A Judge’s Guide

DEVELOPMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS
as Jean Piaget, Erik Erickson, Margaret Mahler, and John Bowlby also inform the
model presented in this chapter.
The Child and Family Focused Model of Decision Making presented in this chapter will
address the following concepts:
What you should expect from a child of a certain developmental
age in terms of the following:
self-concept or how positively the child views him or herself;
intellectual functioning;
interpersonal functioning; and
sense of safety and security.
How separation, divorce, and other transitions may impact the
child’s development.
What information you need to determine “parental fitness” or the
ability to parent responsibly given the child’s developmental needs.
What age-specific, key factors you should consider prior to
formulating a custody agreement.
It should be noted that, where domestic violence is at issue, you might need to
implement additional safeguards to protect the victims of violence, as well as
consider the use of experts in this area to ensure an outcome in the best interests
of the child. (See Chapter 4, Potential Parenting Impairments: Domestic
Violence and Chapter 6, Recurring Issues in Child Custody Cases:
Domestic Violence.)
Resources to Help Judges Apply the Model
As a supplement to the legal “best interests” doctrine, judges using the
developmental model described in this chapter are not expected to become mental
health or child development experts. Instead, you should rely on the information
gathered by the following individuals:
neutral evaluators;
mental health professionals;
mediators;
best interest attorneys (BIA); and
domestic violence and child abuse experts.
The model helps judges ask the right questions of these professionals, order the
appropriate referrals and evaluations, and finally, make a determination based on a
more complete picture of the child’s specific developmental and special needs.
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