Customer Reviews

The Scientific Basis of Child Custody Decisions

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This is a comprehensive and much-needed compilation of material for the custody evaluator. The authors provide an unbiased review of the research literature, clarifying the validity of assumptions regarding parent effectiveness, visitation schedules, and children's adustment to divorce. They point out the importance of considering context and individual dyads rather than relying on broad-based conclusions generated from any particular study. They have covered a breadth of topics, beginning with legal and ethical issues, relevant child development and adjustment issues, and psychological testing. Among other topics included are "the remarriage family," adopted children, medically ill children, and children of gay and lesbian parents. This work can be a useful reference for clinicians working with children of divorce, but for those performing custody evaluations it should be required reading.

After carefully studying this book - and hundreds of similair books and journal articles - my verdict is simply that there isn't ANY scientific basis for why mental health professionals should offer their opinion in court regarding custody arrangements. The book it self is the best evidence for the lack of a scientific - and hence ethical - basis for this kind of work, and it's obvious after reading this book that most of the authors just stubbornly clung to the idea that their education, credentials and clinical intuition give them priviliged access to the minds and motivations of others. This book should be - critically - read by every lawyer and judge dealing with custody cases to prevent more havock these "emperors without clothes" are wrecking in the lives of thousands of lives.