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Diversity in judiciary
Diversity in judiciary
Diversity in judiciary
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The choice of this paper is to discuss the best practices of conducting child custody evaluations and the diverse roles of the child custody evaluators and the counselor. Mental health counselors are called upon to help with the plethora of custody cases in the judicial system for evaluations. Family courts counselors provide invaluable services as forensic experts or with treatment. Due to the uniqueness of each instance it is imperative that the mental health counselors comprehend the diversity in each instance. The counselors must also be able to practice ethics and legal to prevent the ramification in malpractice.
The purpose of this paper is to examine various instruments utilized to provide counselors with the most accurate assessment in family, couple and individual counseling. Nonetheless, this paper will also explore the interventions that are most appropriate for this case study. As it will further bring a better sense of awareness to the techniques used in family assessments.
According to many the custody of a child should be determined with the best interest of the child in mind. However, it is not easy for a judge to make such an important decision in such a short amount of time with limited information. Smith (2004) stated that, the simple fact of being a mother does not indicate a willingness or capacity to render a quality of care different than that which a father can provide. Some might argue that what Reynolds (2004) calls deadbeat dads, or in other words fathers who refuse to pay their child support, are often times confused with Turnips, who are ex-spouses who can not afford to pay child support. One example of a turnip is a father who is in prison; he is obviously not making money while he is on the inside. Now an example of a deadbeat dad is when the father is enjoying all the finer things in life and he cannot reach far enough into his...
Hairston, C., & Lockett, P. (1987). Parents in Prison: New Directions for Social Services. Social Work , 162-164.
Rogers, J.B. (2001). FOCUS I survey and final report: A summary of findings: Families officers
In 2007 there were approximately 77,200 fathers and 65,600 mothers incarcerated in the United States (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2007). As our society continues to grow, our jail and prison population are growing as well. When a parent or guardian is taken into custody the juvenile (child) is taken and released to a relative or child protective services. The children are either given to a close family member or a surrogate parent, meaning a foster home. This may have an emotional impact on the juvenile involved, which may lead them to committing delinquent acts. The children sometimes feel they are left to fend for themselves emotionally and the stress of these emotions are left upon the guardian at the time. These intense sufferings sometimes leave the juveniles in a harmful mental state resembling depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and feelings of abandonment from their parents/guardians. Children with incarcerated parents are five times more likely than their peers to commit crimes (Texas Department of Criminal Justice, 2008).
Child custody is a difficult and sensitive matter. During the disputes people go through multiple interviews, background checks, and other privacy invading matters. Child custody evaluations are need when parents are divorcing. This is all done in order to obtain custody of one or more children. The children do not have to be the parents biological children in order to be able to fight for custody of the child. In the evaluations multiple factors are taken into consideration. Through the entire process the most important aspect about the outcome of the evaluations, is that the child’s best interest is always the main factor. Child custody evaluations attempt to investigate and find the best situation for the child between the parties fighting over custody.
Zuker, Marvin A., Roderick C. Flynn, and Randolph C. Hammond. Children's Law Handbook. Toronto: Thomson Carswell, 2005. Print.
It is true that sometimes the Child Welfare system lets its children down and ends up raising offenders. However, that is not to say that what they do is simply or even mostly a failure, I am merely attempting to turn random stars into constellations. There are great changes that are made in this system. I have witnessed cases progress from being supervised visits to becoming monitored visits. I have seen mothers taking home their babies and children returning home because the parents have met their return conditions. I have seen parents who were hopeless drug addicts reach milestones by staying clean. I have heard cases of mothers who were repeat domestic violence victims set limits to their ex-abusers and seen a father learn how to hold a
This question becomes more imperative when considering the increase in frequency of children involved with the legal system. According to Statistics Canada, from 2004-2009, family violence allegedly victimized 18, 710 children under the age of 17 (Sinha, 2012). In the same article, children were also reported to have witnessed an increased amount of spousal violence in their homes, such that the proportion of spousal victims with children increased from 43 percent to 52 percent. Sinha (2012) also stated that out of the reported victims of spousal violence in 2009, 39 percent would involve officials in the matter due to the presence of a child witness versus 10 percent of victims with no child witness. These statistics alone account...
Child witnesses have provided a basis for controversy over the years in criminal justice. There are two main things that people worry about when it comes to having a child witness, one is the anxiety that is put on the child with regard to the traumatic experience and the other is dependability of the testimony. Child testimony has long been considered an important part of the case but what is to be done when there are questions regarding legal, ethical, and professional ways to interact with the children.
The issue of divorce is not only the main problem in the American society of today. The custody issue on who is going to gain the right to take care of the children wholly is also a tough one. For the past decade, divorce and the custody battle have rapidly become a significant life event for perhaps millions of Americans each year. “There were more than two million divorces each year, affecting 3 million adults and more than two million children (Thompson, Parting 18).” Thus we can prognosticate that the American family of today is definitely ill and is in great need of a revival.
Family law attorneys often deal with secrets that are kept within families. These lawyers hear about domestic violence, sexual abuse, parental kidnapping, child abuse, and threats. This career field is often very stressful and attorneys must make sure that they do not become emotionally involved. The case that I chose to base this essay off of was not labeled with a case name, however it’s important to note that I retrieved it from the Journal of the American Academy of Matrimonial
Each parent is different; they all have different ways in parenting and disciplining their children. One’s own parenting style is usually derived from the way one was raised or the society one lives in. Parenting styles include authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive, and it is very important to know which style one falls in because it can have an effect on how one’s child grows up to be and develops. Authoritative parenting would be the better parenting style because it is in the middle of the parenting styles; it is not at the extreme ends of the spectrum. It can be very beneficial to parents to understand that how one raises their children can give them a foundation for good development for years to come.
Children will be suffered conflict with the interaction with their parents and siblings, and other aspects in their family life by cause of the divorce (Berk, 2010). Some parents who decide to get divorced that they were waiting the time on arguments and fights. Also, these parents use their children to punishment to one to each other. For this situation, children have a lot of conflicts on their emotions, and they have issues in their security. For instance, the custody’s fights are the biggest battle during the separation, and parents develop a lot of stress during this process. In the majority of the cases, mothers have the custody of their children, and they have to raise as a single mother. Also, the children tend to develop a lot of fears and about what they want to do. The divorce brings several negatives on children, and children live with a lot of stress during the divorce process. As well as, each child is different, and they
It is no secret that divorce has become a frequent occurrence. Parents are supposed to want what is best for their children, especially when the outcome of an important decision may impact the child in numerous ways. In spite of this, many couples tend to overlook some of the ramifications when making the choice to abandon their marriage. Before parents schedule those court dates and therapy sessions, they should center their attention to their children and attempt to reconsider divorce knowing that they are putting their child’s academic career, mental health, future relationships, social life, and parent-child relationships at risk.