The Shared Parenting Council of Australia aims to provide a range of research documents here in our library to assist families in their struggle for equity and justice in family breakdown. This page is currently under construction, and only a small amount of research documents are currently available. Please check back regularly for new additions that may assist you in your objectives:-

Above and Beyond the Best Interests of the Child

Above and Beyond the Best Interests of the Child - Professor Mark Henaghan, Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand, Fax: 0064 3 479 8855, Email: mark.henaghan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz

Bauserman - Joint v Sole Custody

Child Adjustment in Joint-Custody versus Sole-Custody Arrangements: A Meta-Analytic Review - Robert Bauserman, Journal of Family Psychology 2002, Vol. 16, No. 1, 91-102.

Best Interests Of The Child From the Legislators View

The Best Interests Of The Child Some Remarks From The Legislator's Point Of View - Gran Lambertz, Director General for Legal Affairs, Anita Wickstrm, Director, Expert on Family Law, Patrik rnsved, Legal Adviser, MINISTRY OF JUSTICE, 103 33 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, 14 July 2000.

Borderline Personality Disorder - Effect on Children

Psychopathology in Offspring of Mothers with Borderline Personality Disorder - Margaret Weiss, MD, PhD, Phyllis Zelkowitz, EdD, Ronald B Feldman, MD, Judy Vogel, MD, Marsha Heyman, MD, Joel Paris, MD, Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, June 1996, Vol. 41, No. 5, 285-290.

Caught in a Time Warp - Australian Family Law

Caught in a Time Warp - Australian Family Law: A Split Jurisdiction - Henry Finlay, BA, LLB, PhD, Associate Professor of Law, University of Tasmania 122 Nelson Road, Sandy Bay, Tasmania, Australia, 7006, July 2000.

Child Custody and Divorce Rates

Child Custody Policies and Divorce Rates in the US - Richard Kuhn and John Guidubaldi, D.Ed, 11th Annual Conference of the Children's Rights Council October 23-26, 1997. Washington, D.C.

Child Visitation Interference in Divorce

Child Visitation Interference in Divorce - Ira Daniel Turkat Ph.D, Clinical Psychology Review 1994, Vol. 14, No. 8, 737-742.

Childrens Participation in Family Court

Children's participation in family court litigation - Hon. Richard Chisholm BA, LLB, BCL, Judge of the Family Court of Australia. Post: Box 9991 GPO Sydney, Australia 2001.justice.chisholm@familycourt.gov.au, The paper draws on an article published in the (1999) vol. 13 (3) Australian Journal of Family Law 197-218. A paper delivered at the International Society of Family Law, 10th World Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 9-13 July 2000.

Childrens Rights and the Use of Force

Children's rights and the use of force 'in their own best interests' - Jane Fortin, Reader in Law, King's College London, Conference paper presented to the 10th World Conference of the International Society of Family Law in Brisbane, 2000.

Families in Divorce Conflict

What have we learned from 30 years of Research on Families in Divorce Conflict? - Elizabeth M. Ellis, Ph.D., Atlanta, Georgia, 2002. A summary of highlights of the text, Divorce Wars, Interventions with Families in Conflict, (APA Books 2000). This text is a review of research in a number of key areas and is intended as a reference work and manual for psychological experts in the courtroom and the attorney who wishes to be knowledgeable regarding the scientific literature in this field.

Father by Law - Effects of Joint Legal Custody

Father by Law: Effects of Joint Legal Custody on Nonresident Fathers' Involvement with Children - Judith A. Seltzer, Center for Demography and Ecology, Department of Sociology and Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconson-Madison, February 1997.

Guidelines for Preparing Family Reports

Family Court of Australia, Guidlines for the Ordering and Preparation of Family Reports in Contested Children's Matters, Revised July 2000.

High Conflict Divorce - A Review

The Early Identification And Streaming Of Cases Of High Conflict Separation And Divorce: A Review - Ron Stewart MSW, Department of Justice Canada, 2001

Its Time For A Change - Resolving Parenting Disputes

It's Time for a Change: Resolving Parenting Disputes in the Family Court of Australia, International Society of Family Law - 10th World Conference - Dr Tom Altobelli, University of Wollongong,

Joint Custody - Bonding and Monitoring Theories

Joint Custody: Bonding and Monitoring Theories - Margaret F. Brinig and F. H. Buckley, Indiana Law Journal, Vo. 73, No. 2, Spring 1998.

Lies Damned Lies and Lenore Weitzman

Lies, Damned Lies and Lenore Weitzman - Christopher Rapp, 1996. A slamming critical analysis of the misinformation provided by Lenore Weitzman in "The Divorce Revolution" which portrayed women as being 73% worse off economically after divorce whilst men enjoyed an improvement of 42% (the 73/42) statistic. This became one of the philospohical bases for deciding child custody and property division in divorce cases. It was cited hundreds of times in news stories, scholarly studies, and law review artricles. President Clinton cited it in his budget proposal as part of his attack on "deadbeat dads". The only problem is that the figure was wrong.

Missing the Message - Michael Green QC

Missing the Message - Michael Green QC, December 2000. A critical analysis of the April 1999 Interim Report "The Family Law Reform Act 1995: Can changing legislation change legal culture, legal practice and community expectations?".

Promoting Non-litigious Dispute Resolution

Promoting non-litigious family law dispute resolution - Virginia Buring, Policy Development and Coordination Unit, Family Law and Legal Assistance Division, Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department, and Elisabeth Taylor, Family Relationships Branch, Commonwealth Department of Family & Community Services, International Society of Family Law 10th World Conference, Brisbane, 9-13 July 2000.

Questioning the Mental Health Expert's Custody Report

Questioning the Mental Health Expert's Custody Report - Ira Daniel Turkat Ph.D, American Journal of Family law 1993, Vol. 7, 175-179.

Recent Developments in Family Law Procedures

Recent Developments in Family Procedures Civil Law Perspective - by Prof. Dr. Dagmar Coester-Waltjen, University of Munich, Germany, International Society of Family Law 10th World Conference, Brisbane, 9-13 July 2000.

Relocation Strategy to Interfere with Child Relationship

Relocation as a Strategy to Interfere with the Child-Parent Relationship - Ira Daniel Turkat Ph.D, American Journal of Family law 1996, Vol. 11, 39-41

Statistical Snapshot of Family Law 2000-2001

Statistical Snapshot of Family Law 2000-2001 - Family Law Council (Australia). Statistical Report on various aspects of Australia's Family Law System.

The Challenge For Process

THE CHALLENGE FOR PROCESS by Frank Bates, Professor of Law, University of Newcastle (NSW), Paper presented to the 10Th World Conference of the International Society of Family Law, Brisbane, July 2000.

The Determination of Child Custody in the USA

The Determination of Child Custody in the USA - Dr Joan B. Kelly Ph.D, A Paper exploring the history of custody decisions and Policy Recommendations, 2002.

The Fatherless Family

Experiments in Living: The Fatherless Family - Rebecca O'Neill, Civitas, 2002.

The Politics of Fatherhood

The Politics of Fatherhood - Stephen Baskerville, Howard University, Washington DC, March 1999.

When the Difference is Night and Day

When the Difference is Night and Day: Some empirical insights into patterns of parent-child contact after separation - Patrick Parkinson, Professor of Law, Bruce Smyth Research Fellow, Australian Institute of Family Studies, 8th Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 2003.

Family Report Guidelines 1

A report writing guide from the Family Court of Australia to Court Experts (sometimes referred to in North American literature as "Court Evaluators") who are commonly experienced professional psychologists and psychiatrists. This document refers to the report methodology, style, organisation of, information to be included, interpretation aspects to suit the Court's objectives and audience reading the report and basic deliverables contained within the report. It relates to the broad content more so than particular content which is at the discretion of the Expert.

Family Report Guidelines 2

This guideline was adopted by the Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia in 1992. It defines Family Reports; the principles and guidelines for report writing, their purpose, methods of assessment, rationale for the management of various Report interventions including interviews with children, family and significant others and gathering and recording of information. It addresses aspects of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspect of International Child Abduction.