Parenting and Custody

Abstract

The family courts have failed to integrate the extensive research on attachment, child development, and domestic abuse into custody and visitation decisions. This chapter discusses the research on parenting styles and the impact of domestic and substance abuse, and culture, recommending more research on the impact on parenting. More recently, the research on coercive control has addressed the impact on children, which frequently has gone undetected in the family courts. The family courts’ failure to integrate this research has resulted in custody arrangements in which infants and toddlers spend equal time with each parent in fifty-fifty schedules, which include extensive overnights following parental separations. This has led to disturbances in child development and attachment styles. Family court orders of custody and visitation should be informed by the research on attachment, domestic abuse, culture, and parenting styles to allow for the development of custody decisions that are safe, developmentally appropriate, and culturally competent.