep forensics."

[Predictors of Psychological Evaluation Recommendations in Child Custody and Access Proceedings]. / Prädiktoren psychologischer Empfehlungen in der familienrechtspsychologischen Begutachtung bei Verfahren zum Sorge- und Umgangsrecht.

Predictors of Psychological Evaluation Recommendations in Child Custody and Access Proceedings Psychologists can make an important contribution to decision making in custody and access proceedings by providing expert opinions to the courts, addressing the best interests of the child. This study aims to investigate quantified effects of indicators on recommendations of psychological evaluators in custody and access proceedings. This data is based on 179 psychological evaluations that were conducted from 2008 to 2012 at an evaluator association in Bremen, Germany. The data is assessed in a quantitative content analysis. Using logistic regression analysis, the influence of child- and parent-related factors on the recommendations of the evaluators is investigated both in custody and in access proceedings. In cases addressing child custody, substance abuse and dependency of the mother and a child's preference for living with the father are significant predictors for the evaluators' recommendation. In cases concerning visitation rights, the child refusing contact with the father and the child experiencing physical abuse are identified as significant predictors. In the present study, the effects of relevant factors on the recommendation of psychological evaluators in family proceedings were first examined on a German sample. This study thus makes an important contribution to the empirical research in the field of psychology and family law.