A Systematic Approach to Domestic Abuse–Informed Child Custody Decision Making in Family Law Cases

This article introduces an approach to domestic violence–informed decision making developed under the auspices of the National Child Custody Differentiation Project, a cooperative undertaking among the Battered Women's Justice Project, the Association of Family & Conciliation Courts, the National Council of Juvenile & Family Court Judges, Praxis International, and the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women. This approach has four essential elements: (1) identifying domestic abuse; (2) understanding the nature and context of domestic abuse; (3) determining the implications of abuse; and (4) accounting for the nature, context, and implications of abuse in all custody‐related recommendations and decisions.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:
• Applying a systematic approach to domestic violence can help practitioners identify, understand, and account for abuse in family law cases.
• The approach recommended here is suitable for use by anyone who is involved in a contested child custody case at any stage of the proceeding.
• The specific application of the recommended approach will vary depending upon the practitioner's role and function in the case, relationship to the parties, and access to information, as well as the nature of the proceeding and the issues to be decided.

     

Families in Circle Process: Restorative Justice in Family Law

This article explores the use of “circle process”—a form of restorative justice—in family law and places this effort within a larger movement within the law toward law as a healing profession, or the “comprehensive law movement.” It explores the features and underpinnings of circle process and its relationship to original forms of dispute resolution such as those used in African‐style mediation and indigenous people's dispute resolution in North America. Values expressed by these forms of dispute resolution are argued to be particularly relevant in family law. Finally, it focuses on an innovative and exciting court‐sponsored program begun in Chicago in 2008, using circle process with families in conflict, in the Cook County Parentage and Child Support Court. This program's results suggest potential benefits and cautions of using circle process in family law.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:
• Restorative justice, in particular, circle process, can be used to resolve family law cases.
• Circle process widens the group of participants in alternative dispute resolution of family law matters.
• Circle process brings more voices to the table, namely, extended family, friends, and supporters, thus enhancing the group's decisionmaking.
• Judges will want to be sure the families in question are appropriate for circle process before referring them to this method of resolving disputes.
• Circle processes can result in improved communication and relations among families in conflict.
• Circle process reflects the values of “original dispute resolution,” which often in turn reflects ubuntu, the idea that all humankind is interconnected.
• Circle process is part of a greater movement towards law as a healing profession/the comprehensive law movement, which includes therapeutic jurisprudence.

     

The Interdisciplinary Settlement Conference: A Grassroots Alternative for Resolving High‐Conflict Parenting Disputes in Lean Times

This article describes a court‐connected alternative dispute resolution program, the Interdisciplinary Settlement Conference. The key feature of this program is the participation of two volunteer panelists, one a family law attorney and the other a mental health professional experienced in parenting disputes, who assist the judicial officer in working with the parties and their attorneys (if any) to reach a resolution of their parenting dispute. Significantly, in addition to addressing the parties’ legal issues, the panelists also address the parties’ psychological and emotional issues relevant to the dispute on an as‐needed basis. Findings from six years of experience with the program are discussed, including evidence of high satisfaction with the program, a high rate of settlement, a decrease in relitigation, and a concomitant savings of scarce judicial resources.     

南齐高帝萧道成之＂家教＂及其门风之变化——从一个侧面看萧齐皇族的＂士族化＂趋向

建立南齐后,齐高帝萧道成鉴于刘宋皇族内部的自相残害,模仿世家大族的家教传统,重视家族内部的儒家礼法教育,其子孙中出现了不少孝友方面的典型。萧道成子武帝萧赜、萧嶷等也绍续此风,其门风出现了"士族化"的趋向。不过,作为新起的皇族势力,其门风依然表现出寒门的传统,在宗室政策上表现为苛禁诸王及家族内部的严重冲突等。     

EVIDENCE OF A DIFFERENT NATURE: THE CHILD‐ RESPONSIVE AND LESS ADVERSARIAL INITIATIVES OF THE FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA

This article charts the constellation of vision and research that underpin a new era in the Family Court of Australia, focusing on the development and outcomes of two programs that have attempted to meaningfully reinforce the centrality of children's rights and needs in family court proceedings. The Less Adversarial Trial and its front‐end Child Responsive Program (CRP) both aim to minimise the potentially negative effects on parents of a litigation process by application of a more intensive case management model adopted with the intention of altering the parents’ experience of the journey. Key features of this approach include the adoption of inquisitorial techniques, which include direct consultation with children through the CRP, modified application of the rules of evidence, and strong judicial management rather than being party driven. Findings from two studies into the pilot Children's Cases Program (now the Less Adversarial Trial) and the CRP are discussed. Significantly, evidence is outlined around the capacity of the new processes to impact on both the co‐parenting and parent–child relationships and to influence short‐term adjustment of complex families in high‐conflict dispute. In encouraging a more active focus on children's needs and views and by facilitating a stronger voice for children in proceedings that affect them, both initiatives advance Australia's commitments under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.     

Resilience in Sexually Abused Women: Risk and Protective Factors

The goal of this study was to evaluate the contribution of family characteristics (family conflict and cohesion) and abuse characteristics (age at which abuse occurred, abuse severity, and relationship to perpetrator) to resilience (self-acceptance, ability to engage in positive relationships with others, and environmental mastery) in a sample of one hundred and 77 university women who had experienced childhood sexual abuse (CSA). The respondents completed a questionnaire that focused on childhood experiences including family environment in childhood, characteristics of the abuse they had experienced in addition to degree of current resilience defined as their level of well-being (self-acceptance, ability to engage in positive relationships with others, and environmental mastery). The results indicated that family characteristics accounted for 13–22% of the variance in the well-being outcomes. In contrast, abuse characteristics accounted for 3% or less of the variance in the well-being outcomes. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Engaging in Small Talk: Nanotechnology Policy and Dialogue Processes in the UK and Australia

This article discusses the phenomena of nanotechnology, and notes that despite high investment levels for global research and development, the public presently understands neither the implications of this emerging technology nor how it might be best governed. It considers the notion of the public interest and its place in the public policy cycle, and notes some of the specific challenges posed by this new technology. Adopting a comparative jurisdictional approach, this article maps a range of policy and dialogue activities currently underway within the United Kingdom and Australia and concludes that policy dialogue is an essential component of public policy development for all emerging technologies. While the Australian government is currently beginning this process, compared to countries such as the United Kingdom, such efforts here are still embryonic. A fuller engagement in wide‐ranging public debate is suggested as a part of protecting the public interest.     

Attitudes toward Domestic Violence in Korean and Vietnamese Immigrant Communities: Implications for Human Services

The present study examined the effects of gender, ethnicity, acculturation level, age, and education level of Korean and Vietnamese Americans on their attitudes toward domestic violence. The sample consisted of 229 Koreans and 184 Vietnamese, recruited from ethnic communities and college campuses in southern California. Participants completed a brief questionnaire, which included the Revised Attitudes toward Wife Abuse Scale (RAWA) and the Marin and Marin Acculturation Scale as well as demographic variables. Gender, education, and acculturation level emerged as significant predictors of attitudes toward domestic violence. More specifically, men as well as those who were less acculturated and less educated were more likely to endorse pro-violence attitudes. While there were no significant ethnic differences in the global attitude toward domestic violence between the two immigrant groups, there were specific inter-ethnic differences on select items of the RAWA scale.     

中国家事调解制度的生命力研究

现今中国的多元秩序结构、民诉费用体制与和谐政治理念等因素为我国家事调解制度提供了生存和发展的外部空间，但真正催发中国家事调解制度生命力的内在起因则在于家事纠纷的特性注定了调解制度是解决家事纠纷的最优机制，也在于家事调解制度能够适应家事纠纷的特性从而有效地解决家事纠纷。同时家事调解制度之节约成本、调整人际关系、尊重当事人程序选择权、符合司法专业化发展等优势又保证了其在中国能够拥有持久的生命力。     

未成年人犯罪与家庭责任

近年来,未成年人犯罪人数呈上升趋势,预防和减少未成年人犯罪,是当今世界各国十分重视的一个社会问题。各种家庭问题是形成青少年高犯罪倾向的重要根源。如何认定和准确地把握家庭责任的性质、特征,以及采取哪些相应的对策,则成为防止未成年犯罪的关键所在。