Child Custody in the Age of Children's Rights: The Search for a Just and Workable Standard

Family Law Quarterly

Volumn 33, Issue 3, 1999, Pages 815-831

  Woodhouse, Barbara Bennett ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0033275487     PISSN: 0014729X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (58)

1. See ELLEN KEY, THE CENTURY OF THE CHILD (1909).
2. UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD, Art. 3, Nov. 20, 1989, 28 I.L.M. 1448 (emphasis added). Ironically, although the United States was a key player in drafting of the U.N. Convention and American doctrines provided a primary source for its child-centered philosophy, we have not ratified the Convention.
3. See Barbara Bennett Woodhouse, Hatching the Egg: A Child-Centered Perspective on Parents' Rights, 14 CARDOZO L. REV. 1748 (1993).
4. See Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr., History and Current Status of Divorce in the United States, in 4 THE FUTURE OF CHILDREN: CHILDREN AND DIVORCE 29, 35 (Packard Foundation 1994).
5. See Jordan C. Paul, "You Get the House. I Get the Car. You Get the Kids. I Get Their Souls." The Impact of Spiritual Custody Awards on the Free Exercise Rights of Custodial Parents, in THE CHILD, PARENT AND STATE (S. Randall Humm et al, eds., 1994).
6. MARY ANN MASON, THE CUSTODY WARS: WHY CHILDREN ARE LOSING THE BATTLE (1999).
7. MICHAEL GROSSBERG, A JUDGMENT FOR SOLOMON (1997).
8. See, e.g., Brown v. Jenks, 25 So. 2d 439 (Ala. 1946) (using a paternal preference); Barbara Bennett Woodhouse, "Who Owns the Child?": Meyer and Pierce and the Child as Property, 33 WM. & MARY L. REV. 995, 1048-1050 (citing twentieth century paternal preferences).
9. See Woodhouse, supra note 8, at 1049.
10. Reed v. Reed, 404 U.S. 71 (1971) (preference for male family members as executors); Orr v. Orr, 440 U.S. 268 (1979) (female but not male spouses eligible to receive alimony).
11. See, e.g., Devine v. Devine, 398 So. 2d 686 (Ala. 1981); Pusey v. Pusey, 728 P.2d 117 (Utah 1986).
12. 466 U.S. 429 (1984).
13. Robert Mnookin, Child-Custody Adjudication: Judicial Functions in the Face of Indeterminacy, 39 LAW & CONTEMP. PROBS. 226 (1975).
14. MARTHA ALBERTSON FINEMAN, THE ILLUSION OF EQUALITY: THE RHETORIC AND REALITY OF DIVORCE REFORM 149 (1991).
15. Id. at 150, 182.
16. Ireland v. Smith, 542 N.W.2d 344 (Mich. Ct. App. 1995), aff'd, 547 N.W.2d 344 (Mich. 1996).
17. See Karen Czapanskiy, Volunteers and Draftees: The Struggle for Parental Equality, 38 UCLA L. REV. 1415 (1991); Jane C. Murphy, Legal Images of Motherhood: Conflicting Definitions from Welfare "Reform," Family, and Criminal Law, 83 CORNELL L. REV. 688 (1998).
18. See Karen Czapanskiy, Volunteers and Draftees: The Struggle for Parental Equality, 38 UCLA L. REV. 1415 (1991); Jane C. Murphy, Legal Images of Motherhood: Conflicting Definitions from Welfare "Reform," Family, and Criminal Law, 83 CORNELL L. REV. 688 (1998).
19. Katharine T. Bartlett, Re-expressing Parenthood, 98 YALE L. J. 293 (1988).
20. See, e.g., Karen Czapanskiy, Interdependencies, Families, and Children, 39 SANTA CLARA L. REV. 957 (1999); Melinda A. Roberts, Parent and Child Conflict: Between Liberty and Responsibility, 10 N.D. J. L. ETHICS & PUB. POL'Y 485 (1996).
21. See, e.g., Karen Czapanskiy, Interdependencies, Families, and Children, 39 SANTA CLARA L. REV. 957 (1999); Melinda A. Roberts, Parent and Child Conflict: Between Liberty and Responsibility, 10 N.D. J. L. ETHICS & PUB. POL'Y 485 (1996).
22. JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN, ANNA FREUD & ALBERT SOLNIT, BEYOND THE BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILD (1973).
23. See Garska v. McCoy, 278 S.E.2d 357 (W. Va. 1981).
24. I count myself among them. See Barbara Bennett Woodhouse, Towards a Revitalization of Family Law, 69 TEX. L. REV. 245, 289 (1990); Hatching the Egg, supra note 3, at 1826.
25. I count myself among them. See Barbara Bennett Woodhouse, Towards a Revitalization of Family Law, 69 TEX. L. REV. 245, 289 (1990); Hatching the Egg, supra note 3, at 1826.
26. David L. Chambers, Rethinking the Substantive Rules for Custody Disputes in Divorce, 83 MICH. L. REV. 477 (1984).
27. See FINEMAN, supra note 14, at 79-94. See also Czapanskiy, supra note 17.
28. Gary Crippen, Stumbling Beyond Best Interest of the Child: Reexamining Child Custody Standard-Setting in the Wake of Minnesota's Four Year Experiment in the Primary Caretaker Preference, 75 MINN. L. REV. 427 (1990).
29. Andrew Schepard, Taking Children Seriously: Promoting Cooperative Custody After Divorce, 64 TEX. L. REV. 687 (1985); June Carbone, The Missing Piece of the Custody Puzzle: Creating A New Model of Cooperative Parental Partnership, 39 SANTA CLARA L. REV. 1091 (1999).
30. Andrew Schepard, Taking Children Seriously: Promoting Cooperative Custody After Divorce, 64 TEX. L. REV. 687 (1985); June Carbone, The Missing Piece of the Custody Puzzle: Creating A New Model of Cooperative Parental Partnership, 39 SANTA CLARA L. REV. 1091 (1999).
31. See D. KELLY WEISBERG & SUSAN FRELICH APPLETON, MODERN FAMILY LAW 848-49 (1997).
32. See FRANK F. FURSTENBURG, JR. & ANDREW CHERLIN, DIVIDED FAMILIES: WHAT HAPPENS TO CHILDREN WHEN PARENTS PART (1991); Mavis Heatherington, Stanley-Hagan & Anderson, Marital Transitions: A Child's Perspective, 1989 AM. J. PSYCH. 303 (reporting research that the relationship between custodial parent and child is most crucial, and that children adapt better in a well-functioning single parent family than in a conflict ridden, two-parent family);
33. See FRANK F. FURSTENBURG, JR. & ANDREW CHERLIN, DIVIDED FAMILIES: WHAT HAPPENS TO CHILDREN WHEN PARENTS PART (1991); Mavis Heatherington, Stanley-Hagan & Anderson, Marital Transitions: A Child's Perspective, 1989 AM. J. PSYCH. 303 (reporting research that the relationship between custodial parent and child is most crucial, and that children adapt better in a well-functioning single parent family than in a conflict ridden, two-parent family);
34. FURSTENBURG & CHERLIN, supra note 28, at 39-43, 113-14.
35. ELEANOR E. MACCOBY & ROBERT H. MNOOKIN, DIVIDING THE CHILD: SOCIAL AND LEGAL DILEMMAS OF CUSTODY (1992).
36. Barbara Bennett Woodhouse, Making Fathers Play, 22 CONTEMP. SOCIOLOGY 575 (1993) (reviewing MACCOBY & MNOOKIN, DIVIDING THE CHILD).
37. Fisher v. Fisher, 535 A.2d 1163 , 1166 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1988) (opinion of Judge Beck).
38. See Lee E. Teitelbaum, The Family as a System: A Preliminary Sketch, 1996 UTAH L. REV. 537.
39. Naomi Cahn, Civil Images of Battered Women: The Impact of Domestic Violence on Child Custody Decisions, 44 VAND. L. REV. 1041 (1991); Joan S. Meier, Notes from the Underground: Integrating Psychological and Legal Perspectives on Domestic Violence in Theory and Practice, 21 HOFSTRA L. REV. 1295 (1993).
40. Naomi Cahn, Civil Images of Battered Women: The Impact of Domestic Violence on Child Custody Decisions, 44 VAND. L. REV. 1041 (1991); Joan S. Meier, Notes from the Underground: Integrating Psychological and Legal Perspectives on Domestic Violence in Theory and Practice, 21 HOFSTRA L. REV. 1295 (1993).
41. IRA MARK ELLMAN, PAUL M. KURTZ & ELIZABETH SCOTT, FAMILY LAW: CASES, TEXT, PROBLEMS 685 (3d ed. 1998).
42. Zummo v. Zummo, 574 A.2d 1130 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1990).
43. See Tropea v. Tropea, 642 N.Y.S.2d 575 (N.Y. 1996), which abandoned a restrictive rule in favor of a rule balancing a range of relevant factors. Cf. Katharine K. Baker, Property Rules Meet Feminist Needs: Respecting Autonomy by Valuing Connection, 59 OHIO ST. L. J. 1523 (1998).
44. See generally Symposium Issue on the Ethical Representation of Children, 64 FORDHAM L. REV. 1281 (1996). This symposium issue represents a landmark in development of children's law, approaching difficult issues with practical insight and analytical seriousness.
45. American Bar Association, Standards of Practice for Lawyers Representing a Child in Abuse and Neglect Cases, 29 FAM. L. Q. 375 (1995); 〈http://www.ababnet.org/ child〉.
46. Katharine Hunt Federle, An Empowerment Perspective on the Rights of Children, 68 TEMPLE L. REV. 1585 (1995);
47. Catherine J. Ross, From Vulnerability to Voice: Appointing Counsel for Children in Civil Litigation, 64 FORDHAM L. REV. 1571 (1996);
48. For diametrically opposed positions, see DAVID BLANKENHORN, FATHERLESS AMERICA: CONFRONTING OUR MOST URGENT SOCIAL PROBLEM (1995); MARTHA A. FINEMAN, THE NEUTERED MOTHER, THE SEXUAL FAMILY AND OTHER TWENTIETH CENTURY TRAGEDIES (1995).
49. For diametrically opposed positions, see DAVID BLANKENHORN, FATHERLESS AMERICA: CONFRONTING OUR MOST URGENT SOCIAL PROBLEM (1995); MARTHA A. FINEMAN, THE NEUTERED MOTHER, THE SEXUAL FAMILY AND OTHER TWENTIETH CENTURY TRAGEDIES (1995).
50. Similar arguments have been made by feminists with respect to the status of women. See Nadine Taub & Elizabeth M. Schneider, Perspectives on Women's Subordination and the Role of Law, in THE POLITICS OF LAW: A PROGRESSIVE CRITIQUE 151, 155-56 (David Kairys ed. 1990).
51. See Carl S. Schneider, Discretion, Rules, and Law: Child Custody and the UMDA's Best Interest Standard, 89 MICH. L. REV. 2215 (1991).
52. Woodhouse, Hatching the Egg, supra note 3, at 1820.
53. Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr., Foreword, ALI PRINCIPLES OF THE LAW OF FAMILY DISSOLUTION: ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS, TENTATIVE DRAFT No. 3, Part I (Mar. 6, 1998), at xi.
54. PRINCIPLES OF THE LAW OF FAMILY DISSOLUTION, TENTATIVE DRAFT NO. 3, Part I, § 2.02 (Mar. 20, 1998).
55. See Elizabeth S. Scott & Robert E. Scott, Parents as Fiduciaries, 81 VA. L. REV. 2401 (1995) (arguing that family law has long reflected such a relationship); Hatching the Egg, supra note 3; Barbara Bennett Woodhouse, Of Babies, Bonding and Burning Buildings: Discerning Parenthood in Irrational Action, 81 VA. L. REV. 2493 (1995) (arguing the transition from property to fiduciary theory is in process but not fully recognized).
56. See Elizabeth S. Scott & Robert E. Scott, Parents as Fiduciaries, 81 VA. L. REV. 2401 (1995) (arguing that family law has long reflected such a relationship); Hatching the Egg, supra note 3; Barbara Bennett Woodhouse, Of Babies, Bonding and Burning Buildings: Discerning Parenthood in Irrational Action, 81 VA. L. REV. 2493 (1995) (arguing the transition from property to fiduciary theory is in process but not fully recognized).
57. See Elizabeth S. Scott & Robert E. Scott, Parents as Fiduciaries, 81 VA. L. REV. 2401 (1995) (arguing that family law has long reflected such a relationship); Hatching the Egg, supra note 3; Barbara Bennett Woodhouse, Of Babies, Bonding and Burning Buildings: Discerning Parenthood in Irrational Action, 81 VA. L. REV. 2493 (1995) (arguing the transition from property to fiduciary theory is in process but not fully recognized).
58. See, e.g., Lehr v. Robertson, 463 U.S. 248 (1983) (parental rights do not spring from biological connection without further evidence of a developed relationship); Smith v. Organization of Foster Families for Equality and Reform, 431 U.S. 816 (1977) (importance of family derives from emotional attachments of intimate daily association).