{"title":"Parent coordinators: Effective interventions in adolescent mental health","authors":"Mindy Mitnick","doi":"10.1111/fcre.12721","DOIUrl":"10.1111/fcre.12721","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The mental health system in the US was not meeting the increasing needs of teens before the pandemic started in 2020. The pandemic served to stress adolescents and their parents while significantly limiting the availability of services. Separated parents may have disputes about whether adolescents have mental health care needs, what services the child needs, where those services will be obtained, and who will be involved. The Parenting Coordinator as a dispute resolution professional can assist families in reaching agreements and meeting their teen's needs for care.</p>","PeriodicalId":51627,"journal":{"name":"Family Court Review","volume":"61 3","pages":"478-482"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45154984","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Lowering the age of consent: Legal, ethical, and clinical implications of adolescent-directed therapy","authors":"Kathleen McNamara","doi":"10.1111/fcre.12722","DOIUrl":"10.1111/fcre.12722","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article discusses a recently enacted Colorado law that aims to reduce the youth suicide rate by lowering the age of consent for psychotherapy from age 15 to age 12. The author discusses the challenges therapists face when young adolescents seek therapy without parental consent in cases involving interparental conflict. Suggestions for managing adolescent-directed therapy are offered.</p>","PeriodicalId":51627,"journal":{"name":"Family Court Review","volume":"61 3","pages":"472-477"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42511214","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jessica P. Greenwald O'Brien, Yael Osman, Danielle K. Sample
{"title":"The red herring of adolescent mental health","authors":"Jessica P. Greenwald O'Brien, Yael Osman, Danielle K. Sample","doi":"10.1111/fcre.12733","DOIUrl":"10.1111/fcre.12733","url":null,"abstract":"<p>An increase in adolescent distress and mental health symptoms has been clearly documented since the COVID-19 pandemic, as has increased exposure to adverse childhood experiences. Layer on top of these stressors being a youth of divorcing or separating high conflict families, and adolescent symptomatology can suddenly become a flashpoint for parental attention, division and conflict. Approaching cases using an ecological and family systems framework is necessary for accurate conceptualization and assessment of best interests in the context of child custody evaluations. Doing so ensures that adolescent mental health does not become a red herring in high conflict cases, leading to undue focus on the adolescent's mental health without considering other salient factors in the case, such as the broader parent conflict. Programs offered at the Center of Excellence for Children, Families & the Law at William James College designed to improve the lives of youth by addressing parental conflict are described.</p>","PeriodicalId":51627,"journal":{"name":"Family Court Review","volume":"61 3","pages":"496-503"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47569740","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Comparing targeted intervention modalities for high conflict co-parents: A quasi-experimental study","authors":"Jennifer A. Dealy, B. S. Russell, J. L. Robinson","doi":"10.1111/fcre.12737","DOIUrl":"10.1111/fcre.12737","url":null,"abstract":"<p>High conflict co-parents engage in recurrent litigation that significantly strains the court system and exacerbates their conflict. Given barriers to their engagement in service delivery (e.g., level of conflict, transportation, child care), it is vital to evaluate targeted interventions and to examine different intervention modalities (e.g., online, hybrid). This study compared court involvement and rates of parental agreement among 178 high conflict cases that received a multi-component intervention, either in-person or in a hybrid version. Results demonstrated no significant differences between groups in the change in number of court negotiations, child-related issues, or court services from before to after-intervention completion or in the proportion of parenting cases who reached an agreement. Both versions demonstrated significant reductions in parents' court involvement from before to after-intervention completion. These findings suggest the need for future research to evaluate the comparative efficacy of hybrid programs and in-person programs for high conflict co-parents with greater methodological rigor in light of the current study's findings and limitations.</p>","PeriodicalId":51627,"journal":{"name":"Family Court Review","volume":"61 3","pages":"602-618"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47655133","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"All hat and no cattle: How house bill 2926 paves the way for progress in the reinstatement of parental rights, but falls short of providing parents with an accessible resource","authors":"Heather Coffee","doi":"10.1111/fcre.12725","DOIUrl":"10.1111/fcre.12725","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Texas' foster care system is overpopulated, underfunded, and doing a grave disservice to the children in its care. Specifically, the foster care system is violating the constitutional rights of children regarding how they must be taken care of while in the State's custody. Parents whose custodial rights were involuntarily terminated now have a clear path for petitioning to regain their rights thanks to Texas House Bill 2926. Much of House Bill 2926's value is lost in the legalese used to write it, which is the problem my proposed solution, The 2926 Project, aims to remedy.</p>","PeriodicalId":51627,"journal":{"name":"Family Court Review","volume":"61 3","pages":"635-649"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47300542","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Margaret H. Lloyd Sieger, Jessica Becker, Kelly Earles, Karin Thompson-Wise, Kaitlin Hagain
{"title":"The development and pilot testing of a family treatment court best practices assessment: The model standards implementation scale","authors":"Margaret H. Lloyd Sieger, Jessica Becker, Kelly Earles, Karin Thompson-Wise, Kaitlin Hagain","doi":"10.1111/fcre.12739","DOIUrl":"10.1111/fcre.12739","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In 2019, the family treatment court (FTC) best practice standards (the <i>Standards</i>) were published to clarify attributes of FTC programs associated with superior child, parent, and family outcomes. The <i>Standards</i> cover the breadth of FTC operations including program structure and leadership, substance use treatment and complementary services, and behavioral responses to participants. This study aimed to develop an instrument (the Model Standards Implementation Scale; “MSIS”) that stakeholders can use to assess implementation of the <i>Standards</i> by individual FTCs. The MSIS balances usability with scientific validity. Interrater reliability (IRR), internal consistency, and several types of validity were assessed. Results indicated moderate to strong IRR, high internal consistency, mixed known groups validity depending on <i>Standard</i>, and high convergent and divergent validity. Initial findings suggest good validity and usability of the MSIS for evaluating FTC Standards' implementation. Notably, the process of using the tool functioned to educate FTC team members on the <i>Standards</i>. Although implementation of the MSIS is a resource-intensive process, the opportunity to receive constructive feedback proved to be an effective incentive for initial and subsequent participation in the evaluation among FTCs. Future research is needed to examine predictive validity, including association between <i>Standards</i>' implementation and family outcomes in FTCs.</p>","PeriodicalId":51627,"journal":{"name":"Family Court Review","volume":"61 3","pages":"586-601"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45544832","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ashley C. T. Jones, Ashley B. Batastini, Michael J. Vitacco, Rheanna L. Standridge, Sean B. Knuth
{"title":"Attorneys, tell your clients to think before they post: Social media data may influence how evaluators view their parental fitness","authors":"Ashley C. T. Jones, Ashley B. Batastini, Michael J. Vitacco, Rheanna L. Standridge, Sean B. Knuth","doi":"10.1111/fcre.12736","DOIUrl":"10.1111/fcre.12736","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Information from social media is used in evaluations of parental fitness with some regularity. Yet, research is lacking on perceptions of this information and no research has examined how social media data impacts forensic evaluators' opinions related to parental fitness. This study compared forensic evaluators' perceptions of data trustworthiness, usefulness, and initial opinion of parental fitness in a fictitious case in which parental fitness was questioned. Perceptions of a parent's behavior were compared across two types of data in which it was presented (an Instagram post or a medical record note) and across genders of the parent (mother or father) being hypothetically evaluated. As hypothesized, information documented on social media was viewed more critically than information documented by a healthcare provider. Further, information primarily referencing the father in the case was viewed as less trustworthy than information referencing the mother, which appeared influenced by evaluators' identified self-reported sexist attitudes. Results suggest that family law attorneys, regardless of which parent they are representing, should advise their clients of the risks to using social media.</p>","PeriodicalId":51627,"journal":{"name":"Family Court Review","volume":"61 3","pages":"545-562"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48632203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bruce M. Smyth, Jason L. Payne, Michelle Irving, Genevieve Heard
{"title":"Popular post-separation parenting smartphone apps: An evaluation","authors":"Bruce M. Smyth, Jason L. Payne, Michelle Irving, Genevieve Heard","doi":"10.1111/fcre.12738","DOIUrl":"10.1111/fcre.12738","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In recent years a bewildering array of smartphone applications (“apps”) has emerged to support separated parents' communication. Post-separation parenting apps vary in cost and features; they typically comprise a messaging tool, shared calendar, expense tracker and a means to export records for legal purposes. A key challenge for separated parents and family law practitioners alike is knowing which apps or app feature(s) can work well for different family contexts, needs and budgets. The present study sought to evaluate nine popular post-separation parenting apps and their features using small-<i>n</i> Human–Computer Interaction methods. Mediators role-played high conflict ex-couples while completing a set of five common post-separation communication or organizational tasks. A cross-case analysis of ratings was conducted. We found that (a) many of the mediators changed their apparent enthusiasm for co-parenting apps once they had used the apps themselves; (b) all nine apps were rated somewhere between “Poor” to Fair’; and (c) features of some of the best-known apps were not rated as highly as some of the features of more recent, lesser-known apps.</p>","PeriodicalId":51627,"journal":{"name":"Family Court Review","volume":"61 3","pages":"563-585"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/fcre.12738","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44058702","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Like bringing a knife to a gunfight: Why IRC Section 2036 is not the right weapon to combat abusive family limited partnerships","authors":"Nicholas J. Trotta","doi":"10.1111/fcre.12728","DOIUrl":"10.1111/fcre.12728","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Family Limited Partnerships (“FLPs”), which were once a great estate planning technique, have now become victim to Section 2036 assertions made by the IRS. Over the years, the IRS has struggled to find a means to combat abusive FLPs until the courts began to embrace Section 2036 as a weapon for them to use. Different courts, however, have maintained different rules and have now subjected both abusive and non-abusive FLPs to inclusion of their assets into their gross estates. This has shed light onto the main issue, that is, that Section 2036 is not the appropriate tool to combat abusive FLPs.</p>","PeriodicalId":51627,"journal":{"name":"Family Court Review","volume":"61 3","pages":"665-679"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44395049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}