IDEOLOGIES OF JOINT CUSTODY

This article discusses the way that the ideological endorsement of joint custody as being in the chilďs best interests has resulted in significant issues, especially those more likely to be raised by mothers, being marginalized or suppressed. Although more commentators and researchers are now taking issue with some of the problems inherent in joint custody arrangements, many New Zealand professionals working with separating families continue to view the arrangement very positively. As a consequence, there has been little evaluation of those family situations where joint custody is not in the chilďs best interests, especially those where there is ongoing hostility between parents.     

SPLIT IDENTITY AND CHILDREN OF DIVORCE

Divorce, although a statistical norm, is a developmental trauma to the children involved. This article looks at the two-camp emotional environment of a divorcing family and its effect on the formation of a child's identity. By examining developmental ages, chosen according to divorce research, the author attempts to show how the interspouse emotional cathexes negatively affect a child's sense of self in ways specific to the child's age at the divorce.     

ENABLING CHILDREN OF DIVORCE TO WIN

Divorce mediators, attorneys, judges, and psychologists approach the issues in marriage dissolution from disparate vantage points. Legal niceties, actuarial acrobatics, and egosaving mechanisms tend to dominate the proceedings. Too often, however, some of the professionals have neither the training nor the experience to recognize the potential impact of such decisions on the children of divorce. The children rarely have an advocate whose sole task it is to make certain that their "best interests" are truly served. Questions are raised and suggestions for research are offered in an effort to reduce children's victimization and enable them to emerge as winners.     

EMOTIONAL DISTRESS IN CHILDREN OF HIGH-CONFLICT DIVORCE

This study examines factors that contribute to the emotional distress of children whose parents experience an acrimonious divorce with conflict over custody and visitation issues. Information was gathered systematically from guardian ad litem reports on 105 children in order to explore the child's emotional distress in response to individual-, parental-, marital-, and custody–related factors. Findings emphasize the impact of the level of marital conflict in predicting increases in the child's emotional distress. The child who witnesses domestic violence and experiences child malmatment suffers a powerful cumulative impact from these factors. which results in a steep increase in emotional distress symptoms. A cluster of relevantfactors taken jointly, including the level of marital conflict, violence against a partner or against the child, the parent's mental health, the child's medical condition, and the nature of visitation changes, all contribute signifcantly to the child's emotional distress.