ACCOMPLISHING THE MULTIPLE TASKS OF DIVORCE AND SEPARATION

This article presents two checklists (Child-Related Agreements and Spousal-Related Agreements) that facilitate professionals who assist couples in accomplishing the multiple tasks of divorce and separation. These two checklists have been and are being used in several court settings and in private mediation practices.     

Initial emotional response to childhood sexual abuse: Emotion profiles of victims and relationship to later adjustment

A sample of 137 college women's retrospective reports of childhood sexual abuse were examined in order to identify the emotional responses these victims experienced at the time of abuse and to investigate the relationship between these responses and the long-term effects of abuse. Results identified three important dimensions of responding including guilt/fear, anger/disgust, and positive emotions. Further, five groups of victims displaying unique emotion profiles were identified. These include: (a) guilty/fearful individuals, (b) low responders, (c) angry/disgusted individuals, (d) ambivalent individuals, and (e) positive individuals. It was determined that victims' responses to abuse were associated with abuse severity. Finally, victim's affective responses to abuse were related to subsequent adjustment. Individuals experiencing high levels of guilt/fear were identified as exhibiting poorer social adjustment than either individuals reporting primarily anger or disgust or individuals reporting low levels of all emotions. Possible mechanisms through which these experiences have their effects are discussed.     

Back to school for parents: implementing responsible parenting agreements and orders in Western Australia

Managing student behaviour is a primary task of principals and teachers, but it is not their responsibility alone. Parents are also responsible for their children's behaviour inside and outside school. As primary educators and caregivers parents have a duty of care and are responsible for nurturing, disciplining and socializing their children. In the wake of growing concerns about the apparent increase in antisocial behaviour inside and outside schools, the Government of Western Australia is planning to introduce the use of responsible parenting agreements and orders, modelled largely on UK policy. The aim of responsible parenting agreements and orders is to provide a statutory mechanism for directing parents to take responsibility for their children. The goal is to reduce truancy, antisocial behaviour and juvenile crime and to improve children's socialization and school performance. The Children's Court will be given power to issue orders that impose certain requirements on parents regarding the upbringing and discipline of their children. The purpose of this article is to examine the Western Australian government's policy on responsible parenting agreements and orders and their use in the school context. The article first provides an introduction to the role of parents in the area of school discipline, followed by an analysis of the State Government's discussion paper Parental responsibility orders and an overview of the proposed legislation. The discussion then focuses on the application of responsible parenting agreements and orders within the school context as a strategy for engaging parents in improving school discipline.     

Sending mixed messages: gender-based analysis and the “status of women”

Sommaire: Adoptée en 1996 en tant qu'élément clé de la stratégie du gouvernement libéral fédéral visant à promouvoir l'égalité des femmes, strategie énoncée dans Ouvrant la voie au siècle prochain: le plan fédéral pour l'égalité des sexes, l'analyse basée sur le sexe a été conçue pour favoriser la formulation et l'évaluation des politiques selon une perspective qui tient compte du sexe. Ce processus est un début, mais cet article examine les limitations de l'analyse basée sur le sexe. Il soutient qu'en mélangeant les objectifs d'égalité des femmes à ceux de l'égalité entre les sexes, le Plan fédéral et l'analyse basée sur le sexe sèment la confusion chez ceux qui formulent les politiques lorsqu'il s'agit de savori comment incorporer des mesures qui tiennent compte des réalités sociales et économiques propres aux femmes. Cette confusion découle des contraintes conceptuelles et de l'étroitesse du terme «sexe», étant aggravée encore par la capacité organisationnelle limitée qu'a Srtatut de la femme canada pour mener et coordonner une solide analyse basée sur le sexe. Abstract: Unveiled in 1996 as one of the key components of the federal Liberal government's wider strategy to promote women's equality, outlined in Setting the Stage for the Next Century: The Federal Plan for Gender Equality, gender-based analysis was devised to facilitate the development and assessment of policies from a gender perspective. While acknowledging that weaving gender into the policy process is a beginning, this paper examines the limitations of gender-based analysis and argues that given the intermingling of women's equality goals with gender equality, the Federal Plan and gender-based analysis are sending mixed messages to policy developers about how to incorporate into policy-development measures that attend to women's specific social and economic realities. These mixed messages derive from the narrowness and conceptual constraints of the term gender and are exacerbated by the limited organizational capacity of Status of Women Canada to effectively lead and coordinate substantive gender analysis.     

COMMENTARY ON TIPPINS AND WITTMANN'S "EMPIRICAL AND ETHICAL PROBLEMS WITH CUSTODY RECOMMENDATIONS:

Although in substantial agreement with Tippins and Wittmann's analysis, their call for a moratorium on the practice of custody evaluators making recommendations to the court does not solve the many problems that they have raised, and may have unintended consequences which place families at even greater risk. This commentary reflects our agreement with some of the authors' major points of contention, focuses on several points of disagreement, and suggests alternative remedies for the shortcomings and ethical problems described in child custody evaluations.