The crisis of custody: how a psychiatrist can be of help.

The title of my presentation emphasizes the word crIsIs. And .indeed, child custody problems are human crises. A family unit is breaking up and each member, in his/her individual way, feels the pain. The law attempts to solve this crisis by "making a decision." It puts an official seal on some judgment, and then will "wash its hands" of the case because "it has been decided." And who is left? Those same people, those adults and children who now must live out their crisis are now on their own. They must abide by the Court's decision and go on struggling with its decision ... at least until the next order to show cause, and then the cycle begins again. Actually, most families get thro~gh this crisis of custody on their own, abiding by the decision of the court, and, with time and as the kids grow up, things work out. The wise judge did a good job after all! No psychiatrist was needed. However, there are difficult crisis cases in which a behavioral scientist can be of great assistance to the court and to the members of the crumbling family. My comments are directed at those cases, the tough ones, the families in real crisis, and to how a psychiatrist may be of help. These comments will be presented in two parts. First, I will outline a step-by-step process which I have found useful in gathering data from the family and in presenting my opinions to the court. Second, I will comment on some of the types of data I look for during the evaluation. First, process; second, content. I can vividly remember the introduction to my child psychiatry rotation as a third year resident. "Remember ... Thou shalt not get involved with any family where child custody in the issue." "Advocacy," "testimony," "deposition," were terms whispered, not spoken. And indeed, I believed that only a psychiatric fool would enter into this dreaded area. However, I had an opportunity to study and work for a year at the UCLA "Post-Divorce Clinic," under the direction of Doctor John M. Suarez. There, we lunged into these delicate and difficult problems, and I learned the step-by-step process of how to be useful to both the court and the family. Although it is hard work, I find that involvement in custody problems is not as difficult as I had believed. Here are the steps I have found useful.