Family Court Review

© Association of Family and Conciliation Courts

Cover image for Vol. 55 Issue 2

Edited By: Barbara Babb

Online ISSN: 1744-1617

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  1. Understanding Parental Gatekeeping in Families with a Special Needs Child (pages 195–212)

    Robert L. Kaufman and Daniel B. Pickar

    Version of Record online: 12 APR 2017 | DOI: 10.1111/fcre.12273

    Key Points for Family Court Community:

    • Understand the unique demands of separated and divorced families who have a special needs child
    • Given the syndrome present, as well as the severity of the condition, understand what is required of parents in terms of cooperation and collaboration
    • Typical developmentally based parenting plans may not apply to a family with a special needs child
    • Be aware of how parents handle safety and basic welfare issues of the child
    • Understand each parent's approach to including versus restricting the other parent's access to information about the child, as well as their physical access to the child
    • Understand the unique ways that subtle alienation and enmeshment may manifest in families with a special needs child
    • Because many timely decisions need to be made by these families, the presumption of joint legal decision making across the board may not be practical or effective
  2. Bias in the Family: Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in Custody Disputes (pages 213–242)

    Solangel Maldonado

    Version of Record online: 12 APR 2017 | DOI: 10.1111/fcre.12274

    Key Points for the Family Court Community:

    • Custody evaluators, lawyers, and judges are influenced by the racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds of the parents and the child in custody disputes.
    • Implicit biases may influence how custody evaluators, lawyers, and judges interpret parents’ behaviors and testimony.
    • Preferences for parenting styles favored by middle-class families disproportionately disadvantage racial and ethnic minorities and low-income families.
    • The best interests of the child standard increases the risk of intuitive and biased assessments.
    • Acknowledgement of racial, ethnic, and cultural differences is necessary to reduce bias.
    • Individual strategies and institutional reforms may help reduce bias and its effect on assessments and decision making in custody cases.
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    Who's Your Daddy?: The Marital Presumption of Legitimacy in the Modern World and its Application to Same-Sex Couples (pages 307–320)

    Angela Ruffini

    Version of Record online: 12 APR 2017 | DOI: 10.1111/fcre.12279

    Key Points for the Family Court Community:

    • The marital presumption of legitimacy is a common law concept in which the husband of a woman who bears a child during the marriage is presumed to be the father of the child regardless of biology.
    • The modern approach to the marital presumption has applied equally to heterosexual and homosexual couples in many cases. However, when it comes to same-sex couples, in order to be recognized as an actual parent to a nonbiological child, it is helpful to assert that the nonbiological parent helps provide financial support and assistance in child rearing and has established a long-term relationship with the child.
    • The decision in Obergefell has ensured that the constitutional right to marry is now applicable to same-sex couples.
    • After Obergefell, while certain states and jurisdictions allow for the recognition and protection of a nonbiological parent—or a nonrecognized parent—of a married homosexual couple, many states and jurisdictions still do not afford those protections, and thus it is important to implement a uniform statute for states to adopt to ensure the rights of the nonbiological parent.
  4. April 2017 (pages 173–174)

    Barbara A. Babb

    Version of Record online: 12 APR 2017 | DOI: 10.1111/fcre.12280

  5. Family Court Review Memorial for Ruth Stern (pages 175–176)

    J. Herbie DiFonzo

    Version of Record online: 12 APR 2017 | DOI: 10.1111/fcre.12281

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