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Abstract: 

In this exhaustive piece, Dianne Bartlow and Barry Goldstein provide a comprehensive discussion of the issues most pertinent to the task of improving judicial decision-making in child custody litigation involving allegations of intimate partner and/or child abuse. Here, the authors base their comments and suggestions, in large part, on information they gathered from an earlier study published in Domestic Violence, Abuse, and Child Custody, Vol. 1 (2010, Civic Research Institute). In that investigation, they sought out the reactions of family court judges to cases of child murder that had occurred within their jurisdictions. Fortunately, the authors, based on recommendations made by the uncommonly sage judges they interviewed, provide a good number of well-considered solutions to the haunting reality of child-destroying judicial outcomes.

Keywords: Family Court; Child Custody and Domestic Violence; “Friendly Parent” and “Best Interests of the Child” Standards

Affiliations:  1: California State University, Northridge; 2: Attorney at Law.