What principles should guide the courts in deciding the fate of hundreds of thousands of children involved every year in parental divorces and family breakdowns? What should justify state intrusion on the privacy of family relationships? How should professionals - judges, lawyers, social workers, psychiatrists, and psychologists - conduct themselves in pursuing "the best interests" of children who have been abandoned, neglected, or abused? The agonizing dilemmas posed by these three questions were the subject of one of the seminal publishing events in the history of The Free press. The result has been a set of historic guidelines which forms the basis of their landmark trilogy Beyond the Best Interests of the Child, Before the Best Interests of the Child, and In the Best Interests of the Child, published between 1973 and 1986. The authors speak in one voice in concluding that the continuity of care - continuity of a child's relationship with his or her adult caregiver - is a universal essential to the child's well-being. To this end, they stress that minimizing intrusions by the law is paramount to safeguarding the child's growth and development. "The least detrimental alternative" - the authors overarching guideline for assuring the continuity of the psychological parent-child relationship - has been cited in more than a thousand child custody cases since 1973.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
This consolidation of a classic trilogy (Beyond the Best Interests of the Child, 1980; Before the Best Interests of the Child, 1984; and In the Best Interests of the Child, 1986) that first appeared 23 years ago concerns the welfare of children in contested relationships. Rather than the familiar legal "best interests of the child" doctrine, this work is grounded in the more realistic standard of finding the "least detrimental alternative." The eminent authors, including Yale law professor Goldstein and the late Anna Freud, discuss the needs of "Baby Richard" and other children forced into the legal system, the conditions that warrant state intervention, and the ethical conduct of professionals who function in the system. Their analysis combines psychoanalytic theories with legal examinations. Because laws vary by jurisdiction, the book serves as a general guide for those involved in placement decisions. Many conclusions, including rejections of custodial arrangements involving forced visitation and the unquestioned primacy of birth parents, are controversial. Still, the book is tightly argued and well presented, and the updated references are very useful. For family law collections; libraries that hold only some of the earlier editions should consider this economic consolidation.?Antoinette Brinkman, Southwest Indiana Mental Health Ctr. Lib., Evansville
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Provides a good framework to help sort out issues of what is really "best" for children.,
By
This review is from: Best Interests of the Child: The Least Detrimental Alternative (Hardcover)
This book should be mandatory reading for all those who aspire to be advocates for children- anyone in the family court system (judges, lawyers, guardian ad litems), legislators and most especially workers in the child protection services.
11 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Three "...Best Interests of the Child" volumes in one book,
By gschoen1@aol.com (Miami, Florida) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Best Interests of the Child: The Least Detrimental Alternative (Paperback)
Very comprehensive, well written, includes all three volumes-Before the Best Interests and Beyond the Best Interests in this one volume.
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
The child is singled out by law, as by custom, for special attention. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Justice Rizzi, Book One, Consultant Psychiatrist, Justice Nadel, North Bay, Judge Elwyn, Franklin Pierce, Jewish Child Care Association, Judge Baltimore, Judge Dixon, United States, Judge Clement, Judge Dembitz, Judge Thetford, Maria Colwell, Book Two, Judge Abella, Spence-Chapin Adoption Service, West Virginia, Danny Byse, Jason Rose, Judge Breitel, Judge Karswick, Judge Thomas New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The child is singled out by law, as by custom, for special attention. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Justice Rizzi, Book One, Consultant Psychiatrist, Justice Nadel, North Bay, Judge Elwyn, Franklin Pierce, Jewish Child Care Association, Judge Baltimore, Judge Dixon, United States, Judge Clement, Judge Dembitz, Judge Thetford, Maria Colwell, Book Two, Judge Abella, Spence-Chapin Adoption Service, West Virginia, Danny Byse, Jason Rose, Judge Breitel, Judge Karswick, Judge Thomas New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 40
books:
See all 40 books this book cites
5
books
cite this book:
- Family and the Law by Joseph Goldstein on 5 pages
- Before the Best Interests of the Child by Joseph Goldstein on 4 pages
- Child Abuse (The Developing Child Series) by C. Henry Kempe in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- In the Best Interests of the Child by Joseph Goldstein in Front Matter, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Mental Health by Eleanor C. Goldstein in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 40 books this book cites
- Genetic Ties and the Family: The Impact of Paternity Testing on Parents and Children by Mark A. Rothstein on page 150
- Enhancing the Well-Being of Children and Families Through Effective Interventions: International Evidence for Practice by Colette McAuley in Back Matter
- The Fragmenting Family by Brenda Almond in Back Matter
- The Ethics of Transracial Adoption by Hawley Fogg-Davis in Back Matter
- Complex Adoption and Assisted Reproductive Technology: A Developmental Approach to Clinical Practice by Vivian B. Shapiro on page 58
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