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(1984). Psychoanalytic Review, 71:513-514

Divorce, Child Custody and The Family. Formulated by the Committee on the Family, Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry. Volume X, No. 106, 1980, 186 pp.

Review by: Miriam Altman

This report of the Committee on the Family from the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry addresses the child custody decision-making process from an interdisciplinary perspective, with a family systems orientation as its theoretical framework. It is a timely subject with current statistics indicating that a third of all marriages end in divorce and that most of these marriages involve children.

The report presents historical and legal background material, clinical vignettes demonstrating the complexity and unpredictability of the decision-making process, a discussion of divorce counselling for the family, and a view of the possible role of the mental health professional in the litigation process.

The historical review which is presented is of some interest. Changing social values and biases have repeatedly played a decisive role in determining who will be awarded custody of a child. Prior to the mid-1800s, the father was usually seen as having a paramount right to the custod

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