Child Custody and Visitation Disputes in Sweden and the United States : A Study of Love, Justice, and Knowledge

What are the social and cııltural features that most impact the interpretation of the legal standard best interest of the child? One method for answering this question is through a comparison of two societies, Sweden and the United States,both of which apply the same legal standard to similar contested custody and visitation cases. Diane M. Pranzo’s Child Custody and Visitation Disputes in Sweden and the United States approaches love, justice, and knowledge as separate discourses. Love encompasses the interpretations of the actors whose claims arise from the emotions associated with çare, concern, and relationships—namely parents, the children who are the subject of a case, and other family members.Justice encompasses the interpretations and claims that are made by judges, but its discourse includes the legal process and legal policies. Knowledge is encompassed by the concerns and claims of professionals and experts, including social science discussions of çare, vvelfare, and psychology and the interpretations and descriptions given by the professionals and experts regarding the actors in the cases.This book, comparing two societies with a focus on the interaction between howthese three discourses are deployed in the process of decision making in best interests of the child disputed custody cases, depicts features of decision making that would be unavailable to researchers studying custody disputes in only one society. Intended for an academic audience with interests in sociology of the family, sociology of law, and sociology of childhood, this book is accessible to upper-level undergraduate and graduate students, especially those majoring in sociology, social work, or law and society. What are the social and cultural features that have the most impact on the interpretation of the legal standard, “best interest of the child”? One method for answering this question is through a comparison of two societies, Sweden and the United States, both of which apply the same legal standard to similar contested custody and visitation cases. This study views love, law, and knowledge as separate discourses. Love encompasses the interpretations of the actors whose claims arise from the emotions associated with care, concern, and relationships, namely parents, the children who are the subject of a case, and other family members. Justice encompasses the interpretations and claims which are made by judges, but its discourse includes the legal process and legal policies. Knowledge is encompassed by the concerns and claims of professionals and/or experts including social science discussions of care, welfare, and psychology and the interpretations and descriptions given by the professionals and experts regarding the actors in the cases. This book hypothesizes that a comparison of two societies that focuses on the interaction between the discourses of love, justice, and knowledge, in the process of decision-making in best interests of the child disputed custody cases, reveals features of decision-making that would be unavailable to researchers studying custody disputes in only one society. What are the social and cultural features that have the most impact on the interpretation of the legal standard "best interest of the child"? One method for answering this question is through a comparison of two societies both of which apply the same legal standard to the same types of contested child custody and visitation cases. This book compares trial court documents of contested child custody and visitation disputes, between two parents, in the United States and Sweden. Case documents come from trial courts in Sweden and the United States. Acknowledgments vii 1 Introduction 1 2 Lavvs, Process, Parental Roles, and Continuity 15 3 Transferring Residence 29 4 Professionals and Experts in Sweden and the US 47 5 Cases of Alienation or Problems in the Parents' Relationship? 67 6 Parents' Narratives of Çare 85 7 Violence and Abuse in the Parents' Relationship 101 8 Children's Opinions in the US and Sweden 117 9 Conclusion 133 Appendix 141 Reference List 171 Index 177