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Books, Articles, Videos, and Speeches by Dr. Richard A. Warshak

These links go to pages with information about each item: CR01 | CR03 | CR04 | CR05 | CR07 | CR08 | CR09 | CR12 | CR13 | CR14 | CR15 | CR16 | CR17 | CR18 | CR19 | CR20 | CR21 | CR22 | CR23 | CR24 | CR25 | CR27 | CR28 | CR30 | CR31 | CR32 | CR37| CR41 | CR43 | CR44 | CR45 | CR48 | CR52 | CR53 | CR54 | CR55 | CR56 | CR57 | CR61 | CR62 | CR63 | CR64 | CR66 | CR68 | CR71 | WBP01-02 | WBP-DL | WPQ | DP 

CR28 - Payoffs and Pitfalls of Listening to Children

Children's perspectives can enlighten decisions regarding custody and parenting plans, but different opinions exist about how best to involve children in the decision-making process. This journal article discusses why most procedures for soliciting children's preferences do not reliably elicit information on their best interests and do not give children a meaningful voice in decision- making.

Instead these procedures give children forums in which to takes sides in their parents' disputes. Dr. Warshak shows how, in addition to hearing an individual child's voice, decision makers can use the collective voice of children, as revealed in research on joint custody, overnight contacts, and relocation, to help understand what children might say about these issues with the hindsight of maturity and in the absence of parental pressure, loyalty conflicts, inhibitions, and limitations in perspective and articulation.

This article will interest parents and legal and mental health professionals who must decide how much weight to place on a child's stated preferences. It is essential for cases in which children align themselves with one parent's position in a custody dispute. Includes citations to 113 references.

CR28, journal article