A Judge’s Guide

PARENTING CONSIDERATIONS
1 ROBERT EMERY, MARRIAGE, DIVORCE AND CHILDREN’S ADJUSTMENT (Sage
Publications 1988).
2 JOHN BOWLBY,ASECURE BASE:PARENT -CHILD ATTACHMENTS AND HEALTHY
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT (Basic Books 1988). See also Chapter 3, Infancy.
3 Lori Kaplan, Linda Ade-Ridder & Charles B. Hennon, Issues of Split Custody:
Siblings Separated by Divorce, 16 J. OF DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE 253 (1991). See
also Lori Kaplan, et al., Splitting Custody of Children Between Parents: Impact on the
Sibling System, 74 FAMILIES IN SOCIETY 131 (1993).
4 STANLEY S. CLAWAR & BRYNNE V. RIVLIN, CHILDREN HELD HOSTAGE:
DEALING WITH PROGRAMMED AND BRAINWASHED CHILDREN (American Bar
Association 1991). See also Daniel Hynan, Interviewing Children in Custody
Evaluations, 36 FAM.&CONCILIATION COURTS REV. 446 (1998).
5 See, e.g., Palmore v. Sidori, 466 U.S. 429 (1984); Harris v. Harris, 343 So. 2d 762
(Miss. 1997). See also JEFF ATKINSON, HANDLING RELIGIOUS ISSUES IN
CUSTODY AND VISITATION DISPUTES (American Bar Association 1992).
6
Carolyn R. Wah, Mental Health and Minority Religions: The Latest Weapon in Custody
Battles, 17 INT’L J. OF LAW &PSYCHIATRY 331, 338-39 (1994). See also Carolyn R.
Wah, Evaluating “Nontraditional” Religious Practice in Child Custody Cases, 35 FAM.&
CONCILIATION COURTS REV. 300 (1997).
7
In 1998, the ABA adopted policy stating that custody and visitation should not
be restricted based on sexual orientation. See also Judith Fowler, Homosexual
Parents: Implications for Custody Cases, 33 FAM.&CONCILIATION COURTS REV. 361
(1995)(noting that “[r]esearch has failed to show differences between children
raised by lesbian and heterosexual mothers”); Candan Duran-Audintug & Kelly
A. Causey, Child Custody Determination: Implications for Lesbian Mothers, 25 J. OF
DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE 59 (1996)(countering judicial assumptions with
current research); Charlotte J. Patterson & Richard E. Redding, Lesbian and Gay
Families with Children: Implications of Social Science Research for Policy, 52 J. OF SOC.
ISSUES 29, 41 (1996)(noting that “fears that children of gay and lesbian parents
suffer deficits in personal development appear to be without empirical
foundation”).
8
In most jurisdictions, the issue of homosexuality is irrelevant unless shown to
have an adverse effect on children. Kathryn Kendall, The Custody Challenge:
Debunking Myths About Lesbian & Gay Parents and Their Children, 20 FAMILY
ADVOCATE 21 (1997).
9
See, e.g., U.S. DEP’T OF HEALTH &HUM.SERVICES,MENTAL HEALTH:AREPORT
OF THE SURGEON GENERAL (1999).
10
See JANET JOHNSTON &VIVIENNE ROSEBY, IN THE NAME OF THE CHILD: A
DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING AND HELPING CHILDREN
OF CONFLICTED AND VIOLENT DIVORCE (The Free Press 1997).
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