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Understanding more about the discharge of care orders is vital—whether a care order remains in place has significant implications for children and their families and for local authorities. While there has been comprehensive research about the process and outcomes of care proceedings, much less is known about the discharge of care orders—particularly how, why and when care orders are ended and the differences between applications that are granted and those that are not. The present study combined data from an anonymized administrative data on discharge applications, a detailed analysis of children's e‐records and qualitative interviews with family justice professionals to create the first detailed profile of discharge applications across England and Wales. This paper reports, for the first time, the number of discharge applications and outcomes across England and Wales, highlighting regional as well as between‐country variation. Drawing on data from children's e‐records and interviews with professionals, highlighting how and why local authorities are more likely to submit discharge applications, and to have applications granted, than parents. Recommendations are made for how to adapt professional practice and policy around discharge applications to better meet the needs of children and families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars and advocates are at odds about how to achieve higher levels of child safety and permanency. Calls for change include the recent upEND focus on eradication of child welfare services to a radical refocusing of the present system towards prevention/early intervention. To clarify the implications of reform over abolition, we seek to portray a future in which the abolition of child welfare has occurred, in juxtaposition to maintaining four core elements of established child maltreatment programmes around the world: (1) receiving and responding to community signals about the risk to children; (2) assessment of need coupled with a proportionate response; (3) rights protections to ensure fairness when placement outside the family is required; and (4) procedures for accountability and quality improvement. For each of these functions, we outline abolitionist advocates' positions and implications for children and parents. Across these elements, we delineate how assigning these responsibilities to communities, as suggested by upEND, would likely (1) exaggerate racial and economic inequities and (2) create structural barriers that would increase harm to children. We suggest several evidence‐informed enhancements to practice, research and policy that would mitigate these inequities while also increasing safety and permanency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The infants of women with histories of problematic alcohol and other drug use are among the most vulnerable children known to statutory child protection services, which they enter at a younger age, and in which they remain longer. The net results include overwhelmed child protection systems and the birth of subsequent children conceived to ease women's grief at the loss their infants. Without adequate and appropriate support to the mother and her family, the pattern repeats. Obstetric services have an important role to play in the assessment of risk and protective factors in the perinatal period and in determining pathways to service provision. A comprehensive assessment considers the availability and quality of informal support prior to activation of formal systems of support, both statutory, where engagement is mandated, and non‐statutory, where support is offered on a voluntary basis. This paper uses quantitative methods to explore the social networks of women with problematic substance use in the transition to motherhood and the relationship between formal and informal support systems and infant outcomes. Surveys were held with two counsellors from the Women's Alcohol and Drug Service (WADS), a specialist obstetric clinic in Melbourne, Australia, and with 18 child protection workers. In addition, the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (Norbeck, 1984; Norbeck et al., 1983) was administered with 20 participating mothers to measure levels of formal and informal support, as well as the type and quality of support available to mothers over a 12‐month period, and to consider the provision of social support against known outcomes for infants. The findings demonstrate that WADS counsellors made several referrals for most women but that there was little in the way of long‐term follow‐up by non‐statutory service providers, with most women experiencing a dramatic drop in support over the 12‐month period. Women whose main informal support was from a domestically violent partner, and those who had been in out‐of‐home care in their own childhood, were particularly vulnerable to losing the care of their infant. The role of child protection varied markedly across the 12‐month period, particularly in relation to the extent that a relationship between formal and informal systems of support for mothers and their infants could be established. Overall, the study findings demonstrate that mothers experienced diminishing formal and informal support over time and that the quality of social support available to the mother was more important in terms of outcomes for women and their infants than the quantity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Felicity Kaganas was intrigued by the legal concept of presumptions. She explored the presumption in the family law of England and Wales before and after its introduction in 2014. The presumption which began operating in the Australian Family Law Act 1975 (FLA) in 2006 stated that ‘equal shared parental responsibility’ (‘joint legal custody’ or guardianship) is in the best interests of children and created a legislative link between the making of such an order to shared parenting time orders. Many subsequent reviews of the FLA recommended amending the presumption, if not repealing it, but no changes were made. Meantime in England and Wales a less intrusive presumption was introduced, together with a Practice Direction intended to limit its over-use. Then in 2023 major changes to the FLA in Australia were introduced, including repealing the presumption. They became operative in May 2024. This article explores their potential to better protect parents and children who have experienced family violence. It also examines the potential consequences of the repeal of sections that provided guideposts when making shared care orders and others that rendered the past caring for children relevant. These losses could be detrimental to mothers and children who have lived with domestic and family violence or abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1970s, the movie Kramer versus Kramer dramatized the destructiveness of child custody disputes. It helped inspire family law reform and careers. The central problem identified was an adversarial system and hostile litigation. The proposed solution was alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Over time, these alternatives became an integral part of the family law response to child custody cases, except in cases of vulnerable parties. Today's parents are under greater legal and social pressure to resolve disputes without resorting to court. This can be welcomed and resisted by parents. This article focuses on parental resistance to dispute resolution over litigation through a return to Hollywood. The movie Marriage Story is used to show how parents might feel alienated rather than relieved by opportunity to cooperatively problem‐solve differences. Implications are explored in part through drawing from ethnographic research on parents who engaged in mediation through a U.S. family court program and through two Australian Family Relationship Centres (FRC). Key points for the family court community: Popular culture, such as movies, can be used by professionals to consider why parents may not perceive services and systems according to professional expectations.Comparing two divorce movies, produced 40 years apart, helps to consider how evolving societal expectations about custody and disputing may impact parent perceptions and behaviors.This article uses the author's past research to examine the depiction of a custody dispute in the movie, Marriage Story (2019).The movie portrayal of contemporary divorce and research outcomes presented in this article help explain how and why some parents may feel more alienated than empowered under today's family dispute resolution paradigm.An example of conflict for some parents in both the movie Marriage Story and in research study results was how they felt when advised to avoid court while considering implications of court oversight and judgment. In the movie, this is framed as, "Court or No Court." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children in foster care have complexity around medical decision-making because of their unique custody status. When medical decision-making is necessary for a child in foster care, what perspectives are important? What if opinions are not aligned? Who makes the final decision for consent? This Ethics Rounds focuses on a young child in foster care who has had repeated ear infections. Foster caregivers and family of origin are not in agreement on the treatment plan. Two experts, a foster care pediatrician and a child welfare professional, comment on the important considerations for the case, including involvement of legal representation and best interest representation in medical decision-making as well as the variability in child welfare response by state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I examine socio-cultural landscapes where personal relationships are formed, fractured and underscored by physical movement across space. I explore court cases brought forth in South-Eastern Nigeria from the 1940s to the 1960s to settle betrothal, marriage, and custody disputes. I argue that these cases represent patterns of e-motion , a form of migration triggered by family decisions, third party interlocutors, emotional bonds and asperity. Using court case testimony transcripts, court petitions, domestic violence complaints, personal letters, unpublished memoirs and other documents, I show how Nigerians sought legal assistance from district courts when local native courts failed to satisfy the aggrieved. This article highlights how family and social expectations shaped and limited migratory practices for subaltern women and girls, resulting in e-motional landscapes. Engendered by emotional stress, rage, fear and violence, which ultimately shaped their livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resilience plays a significant role in buffering the negative effects of parenting stress among custodial grandparents. Using a sample of 76 custodial grandparents, this study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties and factor structure of the 10-item Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale and to examine the predictors at individual level (demographic characteristics and stress management), interpersonal level (positive social support and negative social support), and community level (formal service use). The results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses yielded two factors: adaptability and persistence, and positivity. The findings suggest that low levels of stress management and negative social support may undermine resilience in coping with parenting stress. This study emphasizes the significance of both individual and family interventions in fostering resilience among custodial grandparents by aiding them in building stress management skills and improving the quality of social relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike natural conception and other assisted reproductive technologies, surrogacy involves three crucial factors: family legislation, family ethics, and reproductive technology. This makes the determination of parentage in surrogacy more complex. In China, surrogacy is completely prohibited by law. However, this prohibition has not diminished the interest in discussions around the family ethics, order, and relationships affected by surrogacy. In practice, disputes over parentage and child custody arising from surrogacy urgently need resolution through judicial practice. The current legal framework in China lacks clear regulations to address the complexities of surrogacy, leading to numerous unresolved disputes. To address this issue, it is advisable for China to enact clear legislative measures to govern parent-child relationships in surrogacy cases. This paper presents legislative recommendations for regulating surrogacy in China, with the hope that the judicial interpretations of the Supreme People's Court of China can provide clear legal regulations on surrogacy during revisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formal coercion in psychiatry is widely studied, but less is known about informal coercion. Coercion is mostly viewed as a continuum, with formal coercion considered the most severe. The question of whether informal coercion might be perceived as even more severe remains unevaluated. We aimed to compare the perceived severity of formal coercion among psychiatric patients with four domains of severe informal coercion (finance, housing, criminal justice and child custody). A total of 456 psychiatric patients were evaluated using Rasch analysis and statistical implication analysis. All four domains of severe informal coercion were found to be more severe than formal coercion, with coercion involving child custody perceived as the most severe. The perceived seriousness of severe informal coercion may be a counter-example to the idea of a ‘continuum of coercion’. The degree of severity of formal and informal coercion may not correspond to the lived experiences of the patients concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on significant changes to family law enacted in 2023 across the District of Columbia, highlighting key topics such as child custody, domestic violence protections, and nonparent custody. It provides a detailed overview of various legislative updates, including new presumptions for 50-50 parenting time, enhancements to children's representation in protective proceedings, and specific provisions addressing financial abuse and tracking devices in domestic violence cases.

In China, neither reproduction and parenthood by lesbian couples nor their marital status are regulated or protected by law. In 2020, the first legal dispute in China involving a lesbian couple over custody of their joint baby was heard in court. This study examines the legal and ethical issues that lesbian couples confront when they decide to give birth to a child of their own. These challenges begin with regulatory restrictions on their lawful access to assisted reproductive technology and extend to gaps in the legal establishment of parenthood. We found that the lack of access to legitimate reproductive assistance for lesbian couples in China has caused them to make efforts to circumvent laws and regulations to have a child. However, the legislative gaps later led to ethical dilemmas when resolving disputes over parenthood. This study discusses different accounts of establishing and determining natural parenthood in China and concludes by pointing out the urgent need for change in legislative and sociocultural attitudes toward both assisted reproductive technology and same‐sex relationships, mapping the way forward for lesbian couples to obtain better protection of procreation and parenthood before their marriage is culturally accepted and finally legalized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relatively little research has examined men's use of coercive controlling tactics against female partners after separation. This mixed-methods secondary analysis of 346 Canadian women documented coercive controlling tactics used by their ex-partners (86.4% identified at least one). The composite abuse scale emotional abuse subscale and women being older were associated with men using coercive control tactics post-separation. A secondary qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with a sub-sample of 34 women provided additional examples. Abusive partners used numerous strategies to coercively control their ex-partners by stalking/harassing them, using financial abuse and discrediting the women to various authorities. Considerations for future research are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shared physical custody (SPC) is a care arrangement following parental separation, whereby children alternatively reside with their mother and father. Very little is known about how family policies accommodate SPC, which is all the more unfortunate, as it represents a key opportunity to understand how family policies can efficiently facilitate shared parenting. To address this gap, this article presents a modest attempt at designing a new comparative family policy approach that considers SPC arrangements, by examining the extent to which Belgian, French and Italian family policies accommodate a more equal sharing of parenting post-divorce. In so doing, we encourage studies of defamilialization to take better account of the diversity of contemporary family forms. The theoretical section traces back key feminist debates around defamilialization and proposes to consider SPC arrangements as an 'atypical' family configuration that best illustrates contemporary tensions around defamilialization and gender equality. It also takes stock of the few studies of family policy and SPC to highlight key issues at stake. The analysis section starts with the main characteristics of the family law, welfare regime and family policies of the three countries. Then, we examine a selection of emblematic and national-level family policies from the following areas: (1) Family benefits; (2) Financial support to access to services; and (3) Tax measures. Our comparison focuses on three main criteria: scope; entitlement; and shareability of benefits between parents in the context of SPC. Our analysis reveals the variety of approaches to SPC in family polices across countries and policy areas, and the significant lack of support for a more equitable distribution of parenting within SPC. We conclude by highlighting the usefulness of taking SPC into account in reflecting on and evaluating the implementation of defamilialization policies, and by identifying some of the challenges to be met by future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the government discrimination against women, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and racial/ethnic minority individuals, which is said to be the return of Jim Crow. Topics include governmental actions that sought to make the promise of equality found in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution a reality for women and LGBTQIA1 and racial/ethnic minority individuals and Jim Crow era discriminatory policies and actions from 1877 to 2024.

Objective: This study examines whether the quality of the stepfather–child relationship differs among sole physical custody (SPC) and joint physical custody (JPC) families and compares the association between the father–child and the stepfather–child relationship across the two physical custody arrangements. Background: An increasing number of families opt for JPC after separation or divorce. Because children in JPC families spend more time with their biological father than children in mother SPC families, the question arises whether JPC affects the quality of the stepfather–child relationship. Method: We investigated 279 SPC and 182 JPC stepfather families with children aged 1 to 14 from the Family Models in Germany study. Ordinary least squares regression models and interaction effects were estimated. Results: The quality of the stepfather–child relationship was generally high in both SPC and JPC families and did not differ between the two arrangements. The father–child relationship was positively, albeit weakly, associated with the stepfather–child relationship in both arrangements, indicating spillover effects. Conclusion: JPC does not affect the quality of the stepfather–child relationship. Implications: This study does not provide any evidence that JPC is an ill‐suited physical custody arrangement when considering the quality of relationships in stepfamilies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The family is the fundamental pillar of the society and is subject to psychological rules and legal regulations, and with the good implementation of these rules and regulations, it can achieve the excellence of the family members and the consolidation and improvement of its structure. In the event of couple's divorce and the occurrence of the conflict between the duty of mother's custody and the limits of the patriarch's guardianship, by strengthening the extended family structure and paying attention to the participation of different classes of the family, it is possible to benefit from the conditions that have arisen for the benefit of the relationship between generations, and to establish the legal criteria for legislation. Coercive rule was achieved. The current research aims to investigate the psychological impact of the type of family structure and the different states of participation of the members in each of the structures to overcome the legal conflicts that have arisen between the performance of the custodian and the coercive guardian. The results of the investigations show that in the conditions of generation gap and the existence of a significant distance between the family of the first degree and the family of the second and third degrees, the fields of mutual understanding and effective participation have been lost and not only the interaction of the guardian and the forced guardian get into trouble after divorce, but perhaps this emptiness would be one of the causes of divorce. As a result, it is necessary to provide the conditions for the participation of different family classes in different intellectual, cultural, and economic contexts, even when there is no context for changing the family structure, and the threat of alienation of relatives becomes an opportunity for their cooperation and assistance.

This study aims to find out the implications of condemnatoir decisions in child custody cases in the jurisdiction of the Denpasar Religious Court, and the obstacles faced in the implementation of the execution of child custody decisions in this jurisdiction. The study employs both normative and empirical approaches, focusing on the norm vacuum regarding the enforcement of Hadhanah (child custody) decisions. The data analysis involves a legal analysis of the normative sources to interpret and evaluate the current laws, complemented by qualitative analysis of empirical data to identify patterns, issues, and challenges in the execution process. The research offers valuable insights into the practical difficulties of enforcing child custody rulings, which could inform legal reforms or improvements in the judicial process to better protect the interests of the child and ensure compliance with judicial decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on fathering has substantially increased but we still know relatively little about whether and how fathers' own perspectives on their parenting differ across a variety of family situations. We estimate associations between nonresident fathers' family types and nonresident fathers' perceptions of the quality of their parenting and their relationships with their children, using data from the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration program on lower-income nonresident fathers (n = 5,835) and logistic regressions. High-quality parenting is more likely to be reported by nonresident fathers with multiple-partner fertility and both resident and nonresident children than either those with multiple-partner fertility and only nonresident children or those with single-partner fertility. High-quality relationships with children are more likely to be reported by those with single-partner fertility than those with multiple-partner fertility. These findings suggest the importance of resident children in fathers' perceptions of their parenting and highlight the difficulties of parenting across multiple households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT In the United States, 37 states and 4 territories allow for the termination of parental rights (TPR) due to parental disability. Twenty‐eight of these states and all four of the territories specifically include parental intellectual developmental disability (IDD). Policies that call for the TPR based on factors outside of parental abuse or neglect have myriad negative effects on individuals, families and communities, including long‐term adverse health outcomes for children who have been removed from parental custody, delays in prenatal care for pregnant people whose stigmatized identities may result in involuntary TPR and an increased burden on already overtaxed child welfare systems. This paper analyses policies and proposes an alternative policy modelled after advocacy from other groups of parents with marginalized identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child custody cases post-parental separation entail inherent complexities and uncertainties for legal experts and decision-makers, and are influenced by context factors. This study sheds light on how legal actors (i.e., judges, prosecutors, lawyers, psychologists, and social workers) navigate the uncertainties that arise in such context and, therefore, make their decisions. Based on a reflexive thematic analysis involving 73 participants from Brazil and England, this study reveals cognitive strategies employed by legal actors to comprehend uncertainty and operate in the decision-making context. These strategies encompass heuristics (i.e., selection, evaluation, degrees of freedom, and outsourcing decisions/resolution) and metacognitive strategies (custodial arrangements, professional practices and 'best interests of the child' speech). These results provide a window into the decision-making processes in child custody cases; they offer a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted sensemaking strategies employed by legal professionals. The results carry substantial implications for informing and improving legal practice in handling complex child custody situations. Furthermore, this study charts new paths for future research by highlighting potential avenues for refining and advancing the strategies employed by legal experts in these cases, especially considering the child's best interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been considerable public discourse around courts allegedly “dismissing” mother's allegations of domestic violence and child abuse when a father alleges that he is being alienated from his children by their mother. The purpose of this project is to test whether this discourse is based on an illusory correlation. Published court decisions from 200 family court cases in Canada were sequentially selected if parental alienation was alleged to have happened to the father and abuse was alleged to have been perpetrated by the father. Independent coders recorded the investigative outcomes of the court cases regarding alienation and abuse, and whether the mother lost child custody. Results indicate that there is an illusory correlation between family court cases involving both allegations of abuse and parental alienation, and that mothers are generally not losing custody to abusive fathers in such rarely occurring cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a quantitative analysis of a novel dataset comprising 10,093 publicly available judgments of adjudicated child custody disputes from the China Judgments Online website, this article identifies potential gender bias in Chinese family courts under certain conditions. Key findings include: 1. Mothers are generally more proactive in seeking custody and are awarded custody in the majority of cases compared to fathers. 2. Specifically, mothers have a significant advantage in cases involving daughters, while their advantage in cases involving sons is less pronounced. 3. In rural courts, the results are notably different: mothers are disadvantaged overall, fathers are particularly assertive in seeking custody of sons compared to daughters, and mothers are less likely than fathers to be awarded custody of sons. Building on existing literature, this study highlights potential judicial biases rooted in societal gender norms prevalent in rural areas. This raises questions about whether courts have achieved substantive gender equality and whether the legal principle of 'the best interests of the child' is consistently upheld in every court decision. This study enhances the understanding of gender bias within China's family court system by providing valuable insights for those interested in addressing gender inequality. It not only highlights specific challenges women face in custody cases but also calls for broader societal and policy changes to support women and combat gender discrimination in all its forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article adopts a law and literature approach toward Genesis 21:14-21, focused on the legal themes within the narrative and how these themes shape the story. Genesis 21:14-21 records the expulsion of Hagar and her son from Abraham's home. I identify multiple legal idioms and terms within this unit and argue that the narrative uses legal terminology in order to depict the child's expulsion specifically as a transfer of custody from his father to his mother. In her marginalization from Abraham's home, Hagar also gains legal rights, and this article examines these shifts in power from a law and literature perspective in order to interrogate Hagar's parental rights within the biblical text and to demonstrate how they function within the ancestral narrative as a means of formalizing the rupture in Abraham's household. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of research on the impact of divorce on parents, children, and families focuses on what occurs after the divorce has been finalized. However, data derived from divorce education programs present opportunities for research on the experience of parents during the divorce process. Guided by the divorce‐stress‐adjustment model, this study sought to understand how the divorce process impacts parental well‐being by examining some of the most pressing child‐related concerns divorcing parents have while going through a divorce. Specifically, we looked at how the approach parents took to resolve child‐related issues (i.e., internally, through outside intervention, or unresolved) was related to the perceived fairness of child custody arrangements, parental concerns regarding how divorce impacts children, financial concerns, and their overall well‐being. Perceived fairness of the child custody arrangement, concerns regarding how divorce impacts children, and financial concerns were associated with parental well‐being, and also served as an indirect path through which approaches to resolve child‐related issues impacted parental well‐being. Understanding what parents think and feel during the divorce process, and how those thoughts and feelings are related to the actual steps to getting a divorce, could help inform divorce education typically administered as part of divorce proceedings. Key Points for the Family Court Community: The approach taken to resolve child‐related issues during divorce significantly impacted parental well‐being.Perceived fairness of child custody arrangements was also associated with parental well‐being.Data collected from divorce education participants may provide insight to family court professionals regarding the divorce process for families.Divorce education may need to include more content that targets the well‐being of parentsModels of divorce education that administer differing curricula targeted for specific needs should be considered [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When Dutch parents with children divorce, a mediator compiles a matrix with the financial needs of the children and the financial capacities of parents to meet these needs. Moreover, in case parents have children from previous marriages or are prepared to contribute to stepchildren, a bipartite graph shows which parent is financially responsible for which child. The Dutch high court ruled that the final contributions should be proportionally consistent, implying that shortages for children should be prevented if possible and any remaining parental capacities should be proportionally divided among parents responsible for the same child. Finding by hand this proportional solution is difficult for realistic court cases, as these can include several (step)parents and children. The paper on the divorced-parents problem shows that the final unique solution can be found when parents start court cases iteratively and provides efficient algorithms that can deal with large (country-size) networks. When Dutch parents divorce, Dutch law dictates that the parental contributions to cover the financial needs of the children have to be proportionally consistent. This rule is clear when parents only have common children. However, cases can be considerably more complicated, for example, when parents have financial responsibilities to children from previous marriages. We show that, mathematically, this settlement problem can be modeled as a bipartite rationing problem for which a unique global proportionally proportional solution exists. Moreover, we develop two efficient algorithms for obtaining this proportionally proportional solution, and we show numerically that both algorithms are considerably faster than standard convex optimization techniques. The first algorithm is a novel tailor-made fixed-point iteration algorithm (FPA), whereas the second algorithm only iteratively applies simple lawsuits involving a single child and its parents. The inspiration for this latter algorithm comes from our main convergence proof in which we show that iteratively applying settlements on smaller subnetworks eventually leads to the same settlement on the network as a whole. This has significant societal importance because, in practice, lawsuits are often only held between two or a few parents. Moreover, our iterative algorithm is easy to understand, also by parents, legal counselors, and judges, which is crucial for its acceptance in practice. Finally, as the method provides a unique solution to any dispute, it removes the legal inequality perceived by parents. Consequently, it may considerably reduce the workload of courts because parents and lawyers can compute the proportionally proportional parental contributions before bringing their case to court. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Children in custodial settings are a vulnerable group. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic there were concerns about the safety of children in these settings. COVID-19 has had an impact on everyone but given the vulnerability of children in custody, there were concerns about the impact of COVID-19 restrictions. All custody settings for children are independently inspected and this research aimed to analyse data from inspection reports. Twenty-six inspection reports undertaken between March 2020 and October 2021 were analysed to understand the impact of COVID-19 on delivery of usual care/regime. Results: Data showed that across all site's children spent considerable amounts of time isolated and in some cases, this was deemed to amount to solitary confinement. There was evidence of some positive experiences, in the smaller sites, around COVID-19 slowing the pace of life allowing staff and children could foster relationships. However, in the larger sites, isolation was extreme and COVID-19 policies such as 'bubbles' appear to have created unintended consequences as sites have moved into recovery, leading to increased violence and stress. COVID-19 directly impacted staffing levels. This and the COVID-19 policies to reduce mixing also had an impact on how children's behaviour, welfare and safeguarding was managed. In some larger sites, being COVID-19 secure was prioritised over the needs of the children. Conclusions: This research highlights the importance of multi-site longitudinal research to understand how children, staff and institution's function. The experiences of children in custody during COVID-19 differed by site type. The research suggests that the larger sites are struggling to keep children safe and there should be a shift towards smaller, more therapeutic environments. More research is needed to understand the longer-term unintended consequences of COVID-19 policy in custody, for these vulnerable children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Judge Karen Atala framed her child custody case against the Chilean Supreme Court within Indigenous Mapuche "shamanic justice," the "spirit of the law," and human rights. We analyze what Atala's case contributes to the literature on sexual diversity, sorcery, and the spirit of the law in both Chilean and Mapuche histories of justice. The case engages the spirit of the law in two senses. First, it reveals the lack of separation between religious and secular law, demonstrating that religion is profoundly embedded in the law, both for the state and for the Mapuche. Second, it refers to the intention behind the law and its interpretation and enforcement, which haunts even the most literalist, fundamental, secular visions of law. After her spiritual transformation, Atala practiced the spirit of Mapuche customary law in the courts but formally justified her judgments using the letter of the Chilean law, demonstrating a fluidity between law and spirituality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perinatal mental health conditions have been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, including maternal death. This quality improvement project analyzed pregnancy-associated death among veterans with mental health conditions in order to identify opportunities to improve healthcare and reduce maternal deaths. Pregnancy-associated deaths among veterans using Veterans Health Administration (VHA) maternity care benefits between fiscal year 2011 and 2020 were identified from national VHA databases. Deaths among individuals with active mental health conditions underwent individual chart review using a standardized abstraction template adapted from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Thirty-two pregnancy-associated deaths were identified among 39,720 paid deliveries with 81% (n = 26) occurring among individuals with an active perinatal mental health condition. In the perinatal mental health cohort, most deaths (n = 16, 62%) occurred in the late postpartum period and 42% (n = 11) were due to suicide, homicide, or overdose. Opportunities to improve care included addressing (1) racial disparities, (2) mental health effects of perinatal loss, (3) late postpartum vulnerability, (4) lack of psychotropic medication continuity, (5) mental health conditions in intimate partners, (6) child custody loss, (7) lack of patient education or stigmatizing patient education, and (8) missed opportunities for addressing reproductive health concerns in mental health contexts. Pregnancy-associated deaths related to active perinatal mental health conditions can be reduced. Mental healthcare clinicians, clinical teams, and healthcare systems have opportunities to improve care for individuals with perinatal mental health conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children who have been removed from their homes as a result of maltreatment and abuse and have been placed in foster care or are in the process of adoption often continue to meet their birth parents by court decision. This contact is often held under supervision. Supervised contact is intended to provide children the opportunity to maintain the parent-child relationship in a safe and neutral setting. Findings have shown that in some cases supervised contact can be harmful, undermining the children's sense of security and placement stability. It has been suggested that agencies have limited practice skills to help build constructive relationships through contact visits, and may thereby be failing to offer sufficient support for supervised contact. While the literature highlights various aspects that need to be implemented to improve visits, there is a lack of a trauma-informed approach, whereby professionals supervising visits can address the traumatic experiences that led to the circumstances of supervised visitation and respond to the difficult emotions of all those involved. This paper provides practice guidelines for professionals accompanying supervised visits using principles of Child-Parent Psychotherapy, a trauma-informed dyadic intervention model for young children. Case vignettes illustrate how professionals supervising contact might address the child's trauma history and help birth parents and foster/adoptive parents respond to the child's attachment needs following trauma, and how professionals can support birth parents and foster/adoptive parents, thereby promoting safety and improving child-parent interactions. Recommendations are offered for attaining the best clinical practices in supervised contact, using seven practical guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to justice is limited for many worldwide. Although prior research generally recognizes the legal needs and barriers faced by women, less is known about mothers. This study examined the legal needs of mothers in different family configurations and the actions they took in response to these needs through the lens of help‐seeking theories. We used unique data from the 2016 Colombian Quality of Life Survey (QLS) to produce descriptive statistics on the legal needs of mothers in two‐parent families and custodial mothers. We then conducted multivariate analyses to examine the factors associated with having a family issue and seeking institutional help. Custodial mothers were more likely than mothers in two‐parent families to have reported any legal need, and to report a family legal issue. The most frequent legal issues related to the family were issues with child support, custody, and/or visitation. The most frequent action taken to resolve issues was through an institutional actor. Among custodial mothers, single, younger mothers and mothers with more children were more likely to experience family legal issues, but they were not the ones seeking institutional help—those mothers were often more socioeconomically advantaged. That more socioeconomically disadvantaged mothers are more likely to experience a family legal issue but less likely to seek institutional help, the most frequent route to action, calls for research that examines the barriers faced by these mothers and policies to improve their access to justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Backgroud: Despite the advancements in the rights of persons with disabilities in Western countries, the motherhood of women with intellectual disabilities remains scarcely visible. The approval of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) and its subsequent ratification by the Spanish Government (2008) recalls the obligation to fulfil the rights of persons with disabilities to found a family (art. 23) and to choose who they want to live with (art. 19). While the importance of this legislation is undeniable, the personal experiences of women with intellectual disabilities still demand effective changes. Methods: This article reports the results of a study entitled Subjectivities and motherhood in women with intellectual disabilities. Reflections in dialogue through an inclusive research project. In this study, we delved into the stories of 13 women, aged between 24 and 72, to learn about their motherhood experiences (before, during and after making the decision of being mothers) and to identify the barriers and supports encountered. Methods for data collection included individual semi‐structured interviews, discussion groups and other narrative and visual resources (images and biograms). Findings: This study explores in depth the obstacles identified by the participating mothers, which have been organised around six themes: (1) information and guidance on sexuality and family planning, (2) assistance of health services, (3) employment and housing situation, (4) child custody, (5) raising children, and (6) informal support. The participants encountered difficulties in all the above fields related to contextual factors. In other words, these barriers do not derive from individual issues centred on their disability, but from factors that often do not depend on mothers with intellectual disabilities, such as deprivation of socio‐educational opportunities. Conclusions: Our results show the nuanced ways in which these mothers were immersed in a social system that questions them as 'good mothers' and violates their rights. As we discussed, the participants' desires and decisions to engage and/or continue with motherhood constitute an exercise of resistance to this system. Accessible summary: People with intellectual disabilities have the right to start a family and to choose who they want to live with.These rights need the support of society and institutions to be effective.This paper deals with interviews and discussion groups with thirteen women with intellectual disabilities.Women with intellectual disabilities shared their experiences of motherhood.The participating women and academic researchers found some of the barriers mothers with intellectual disabilities encountered.Women with intellectual disabilities defend their desire and ability to become mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the systemic injustices faced by formerly ultra-Orthodox parents, especially those who are LGBTQ+, in custody disputes over educational decision-making. It highlights the case of "Miriam," a lesbian mother who was forced out of her community and fought against a biased court system that often prioritizes religious adherence over a child's right to a secular education.

The article focuses on Family Law and Children's Educational Rights. It explores the legal, policy, and practice aspects related to children's educational rights, including conflicts with parental rights movements, special education laws in custody cases, and considerations in cases involving religious differences between parents.

Family justice occupies a complex space where public social (welfare) law intersects with private family law. These two legal domains bring distinct perspectives on subjects, rights, responsibilities, and entitlements. This article draws on interview data and previous research to examine welfare governmentality in family law, particularly in Finland and more broadly in the Nordic welfare states. Using intimate partner violence (IPV) as the lens of analysis, the article studies family law's exclusionary structures that render particular forms of loss resulting from the relationship non-addressable. The rationales embedded in law, as evident through welfare governmentality, significantly impact the production of specific types of vulnerable, autonomous, gendered, and relational subjects. Moreover, these rationales shape our understanding of the law's operations, categories, truth claims, knowledge development, and regulatory practices. Notably, family law-as-knowledge falls short in recognising violence and the subsequent losses suffered by victims within the contexts of financial settlements and child custody and access. This failure can be attributed to conceptual distinctions within family law, an overriding focus on the child's interests, and the law's national orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Qur'an, serving as the primary source of guidance for Muslims, offers a comprehensive framework that safeguards the rights of mothers and provides counsel on a multitude of facets pertaining to the lives of mothers. The 21st principle underscores the government's responsibility to ensure women's rights in accordance with Islamic principles. This includes providing assistance to mothers, particularly during pregnancy and child custody matters, and appointing guardianship of children to deserving mothers as compensation for their envy in the event of Although it was not, it is nonetheless regarded as Shari'i.Consequently, the right to custody is governed by Article 1169 BC, Article 946 BC governs the right to the mother's inheritance, and Article 1107 BC governs the right to the mother's alimony. This article employs a descriptive-analytical approach to examine the Quranic underpinnings of maternal rights from a social perspective, in accordance with clause 2 of Article 21 of the Constitution. Consequently, the objective of this article is to analyze the Quranic underpinnings of certain societal rights pertaining to mothers, as explicated in the Quran and the Iranian legal system in a thoroughly documented and argued fashion. Through an analysis of the Qur'anic verses in conjunction with Clause 2, Article 21 of the Constitution concerning the social rights of the mother, it was determined that these rights are consistent with the principles outlined in the Quran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Revista Foco (Interdisciplinary Studies Journal) is the property of Revista Foco and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)