Forensic Science: Clinical Evidence in Child-Custody Determinations Herman Gill, Ph.D. September 11, 2014 While the United States may be characterized globally as having a “national shadow” of excessive materialism, decadence, and militarism, Americans are also known for their uncanny ability to recognize deception and rise to action in response to a direct challenge to human freedom. In this context, child custody litigation, played out over and over again in family court jurisdictions across the United States, have begun to evoke growing public outrage, increased political outcry, and serious scientific scrutiny. In family courts throughout this country, ritualistic transactions and emotional drama cloak highly destructive and lethal court games seldom in the best interest of a child. These Kafka-like scenes (now common in other countries as well), are caused not simply by the dynamics of divorce but by the traumatic interventions of the court. If family court in the United States protects our children in divorce, who protects our children from the family court? Childhood and adolescent problems caused by the forced separation and loss of a parent in divorce due to biased custody assessments and misguided parenting plans has reached pandemic proportions. Several years ago, a colleague described how a twelve years-old male, in a high tension divorce, despondent in response to the forced separation from his father, simply went home one day from school and hanged himself.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 21:37:42 +0000
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