Custody Planning Research Articles

The effects of resolution method of child custody and support plans on parental well‐being during the divorce process: Implications from and for divorce education

AbstractThe 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.

Level of Implementation of Safekeeping Practices in the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology

This study aimed to determine the level of implementation of safekeeping practices in the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Ipil District Jail and Ipil Women’s Dormitory Jail of Zamboanga Sibugay during calendar year 2018-2019. This study made use of non-experimental quantitative research design utilizing descriptive, frequency count, percentage and mean. It also utilized modified questionnaire in gathering the result. There were 127 inmates and 50 Bureau of Jail Management and Penology personnel utilized as respondents of the study. The main statistical tools used were frequency count, percentage, mean computation, t-test, analysis of variance and Pearson r Product Moment Coefficient of Correlation. The study revealed that there were more male inmates as compared to the females. Majority of the index crimes committed by the inmates were murder while on the non-index crimes, majority were charged against possession of illegal drugs. The security practices were always implemented by the two Jail under study which included the following: Commitment Order and Segregation of Prisoners or Detainees, Reception Procedures, and Disciplinary Boards and Punishable Acts of Inmates, Treatment of Inmates with Special Needs, Custody, Security and Control Emergency Plans, Movement and Transfer of Prisoners and Detainees, Rights, Privileges and Miscellaneous Provisions, and Inmates Welfare and Development Functions. There was no significant difference between the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and inmate’s ratings on the implementation of commitment order and segregation of inmates or detainees. However, there was a significant difference between the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and inmates’ rating on the rest of the safekeeping practices. Indeed, there was a significant relationship between the safekeeping practices and the level of Implementation of these practices. The researcher recommends that the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology implementation of safekeeping practices be continued and sustained.

What can social work do to mitigate caregiver-perpetrated physical aggression? A study among caregivers of orphaned and vulnerable female adolescents in South Africa

ABSTRACTMany children in South Africa live outside of parental care due to orphanhood, parental labour migration, unemployment, and unstable formal partnerships. Few studies have examined risk factors for parent-to-child physical aggression (PCPA), a term encompassing varying severities of physically aggressive acts, among children residing outside of parental care. In this context prior custody preparation is uncommon,and alternative caregivers have been found to experience high levels of psychological distress and burden. This study examined these risk factors using secondary analysis of baseline cross-sectional survey data drawn from a bereavement support group evaluation. A logistic regression analysis was applied among a subgroup of 190 female adolescents residing with alternative caregivers, in an effort to inform preventative social work interventions. Half of the adolescents in the subgroup had lost a parent, while a third were double orphans. Eleven per cent of adolescents reported experiencing PCPA from their caregiver in the prior four weeks. Increasing levels of caregiver age and burden (a construct reflecting the physical, emotional and financial hardships associated with providing care) were associated with greater odds of PCPA. Sixty-one per cent of caregivers reported prior custody planning with the adolescents’ biological parent(s), and this preparation reduced the odds of physical aggression by 71%. Levels of caregiver depression and the caregiver’s relationship to the adolescent were not associated with PCPA, nor was the duration of care provided. Interventions for families at high risk of parental loss and absence should encourage custody planning and offer support to alternative caregivers in order to mitigate PCPA and its sequelae among adolescents.

The Amagugu Intervention: A Conceptual Framework for Increasing HIV Disclosure and Parent-Led Communication about Health among HIV-Infected Parents with HIV-Uninfected Primary School-Aged Children.

Advances in access to HIV prevention and treatment have reduced vertical transmission of HIV, with most children born to HIV-infected parents being HIV-uninfected themselves. A major challenge that HIV-infected parents face is disclosure of their HIV status to their predominantly HIV-uninfected children. Their children enter middle childhood and early adolescence facing many challenges associated with parental illness and hospitalization, often exacerbated by stigma and a lack of access to health education and support. Increasingly, evidence suggests that primary school-aged children have the developmental capacity to grasp concepts of health and illness, including HIV, and that in the absence of parent-led communication and education about these issues, HIV-exposed children may be at increased risk of psychological and social problems. The Amagugu intervention is a six-session home-based intervention, delivered by lay counselors, which aims to increase parenting capacity to disclose their HIV status and offer health education to their primary school-aged children. The intervention includes information and activities on disclosure, health care engagement, and custody planning. An uncontrolled pre–post-evaluation study with 281 families showed that the intervention was feasible, acceptable, and effective in increasing maternal disclosure. The aim of this paper is to describe the conceptual model of the Amagugu intervention, as developed post-evaluation, showing the proposed pathways of risk that Amagugu aims to disrupt through its intervention targets, mechanisms, and activities; and to present a summary of results from the large-scale evaluation study of Amagugu to demonstrate the acceptability and feasibility of the intervention model. This relatively low-intensity home-based intervention led to: increased HIV disclosure to children, improvements in mental health for mother and child, and improved health care engagement and custody planning for the child. The intervention model demonstrates the potential for disclosure interventions to include pre-adolescent HIV education and prevention for primary school-aged children.

Pop Goes the Woozle: Being Misled by Research on Child Custody and Parenting Plans

Mental health professionals, lawyers, and judges whose work involves child custody decisions are often presented with social science research on issues related to which parenting plan is in the children’s best interests. Unfortunately, this research can be misrepresented in ways that mislead these professionals and the children’s parents, leading to child custody decisions that are not the most beneficial for the children. The process of misrepresenting the research in ways that create myths and misconceptions has been referred to as woozling. This article describes how social science data can be woozled, illustrating this with examples related to parenting plans for children under the age of 5 whose parents have separated.

Planning for Children and Resolving Custodial Disputes: A Comment on the Think Tank Report

This comment praises the report from the AFCC Think Tank on Research, Policy, Practice, and Shared Parenting for its support for separating parents' active role in custody planning, its emphasis on both parents' involvement in postdissolution parenting when cooperation is possible and also its recognition of the destructive impact on children of interparental conflict. The comment also commends the report's highlighting the importance of social science research in informing policy in the area, while recognizing that research has little utility in resolving individual cases and is often subject to misuse both in courts and in the policy arena. My primary criticism of the report is its endorsement of the best interest of the child standard as the basis of individualized decisions by judges when parents fail to agree on custody plans. I argue that the application of the best interest standard is in tension with the goals and values of the report, promoting conflict between parents by inviting them to offer evidence of each other's deficiencies, undermining their future cooperation, and encouraging judges to rely inappropriately on mental health professionals who have little expertise to offer in this setting. Instead, I argue that the American Law Institute's (ALI) approximation standard, which allocates parents' future time sharing on the basis of their past roles, is more compatible with the report's goals. The ALI standard promotes parental involvement and cooperation, reduces conflict, and deters the inappropriate use of expert testimony and of weak social science research evidence. Key Points for the Family Court Community: Parental cooperation and shared involvement in parenting postdissolution promotes children's welfare. Parental planning and decision making about their children's custody usually furthers this goal. For parents who cannot agree on custody, the application of the best interest of the child standard is likely to undermine future cooperation. The American Law Institute's approximation standard is more likely than the best interest standard to further the goals of the Think Tank report.

Maternal HIV disclosure to HIV-uninfected children in rural South Africa: a pilot study of a family-based intervention

BackgroundAs access to treatment increases, large numbers of HIV-positive parents are raising HIV-negative children. Maternal HIV disclosure has been shown to have benefits for mothers and children, however, disclosure rates remain low with between 30-45% of mothers reporting HIV disclosure to their children in both observational and intervention studies. Disclosure of HIV status by parent to an HIV-uninfected child is a complex and challenging psychological and social process. No intervention studies have been designed and tested in Southern Africa to support HIV-positive parents to disclose their status, despite this region being one of the most heavily affected by the HIV epidemic.MethodThis paper describes the development of a family-centred, structured intervention to support mothers to disclose their HIV status to their HIV-negative school-aged children in rural South Africa, an area with high HIV prevalence. The intervention package includes printed materials, therapeutic tools and child-friendly activities and games to support age-appropriate maternal HIV disclosure, and has three main aims: (1) to benefit family relationships by increasing maternal HIV disclosure; (2) to increase children’s knowledge about HIV and health; (3) to improve the quality of custody planning for children with HIV-positive mothers. We provide the theoretical framework for the intervention design and report the results of a small pilot study undertaken to test its acceptability in the local context.ResultsThe intervention was piloted with 24 Zulu families, all mothers were HIV-positive and had an HIV-negative child aged 6–9 years. Lay counsellors delivered the six session intervention over a six to eight week period. Qualitative data were collected on the acceptability, feasibility and the effectiveness of the intervention in increasing disclosure, health promotion and custody planning. All mothers disclosed something to their children: 11/24 disclosed fully using the words "HIV" while 13/24 disclosed partially using the word "virus".ConclusionThe pilot study found the intervention was feasible and acceptable to mothers and counsellors, and provides preliminary evidence that participation in the intervention encouraged disclosure and health promotion. The pilot methodology and small sample size has limitations and further research is required to test the potential of this intervention. A larger demonstration project with 300 families is currently underway.

Supporting Family Stability: Case Studies in Custody Planning with HIV-Affected Families

Custody planning programs for HIV-infected parents help families overcome the obstacles to making future plans for their children in the event of the parent's debilitating illness or death. Using the family resiliency model, custody planning is viewed as a form of adaptation to illness which can reduce stress and uncertainty for children and parents. Case studies of four parents' participation in a custody planning program illustrate patterns that can inform service provision, including the role of social services in facilitating that process, while recognizing the uniqueness of each family's experience. As people with HIV are living longer, service needs have shifted to developing and maintaining family adaptation and stability, with custody planning as one component. Service providers with HIV-affected families must recognize the impact of low socioeconomic status on service access and use, with sensitivity to stigma, substance abuse, and mental health.

HIV-Infected African Parents Living in Stockholm, Sweden: Disclosure and Planning for Their Children's Future

In Sweden, most HIV-infected parents are of African origin. The present study explored the frequency of HIV-infected African parents' disclosure of their status to their children and custody planning for their children's future to identify support needs among these families. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 47 parents (41 families). The study population included first-generation immigrants, with a total of 87 children less than 18 years of age. Only women had disclosed their HIV status, and only to eight of 59 children older than six. Half of the parents had talked to someone about future custody arrangements. These parents had more contact with a social worker at the social welfare office and with a medical social worker at the HIV clinic. Most parents (30) wanted their children to be cared for by a relative in Sweden or by their HIV-negative partner. Neither disclosure nor custody planning was associated with clinical status or antiretroviral treatment. This study highlights the low HIV-disclosure rate to children of HIV-infected African immigrant parents and the importance of support from social workers.

Courtextual Slippage: A Detriment to Child Custody Planning

ABSTRACT Highly conflicted divorcing families often seek the services of the courts to assist them in making child custody plans. In these cases, judges encourage or order divorcing parents to cooperate with child custody evaluators to settle their disputes. The task of these experts is not an easy one, and it is complicated by procedural issues to which the courts adhere. This study mapped the flow of procedural text through the court system. Twenty-two Court of Queens Bench judges and eight child custody evaluators employed in Alberta, Canada, participated in focus group discussions pertaining to the matter at hand. The study was deemed unique because Queen's Bench judges in Canada had never previously engaged in scholarly research. Procedural text used in the courts was assessed as a detriment to child custody planning. Consequently, the term courtextual slippage was coined, recognizing its restraint to child custody planning.

Is “Best Interests” a Solution to Filling Potholes in Child Custody Planning?

ABSTRACT The role of the child custody evaluator and the principle of “best interests” have been well contemplated in the literature. This article suggests that the “best interest principle” serves the purpose of providing fill for gaps in the court systems engaged in the work of child custody planning. Using sociologist Dorothy Smith's research approach, Institutional Ethnography, the writer unearths the purpose of these potholes using a concept Smith coined as “Ruling Relations.”

Making It Manageable

ABSTRACT Custody planning programs for HIV-infected parents help families overcome the obstacles to making future plans for their children, in the event of the parent's debilitating illness or death. In order to understand the social work intervention, progress notes from the Family Options Project, a custody planning program, were analyzed for themes regarding: (1) methods used by the social workers and (2) the content discussed with birth parents. The social workers used problem-solving methods that helped parents examine and partialize problems and explore solutions. Content centered on planning options, parent mental and physical health, and family relationships, reflecting the complexities of planning with HIV-affected families. As people with HIV are living longer, custody planning and family preservation have become equally important outcomes for the program.

THE IMPACT OF THE CUSTODY PLAN ON THE FAMILY: A FIVE-YEAR FOLLOW-UP

Family Court ReviewVolume 30, Issue 2 p. 243-251 THE IMPACT OF THE CUSTODY PLAN ON THE FAMILY: A FIVE-YEAR FOLLOW-UP Executive Summary Margaret A. Little, Margaret A. Little Margaret A. Little, Ph. D., is a Senior Evaluator in the Los Angeles Country Superior Court. She was also the site supervisor for the research conducted in 1981–1982 and reported by Jessica Pearson and Nancy Thoennes.Search for more papers by this author Margaret A. Little, Margaret A. Little Margaret A. Little, Ph. D., is a Senior Evaluator in the Los Angeles Country Superior Court. She was also the site supervisor for the research conducted in 1981–1982 and reported by Jessica Pearson and Nancy Thoennes.Search for more papers by this author First published: April 1992 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.174-1617.1992.tb01049.xCitations: 2 Author's Note: The preparation of these materials was financially assisted through a grant from the Judicial Council of California. The opinions, findings, and conclusions in the report are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Judicial Council. The Judicial Council reserves a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable license to reproduce, publish, and use these materials and to authorize others to do so. Reprinted with permission. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume30, Issue2April 1992Pages 243-251 RelatedInformation

Predictors of child custody plans for children whose parents are living with AIDS in New York City.

Custody planning among parents living with HIV or AIDS (PLHAs) can buffer the negative impact of parental death. The formal and informal custody plans for 594 children by 253 PLHAs and the relationships among custody plans, parental health, and psychosocial status were examined. About one-half of the parents had no formal custody plan. Parents were more likely to make plans for younger children. In addition, formal custody planning was more likely to occur among parents who reported using positive action, withdrawal-depressive, passive problem solving, social support, or spiritual coping styles and who reported higher parental self-esteem. Parent's substance use and emotional distress were not significantly related to custody plans. These data suggest the need for interventions to encourage formal custody planning.

Deconstructing Stigma

This study addressed the perceptions of stigma and disclosure behavior of HIV-seropositive mothers. Eighty-eight HIV-seroposi-tive women in New York City completed two independent measures of stigma, the Perceived Stigma Scale and the Devaluation-Discrimination Measure. Disclosers (67%) and nondisclosers (33%) were similar in most sociodemographic characteristics-marital status, race, religion and employment, with the exception of age and education. Significant differences were found between disclosure groups in the use of secrecy as a stigma management tool and in perceived devaluation-discrimination associated with an HIV diagnosis. Nondisclosers to children were significantly more likely than disclosers to use secrecy as a stigma management tool (t = -2.76; p = .01), and to feel devalued and discriminated against as a result of HIV serostatus (t = 3.11; p = .01). Disclosure of parental HIV serostatus to children is an important aspect of continuous care and custody planning. Secrecy and perceptions of devaluation and discrimination related to HIV diagnosis should be seen as barriers to disclosure of serostatus to children.

Custody plans among parents living with human immunodeficiency virus infection.

To describe and to examine predictors of making custody plans by parents living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The custody plans of 296 parents living with HIV for 708 children were examined over 5 years, with at least 85% reassessed annually. Over time, increasing numbers of parents living with HIV made custody plans for all of their children (23.8%-52.8%), typically with extended family members. However, parents change plans frequently, and 44.8% of parents living with HIV died without custody plans. Custody planning was less likely in families with only adolescent children, when parents had a partner, or when parents were depressed. Parents' disclosure of HIV status, physical health status, substance use, and ethnicity were unrelated to making custody plans. Custody planning is a slow and unstable process in families affected by HIV.

Custody Planning: A Retrospective Review of Oncology Patients Who Were Single Parents

With rising numbers of single-parent families, a phenomenon becoming increasingly prevalent is the child orphaned by cancer. We sought to examine issues related to custody planning addressed prior to the patient's death. Ten deceased patients with minor children were identified. The contact person was administered a brief questionnaire regarding the minor children and custody issues. The study involved twenty children, ages ranging from 3–20, mean age 9.8. Only five of the ten families developed custody plans that were ultimately successful. One-half of the families reported the patient had suffered with this issue and almost one-half of the children were not aware of the custody plans that had been arranged for them. In 40% of the cases, the children ultimately went to people to whom the deceased parents were opposed. It is our belief that if we can improve these statistics, we might improve the quality of life of these families.

A Troubled Present, an Uncertain Future

SUMMARY The needs of well adolescents in families with AIDS have received little attention, despite the growing number of these youth nationwide. This report summarizes the experiences of 59 adolescents aged 10-19 years old and their parents with AIDS. Parents were faced with difficult decisions regarding custody planning and disclosure of serostatus to children: 39% chose not to disclose their illness to their children and 53% had no viable custody plan. Stigma associated with AIDS and social isolation of families intensified the stress families experienced in attempting to cope with these issues. Despite these challenges, families demonstrated tremendous resiliency and effective coping. These interviews demonstrate the importance of outlining methods for professionals to provide: (1) training to help parents decide if, how and when to disclose their serostatus; (2) assistance in planning for the future custody of children; and (3) in-home supportive counseling for families, and transitional case managem...

The impact of illness disclosure and custody plans on adolescents whose parents live with AIDS.

To describe the disclosure and custody planning of parents living with AIDS and the impact of these on their adolescents' adjustment. An examination of the association of multiple behaviour problems in children and the illness disclosure and custody plans of their parents living with AIDS. Both mothers (87%) and fathers were significantly more likely to disclose their HIV serostatus to adolescents (73%), compared with younger children (23%); only 44% disclosed their illness to all their children; 11% disclosed to none. Most parents (80%) living with AIDS had discussed their custody plans. However, only 30% initiated legal plans, typically for younger children. Adolescents who were informed of their parents' serostatus engaged in more sexual risk acts, smoked more cigarettes, and reported more severe substance use and greater emotional distress than uninformed adolescents. Legal custody arrangements were not associated with adolescent adjustment at recruitment or follow-up. A longitudinal analysis of the impact on adolescents of the behaviours of parents living with AIDS is needed.

Biochemical folate, B 12, and iron status of a group of pregnant adolescents accessed through the public health system in Southern Ontario

This study was designed to estimate the prevalence of biochemical iron, folate, and vitamin B12 depletion among a group of Canadian pregnant adolescents accessed through the Public Health system. Further, the impact of prenatal supplement use, chronologic age, gynecologic age, living arrangement, main source of income, postpartum custody plan, time of entry into prenatal care, and cigarette smoking on laboratory indices of the three nutrients were determined. Fifty-eight adolescents (14.5-19.0 years) were interviewed and blood samples were collected at 36 +/- 2 wk gestation. Thirteen (22%) of the pregnant adolescents had anemia (hemoglobin < 110 g/L) and forty-five (78%) had depleted iron stores (plasma ferritin < 26.6 pmol/L or 12.0 micrograms/L). Twenty-five subjects had plasma B12 values in the sub-optimal range (< 148 pmol/L). Five of the 16 adolescents who infrequently or never consumed a folate-containing supplement had suboptimal erythrocyte folate values. Twenty-four percent of the subjects had hypersegmented neutrophils and of these, all and 71% of subjects had plasma ferritin and B12 concentrations in the suboptimal range, respectively. Self-reported folic acid and B12 supplement intakes were correlated with the corresponding blood values for these nutrients. In contrast, supplement iron use was only weakly, or not at all associated with biochemical indices of iron status. Data from the present study indicate that plasma B12 and ferritin levels are low in a group of pregnant adolescents. These low values appear to be associated with a high prevalence of hypersegmented neutrophils. Prenatal supplement use appears to reduce the risk of low folate and B12 blood values but not biochemical iron status.