There were two major historical eras when it came to child custody law. The first era which lasted about 200 years, made decisions about children using divine law (Mason, 2012). The ideal family not only reflected the political balance between men and women, but also the political economy (Mason, 2012). In this first era, fathers were see as the “head” of the house hold and was in charged of everyone living under his roof (Mason, 2012). This was because children and wives were viewed as property to the husband (Kelly, 1994; Costanzo & Krauss, 2010). The people that would be considered as children that lived in a house hold would include slave children, indentured servants, children of orphaned relatives, and of course natural children (Mason,
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In the 1960s it was believed that children where happy if their families were complete (meaning mother, father, sisters/ brothers living in a household). Parents gave up their own happiness for “the best interest of the child” in the early 1960s, but by the 1970s it was believed that children were only happy if their parents were happy. This meant that children would rather have divorced happy parents rather than parents that were in an unhappy marriage (Mason, 2012). By the beginning of the 1980s the preferred way for children to have connection with both mother and father, but still allowing their parents to go through with their divorce was joint custody (Mason, 2012). The main idea behind joint custody was for both parent to stay involved in their child’s life which could actually benefit them psychologically in the future (Costanzo & Krauss, …show more content…
Sometimes the evaluator is unclear whether or not they have received proper informed consent or agreement (assent) with other parties that are also involved in the same case (Pepiton et al., 2014). “Some cases don’t even have signed consent from any of the adult parties” (Pepiton et al., 2014, p. 85). Most evaluators tend to not document informed consent and ignore to do so (Pepiton et al., 2014). Informed consent is really important and should not be overlooked. All parties need to understand the limits on confidentiality in custody evaluations (Pepiton et al.,
In the 1960s it was believed that children where happy if their families were complete (meaning mother, father, sisters/ brothers living in a household). Parents gave up their own happiness for “the best interest of the child” in the early 1960s, but by the 1970s it was believed that children were only happy if their parents were happy. This meant that children would rather have divorced happy parents rather than parents that were in an unhappy marriage (Mason, 2012). By the beginning of the 1980s the preferred way for children to have connection with both mother and father, but still allowing their parents to go through with their divorce was joint custody (Mason, 2012). The main idea behind joint custody was for both parent to stay involved in their child’s life which could actually benefit them psychologically in the future (Costanzo & Krauss, …show more content…
Sometimes the evaluator is unclear whether or not they have received proper informed consent or agreement (assent) with other parties that are also involved in the same case (Pepiton et al., 2014). “Some cases don’t even have signed consent from any of the adult parties” (Pepiton et al., 2014, p. 85). Most evaluators tend to not document informed consent and ignore to do so (Pepiton et al., 2014). Informed consent is really important and should not be overlooked. All parties need to understand the limits on confidentiality in custody evaluations (Pepiton et al.,