A Judge’s Guide

Child and Youth
Developmental
Considerations
Chapter
3
or too long, children of separation and divorce have been without a voice.
Historically, the needs of children were rarely accounted for in a way that
ensured healthy growth and development following their parents’
separation. Instead, parents have been permitted to “go to war” in order
to “win” custody of their children. Research, however, now documents the
potentially devastating consequences for children when they are treated as pawns
in a bitter custody dispute, including an increased likelihood of clinical depression,
delinquency, truancy, and teenage pregnancy. 1 F
There are, however, more healthy
ways to divorce that would minimize the negative impact on both children and
parents.
The Developmental Approach of This
Chapter
The model presented in this chapter, entitled The Child and Family Focused Model of
Decision Making, provides a developmental framework for judges who must make
critical, often painful, custody determinations based on the rather undefined “best
interests of the child” doctrine. The model was developed by the National Family
Resiliency Center, Inc. (NFRC) (formerly Children of Separation and Divorce
Center, Inc.), based in both Columbia and Rockville, Maryland. COSD changed
its name to National Family Resiliency Center, Inc. to reflect the agency’s broader,
collaborative work with families and the court system. The developmental
information contained within this chapter is based on extensive clinical and
educational work at NFRC with more than 22,000 family members since 1983.
The general theories of well-known developmental and attachment theorists such
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