While there is much spindoctoring
of isolated and arbitrarily selected findings claiming here or there to discover benefits or «no difference» between
child wellbeing
outcomes in joint versus sole
custody, these are specious, and overall,
children do far better in more traditional
arrangements.
So far from these topics being off - limits, any MHP seeking appointment in a court case needs to fully inform the parties prior to their consent [123],
of information about the following kinds
of potentials for bias and agenda: whether the MHP has been married or divorced, and how many times, and under what kinds
of circumstances, and how the MHP currently feels about those events; whether, if divorced, the MHP went through litigation over
custody or property, and such details as whether the MHP had problems paying or receiving
child support, as well as the
custody arrangements of the MHP's own
children and how these worked out and everyone's feelings about them; the MHP's own personal experience taking care
of and spending time with
children, within and without the scope
of «parenting», and with regard to parenting, whether that was parenting as a primary caregiver, married or single parent, with or without household and third party help, or as a working parent or stay - home parent, and for how many
children, and for how long, and the
outcomes from all
of that; i.e. how much time has this person actually spent caring for
children on his or her own, and how well did this person's own family systems function, and is this person in fact an «expert» in creating a functioning family and raising happy, healthy, successful
children with good
outcomes, nay «best»
outcomes, thoroughly well - adjusted and having reached the very pinnacles
of their innate potential.
A personal preference for joint
custody however, whatever it is based on, and however entitled each
of us may be to hold our personal preferences nevertheless can not be defended as having been chosen based on scientific findings that the
arrangement results in better post-litigation
outcomes for
children and their families.