Court‐Based Interventions in Spain for Families in Divorce Transition: Challenges in the Implementation of (Co)‐Parenting Coordination

Families facing separation or divorce in Spain encounter a number of obstacles, including a primarily adversarial and slow justice system, nonspecialized courts and judges, and a lack of resources to help them through the process. Recent legislation at the regional level (autonomous communities) is moving toward emphasizing shared parental responsibility and introducing parenting plans, while at the national level, legislation advances slowly. One of the main challenges professionals are facing in high‐conflict couple separation is protecting children from the effects of being in the middle of their parents’ conflict. Traditional psychological, legal, and social services are insufficient to support parents and protect their children from interparental hostile conflict—which can be exacerbated by litigation, professional intervention, domestic violence, or addiction. This article illustrates, through a case study, the implementation of parenting coordination in Spain. Different jurisdictions in Spain are slowly implementing (co‐)parenting coordination, an in‐depth intervention designed to support these families. The objective is to help families focus on children's needs and follow the court‐approved parenting plans or court orders, reduce relitigation, and improve parental communication and conflict resolution skills. This article analyzes different aspects and challenges relating to the implementation of parenting coordination in Spain. Recommendations are then made to address them.     

Revisiting country of origin principle: Challenges related to regulating e-commerce in the European Union

The article analyses the country of origin principle of information society services in the light of harmonisation and unification efforts undertaken by the European lawgiver. Although the country of origin principle remains the key element of the construction of freedom to provide information society services, the principle itself suffers a number of both explicit and implicit restrictions which render its practical application a serious challenge. The difficulty is posed by the fact that the Electronic Commerce Directive fails to expressly specify both the scope of harmonisation as regards the principle, and the level of harmonisation of the directive itself. Furthermore, it is understood differently by private international lawyers. In the eDate Advertising case the ECJ ruled that the principle is not a conflict-of-laws rule, neither does it require implementation to the national legal systems in this shape. This is not to mean, however, that the debate over the function of the country of origin principle in private international law is over. Last but not least, there are many different types of country of origin principles applicable to various types of services provided via the Internet. This multitude of country of origin principles is perhaps the greatest weakness the regulatory approach adopted by the European lawmaker.     

Historical family systems and contemporary developmental outcomes: what is to be gained from the historical census microdata revolution?

Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in the role of the historical family as the instigator of disparate developmental trajectories. However, a major challenge faced by these studies was that they had to work around a lack of reliable historical data. This study demonstrates how embarking on the recent outburst of historical microdata infrastructures may help to improve these explorations by suggesting additional statistics and a derived measure (the Patriarchy Index) that might prove useful in future efforts aimed at assessing the effect of historical family organization on comparative development. The added value of that endeavour is assessed by comparing the predictive validity of the PI for contemporary developmental gradients against a composite indicator of family organization previously used by economic historians (Carmichael’s ‘Female Friendliness Index’). The results indicate that conclusions about the relationship between historical family organization and various societal outcomes may be sensitive to the measure used. Based on the evidence presented in this paper, it is argued that one of the reasons why the potential importance of historical family for contemporary developmental disparities has not been convincingly unravelled could be inadequacy of data and indicators so far employed to assess historical family formations. To the extent that the Patriarchy Index would be taken up by wider scholarly circles as an indicator of historical family organization it could help unravel potentially new associations between past and present, at least as far as Europe is concerned.     

Improving caregiver attendance at forensic service users’ psychiatric clinic appointments

In Singapore, families play an important role caring for mentally disordered offenders. They are particularly important in cases where courts oblige psychiatric assessment, because they provide corroborating information not otherwise volunteered. However, their attendance is generally low. Our quality improvement project sought to increase caregiver attendance at outpatient visits. We followed WHO guidelines for quality improvement, determined the root cause of poor attendance, and devised three Plan–Do–Study–Act cycles over six weeks in late 2013. We followed their impact for 12 months. Case managers and medical social workers implemented three strategies to address issues of poor communication and awareness, which led to poor attendance. Prior to our project, caregivers attended 47% of outpatient visits. Following the implementation of our strategies, rates rose to 70%, sustained over the 12 following months. The entire case management department adopted our strategies. Simple changes to standard operating procedures improved the rate of caregiver attendance at follow-up appointments.     

Depressive Symptomatology and Program Efficacy: Examining a Program to Improve Communication in Community Families

Destructive conflict is linked with adjustment problems over time, putting families at risk even when conflict behaviors have not reached levels of clinical concern. The Family Communication Project (FCP) is a psychoeducational program designed to improve communication in families with adolescent children. The present study examines the role of depression in program efficacy over time. Data were collected across four time points, assessing aspects of marital and family conflict, adolescent emotional security, and depressive symptoms in mothers, fathers, and adolescents. Results indicated improvements in conflict strategies for families who received the psychoeducational program (relative to controls), and point to a role of depressive symptomatology in adolescents in relation to treatment outcomes.     

Sexual Orientation,Gender Identity,and Adoption Law

The legal landscape surrounding adoption by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning/queer (LGBTQ) parents continues to be dynamic and variable across the United States, yet the topic is generally viewed favorably by Americans and increasing numbers of LGBTQ adults are becoming adoptive parents. In this essay, we explore intersections of sexual orientation, gender identity, and adoption law. We discuss connections between parenting (including adoption) and marriage rights, highlight the influence of varying legal contexts and discrimination for LGBTQ adults who pursue adoption (including case examples from Florida after the gay adoption ban was lifted), and incorporating the perspectives of adoption‐agency personnel working with LGBTQ clients.     

Contribution of Family Relationships to the Social–Emotional Functioning of Children of Incarcerated Fathers

This study examined the contribution of family relationships to the social–emotional functioning of children of incarcerated fathers. College students who mentored 134 children over one academic year completed questionnaires measuring children’s social–emotional functioning, family relationships, and demographic data. In general, children’s affection towards family members was lower than other relationship qualities and antagonism was highest towards their mothers. Conflict towards mothers and siblings, antagonism towards siblings, and affection towards fathers significantly predicted children’s conduct problems. Conflict and antagonism towards mothers significantly predicted children’s low pro-social behavior. Several gender differences were found. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

从外部遏制力量缺陷看警察刑讯逼供的生成

作者从法律规范、检察院、法院、犯罪嫌疑人、辩护律师、社会舆论等方面探究了刑讯逼供外部遏制力量的缺陷,进而以刑事诉讼构造、刑事诉讼目的、国民性格等角度深入挖掘了形成这些缺陷的根源。