NCJ Number
176173
Journal
Family and Conciliation Courts Review Volume: 36 Issue: Dated: Pages: issue (July 1998)-409
Date Published
1998
Length
18 pages
Annotation
Because parental abduction of children has become a serious concern, this paper describes preventive interventions such as counseling, conflict resolution, and legal strategies that aim to settle child custody and access disputes with families identified as being at risk for violation of child custody and visitation orders.
Abstract
The interventions resulted from a series of research studies. During the first phase, 634 parental child stealing cases in two California counties between 1987 and 1990 were studied in terms of demographic, family, and dispute characteristics of child custody violators and the legal system's response to parental child stealing. A smaller sample was then drawn from 1990 district attorney records in the two counties, and interviews were conducted and psychological measures were administered 3 years later with 70 parents from 50 families. Abducting and nonabducting parents were analyzed according to risk of serious custodial interference. In another phase, family court counselors from San Francisco Bay area counties were instructed in how to use risk profiles in order to identify potential child custody violators and refer them for specialized interventions. The following six risk profiles were evaluated: (1) when there was a prior threat of or actual abduction; (2) when a parent suspected or believed abuse occurred and had social support for these concerns; (3) when a parent was a paranoid delusional; (4) when a parent was severely sociopathic; (5) when one or both parents were foreigners ending a mixed culture marriage; and (6) when parents felt disenfranchised by the legal system and had family/social support in another community. Specific interventions are detailed for each of the six risk profiles. An appendix notes information and assistance resources related to family abduction. 29 references and 2 notes