This study sought to analyze the experiences of participants in court-ordered parent education with the ultimate goal to identify a framework, which promotes learning that is transformative. Participants included 11 parents court ordered to attend parent education classes through the Department of Human Services. A basic qualitative design, which…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how a small group of adolescents in an alternative care and treatment program develop digital literacy skills over time while immersed in a rich media setting. It also explores how the students use new media tools and affordances to "perform" their identities and to present themselves…

Potentially difficult and dangerous situations can arise when an early childhood program is faced with parental rights and child custody issues. This is particularly true when the parents are engaged in a fight. Nothing is as visceral as the fight over a child, and even the best of people can become deceitful or quite villainous. School owners…

Guardianship is a complicated legal concept, which is further complicated by differences from state to state in the framing and implementation of distinctly different forms. Few professionals explain the long-term consequences of obtaining guardianship or provide the range of alternatives available to support an adult with disabilities. This study…

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) is a 338-item objective self-report measure drawn from the 567 items of the MMPI-2. Although there is a substantial MMPI-2 literature regarding child custody litigants, there has been only one previously published study using MMPI-2-RF data in this population that…

The Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) and the Ministry of Education (MEd), in consultation with regional representatives and public and independent school representatives, created these cross-ministry guidelines to improve information sharing, strengthen practice and joint planning, and promote effective communication among…

These research notes look at the differing ways in which the basis for including a criterion regarding children's opinions in disputed custody and visitation processes, in the US as compared with Sweden, impacts on the role and place that children's opinions and wishes will have on the process. Sweden's rationale for including children's…

This study produces a grounded theory of how 20 predominantly White, well-educated women experienced sharing physical custody of their children with their former partners after divorce or separation. Three patterns of coparenting were identified in the data: "continuously contentious", "always amicable", and "bad to better". Five negative factors…

MMPI-2 scores from a parent competency sample (N = 136 parents) are compared with a previously published data set of MMPI-2 scores for child custody litigants (N = 508 parents; Bathurst et al., 1997). Independent samples t tests yielded significant and in some cases substantial differences on the standard MMPI-2 clinical scales (especially Scales…

This article reviews a recent book arguing how a concept known as parental alienation syndrome--now parental alienation disorder--should be included in official psychiatric/psychological and medical classification diagnostic manuals. Anecdotal cases and opinion are presented as research and scientific evidence, and stories are presented as…

Approximately, 20% of divorcing couples in the United States require judicial intervention to reach a custody agreement. In such cases, courts often call on child custody evaluators to conduct comprehensive evaluations and recommend custody agreements and services that meet children's best interests. Estimates suggest that allegations of domestic…

This article reports on a case that resulted in a published court decision which illustrates a dilemma at the intersection of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). On first impression, the finding that teachers were operating based on professional principle seems to validate their actions.…

We investigate which partner of a 2-gender couple moves out after separation. We test hypotheses on the impact of differences between the partners in the costs of moving out and resources, using data from the Divorce in the Netherlands survey (N = 1,537 ex-couples who separated between 1972 and 1998). Ex-partners initiating the separation were…

This article reviews some sensitivity versus specificity imbalances in forensic investigations of child sexual abuse. It then proposes the development or further testing of additional approaches for those children who do not respond to the current, single-interview National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) protocol. Although…

This Parameter addresses the key concepts that differentiate the forensic evaluation of children and adolescents from a clinical assessment. There are ethical issues unique to the forensic evaluation, because the forensic evaluator's duty is to the person, court, or agency requesting the evaluation, rather than to the patient. The forensic…