The study conducted, sought to assess the effectiveness of an established divorce education program in reducing parental conflict and increasing cooperative coparenting relationships among former spouses and also to assess the participant satisfaction with the program's format.

Custody disputes have traditionally been considered a legal matter. More recent trends have seen the recognition of divorce and custody as both legal and psychological events. This necessitated the involvement of professionals of the helping services in custody recommendations. Such a multidisciplinary approach is currently taken by the Office of the Family Advocate, Pretoria, in disputed custody matters. It is suggested that the way in which the problem of custody is currently defined, is on a pragmatic level, and does not include a higher-order awareness as implied by an ecosystemic epistemology. Such an awareness denotes self-reflexivity, and calls for a more aesthetic emphasis. The dialectic between aesthetics and pragmatics is maintained by means of a descriptive look at the various systems involved in a disputed custody case. Adopting an ecosystemic epistemology is recommended, through the metaphor of mediation, as a further evolution of an already changing process. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Family is the foundation society. Women are the backbone of families even in fundamental patriarchal society like Malaysia. However, Malaysia’s system of religious accommodation results in different rights available to individuals based on the states diverse religious affiliation. Contemporary family issues are inadequately addressed in current Malaysian Family Law: one for the Muslims and one for the non-Muslims. Most cases highlighted inconsistencies when conversion to Islam affected the rights of women during breakdown of marriage. In permitting a path to accommodate diversity, and to reach a new engagement between the civil and the Shariah courts, it is necessary to appreciate Malaysia’s history, sentiment, constraints and strengths. This paper proposes that not only Malaysia has adequate strengths to provide a strong platform to address the conflict, but possesses the mechanisms to create a dynamic set of joint governance of Family Laws to enhance religious accommodation.

Family is the foundation society. Women are the backbone of families even in fundamental patriarchal society like Malaysia. However, Malaysia’s system of religious accommodation results in different rights available to individuals based on the states diverse religious affiliation. Contemporary family issues are inadequately addressed in current Malaysian Family Law: one for the Muslims and one for the non-Muslims. Most cases highlighted inconsistencies when conversion to Islam affected the rights of women during breakdown of marriage. In permitting a path to accommodate diversity, and to reach a new engagement between the civil and the Shariah courts, it is necessary to appreciate Malaysia’s history, sentiment, constraints and strengths. This paper proposes that not only Malaysia has adequate strengths to provide a strong platform to address the conflict, but possesses the mechanisms to create a dynamic set of joint governance of Family Laws to enhance religious accommodation.

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on April 1, 2010). Vita. Thesis advisor: Lawrence H. Ganong. "May 2008" Includes bibliographical references

Custody disputes have traditionally been considered a legal matter. More recent trends have seen the recognition of divorce and custody as both legal and psychological events. This necessitated the involvement of professionals of the helping services in custody recommendations. Such a multidisciplinary approach is currently taken by the Office of the Family Advocate, Pretoria, in disputed custody matters. It is suggested that the way in which the problem of custody is currently defined, is on a pragmatic level, and does not include a higher-order awareness as implied by an ecosystemic epistemology. Such an awareness denotes self-reflexivity, and calls for a more aesthetic emphasis. The dialectic between aesthetics and pragmatics is maintained by means of a descriptive look at the various systems involved in a disputed custody case. Adopting an ecosystemic epistemology is recommended, through the metaphor of mediation, as a further evolution of an already changing process. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Esta pesquisa se propôs a analisar a experiência de parentalidade vivenciada por casais separados que escolheram a guarda compartilhada como forma de cuidar de seus filhos. A amostragem foi intencional, composta por seis casais, sendo quatro completos (ex-marido e ex-mulher) e dois incompletos (somente um exmarido em um caso e apenas uma ex-mulher em outro), formando um conjunto de dez entrevistados. As entrevistas foram gravadas, transcritas literalmente e submetidas a uma Análise de Conteúdo. Os temas que emergiram foram: como se deu a escolha por este tipo de guarda; como ocorre a parentalidade nesta situação de guarda compartilhada e fatores que favorecem ou dificultam a manutenção dos laços parentais nestas condições. Os resultados mostram que a escolha por este tipo de guarda se deu por orientação do advogado ou de outro operador do Direito; quanto ao modo como a parentalidade vem sendo exercitada na guarda compartilhada, o que se salienta é que, apesar de algumas dificuldades, tais como conciliar as especificidades desse vínculo com o respeito e a preservação da individualidade de cada um dos ex-integrantes do casal, os pais vêm, na maior parte das vezes, conseguindo superar estes desafios, priorizando o melhor interesse dos filhos. As atribuições parentais vêm sendo exercidas de um modo mais igualitário, caracterizando um novo estilo parental; quanto aos fatores que favorecem a manutenção da parentalidade na guarda compartilhada encontramos: priorizar o bem estar dos filhos; saber distinguir a conjugalidade da parentalidade; manter um canal aberto de comunicação para tratar dos interesses deles. Os que dificultam, são: divisão assimétrica das atribuições do cotidiano dos filhos, dificuldade de comunicação entre os pais, propostas educacionais divergentes e a competição entre os ex-cônjuges. / This research had the objective to analyse the experience of parenthood by divorced and separated couples who chose joint custody to take care their children. The sample was intentional and compounded by six couples. Their are four couples (ex-husbands and ex-wives) and two incomplete couples (only one ex-husband and only a woman), as the total of ten people. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and submitted to Content Analyse. The themes were analysed as: how to choose this type of guard; how manage the parental responsabilities in this situation and what factors help or make difficult the maintenance of parental ties. The results showed that the choice by this type of guard was the oriented by a lawyer or other justice agent; regard the exercise of parental responsabilities, althought some difficulties, such as adjust the specificities this tie the respect and preserve the individuality by each member of the couple, the parents, in most cases, obtained sucess and took priority to children interests. The parental attributions were exercising in igualitarian type; the factors that help the parenthood maintenance in shared guard were: to priority the children well-being; to distinguish the conjugal ties to the parental ties; to maintain an open communication channel to deal with the children interests. The factors that difficult the joint custody were: a assimetric division of routine care, inapropriate communication between parents and their educational objectives and competition between them.

M.A. (Social Work) / Divorce mediation is at this stage accessible mainly to those people married in terms of " the common law. One of the main reasons for this is that social workers lack the knowledge and skills needed to mediate custody during the dissolution of the customary marriage. This explorative-descriptive study aims to develop guidelines for social workers that can be used in resolving custody disputes between parties married in terms of the customary law. A qualitative approach using an inductive strategy was followed to achieve this aim. The research question was formulated as "what guidelines do social workers need to mediate custody during the dissolution of the customary memeqe": A literature review, focusing on the customary marriage and the dissolution of the customary marriage as well as the structure and process of divorce mediation, was firstly undertaken. Secondly a questionnaire was drawn up as part of the pre-test and completed by eight social workers working as family counsellors at the different Offices of the Family Advocate in the Republic of South Africa. The aim of this pre-test was to determine whether social workers are familiar 'with mediating custody during the dissolution of the customary marriage as well as to assess their needs in terms of knowledge and skills pertaining to the research problem. From the results of the pre-test as well as the literature study an unstructured interview schedule was compiled and used to guide a focus group interview with four respondents familiar with the principles of the customary union and the dissolution of the customary union. The purpose of the focus group interview was to identify guidelines social workers can use when mediating custody during the dissolution of the customary union. After having compared the results of the focus group interview with the relevant literature certain conclusions were drawn and recommendations made. In conclusion to this study guidelines were designed to be used by social workers when mediation custody during the dissolution of the customary marriage.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-01T18:08:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao_maria_lucia_cavalcanti.pdf: 2081415 bytes, checksum: 2d17a9fe66b442d2ec80a6e3128c2ab4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-12-01 / This research had the objective to analyse the experience of parenthood by divorced and separated couples who chose joint custody to take care their children. The sample was intentional and compounded by six couples. Their are four couples (ex-husbands and ex-wives) and two incomplete couples (only one ex-husband and only a woman), as the total of ten people. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and submitted to Content Analyse. The themes were analysed as: how to choose this type of guard; how manage the parental responsabilities in this situation and what factors help or make difficult the maintenance of parental ties. The results showed that the choice by this type of guard was the oriented by a lawyer or other justice agent; regard the exercise of parental responsabilities, althought some difficulties, such as adjust the specificities this tie the respect and preserve the individuality by each member of the couple, the parents, in most cases, obtained sucess and took priority to children interests. The parental attributions were exercising in igualitarian type; the factors that help the parenthood maintenance in shared guard were: to priority the children well-being; to distinguish the conjugal ties to the parental ties; to maintain an open communication channel to deal with the children interests. The factors that difficult the joint custody were: a assimetric division of routine care, inapropriate communication between parents and their educational objectives and competition between them. / Esta pesquisa se propôs a analisar a experiência de parentalidade vivenciada por casais separados que escolheram a guarda compartilhada como forma de cuidar de seus filhos. A amostragem foi intencional, composta por seis casais, sendo quatro completos (ex-marido e ex-mulher) e dois incompletos (somente um exmarido em um caso e apenas uma ex-mulher em outro), formando um conjunto de dez entrevistados. As entrevistas foram gravadas, transcritas literalmente e submetidas a uma Análise de Conteúdo. Os temas que emergiram foram: como se deu a escolha por este tipo de guarda; como ocorre a parentalidade nesta situação de guarda compartilhada e fatores que favorecem ou dificultam a manutenção dos laços parentais nestas condições. Os resultados mostram que a escolha por este tipo de guarda se deu por orientação do advogado ou de outro operador do Direito; quanto ao modo como a parentalidade vem sendo exercitada na guarda compartilhada, o que se salienta é que, apesar de algumas dificuldades, tais como conciliar as especificidades desse vínculo com o respeito e a preservação da individualidade de cada um dos ex-integrantes do casal, os pais vêm, na maior parte das vezes, conseguindo superar estes desafios, priorizando o melhor interesse dos filhos. As atribuições parentais vêm sendo exercidas de um modo mais igualitário, caracterizando um novo estilo parental; quanto aos fatores que favorecem a manutenção da parentalidade na guarda compartilhada encontramos: priorizar o bem estar dos filhos; saber distinguir a conjugalidade da parentalidade; manter um canal aberto de comunicação para tratar dos interesses deles. Os que dificultam, são: divisão assimétrica das atribuições do cotidiano dos filhos, dificuldade de comunicação entre os pais, propostas educacionais divergentes e a competição entre os ex-cônjuges.

With the maturation of the child custody investigative process, the role of investigators and the process of these investigations have come under increasing scrutiny. The investigators are expected to be objective, neutral, and professional while following procedures that conform to model standards. However, this assumption of a lack of bias has been largely overlooked in the literature regarding the investigative process. It is assumed that investigators should self-monitor to ensure that their stance is objective and neutral. Furthermore, this position of neutrality and objectivity is assumed to be intuitive and natural. By using a case study, this thesis investigates and describes the process of a child custody investigation predicated on a constructivist epistemology. It highlights the impossibility of any investigator to be objective and neutral in any investigation automatically, regardless of the procedures and methods employed. The thesis highlights the participant observer status of investigators. An aim of the thesis is thus to sensitise investigators to this inevitable vulnerability with the expectation that such an awareness may allow investigators to establish processes to render investigations consciously more balanced, considered, and transparent. A further aim is to describe a child custody evaluation from an eco-systemic perspective by contextualising the investigation in the larger ecosystem to which it belongs. This description includes the investigation as part of an evolving problem-determined system. An awareness of this wider and evolving context may enable investigators to approximate a position of objectivity and neutrality more effectively. It may also act as an inoculation against the ‘contamination’ of the investigator by the investigative system. With the maturation of the child custody investigative process, the role of investigators and the process of these investigations have come under increasing scrutiny. The investigators are expected to be objective, neutral, and professional while following procedures that conform to model standards. However, this assumption of a lack of bias has been largely overlooked in the literature regarding the investigative process. It is assumed that investigators should self-monitor to ensure that their stance is objective and neutral. Furthermore, this position of neutrality and objectivity is assumed to be intuitive and natural. By using a case study, this thesis investigates and describes the process of a child custody investigation predicated on a constructivist epistemology. It highlights the impossibility of any investigator to be objective and neutral in any investigation automatically, regardless of the procedures and methods employed. The thesis highlights the participant observer status of investigators. An aim of the thesis is thus to sensitise investigators to this inevitable vulnerability with the expectation that such an awareness may allow investigators to establish processes to render investigations consciously more balanced, considered, and transparent. A further aim is to describe a child custody evaluation from an eco-systemic perspective by contextualising the investigation in the larger ecosystem to which it belongs. This description includes the investigation as part of an evolving problem-determined system. An awareness of this wider and evolving context may enable investigators to approximate a position of objectivity and neutrality more effectively. It may also act as an inoculation against the ‘contamination’ of the investigator by the investigative system. xviii In South Africa, we have yet to formulate a document that establishes a model standard of practice or specific, dedicated training in this area. This thesis identifies what could be included in both areas (in addition to the expected protocols and procedures) by describing the investigator’s position as an expert learner, rather than just an ‘expert’. In line with current literature, it highlights the benefits of thinking consciously and in a considered manner. Furthermore, it indicates the benefits of a team approach to investigations, which could be considered an area for further investigation. In South Africa, we have yet to formulate a document that establishes a model standard of practice or specific, dedicated training in this area. This thesis identifies what could be included in both areas (in addition to the expected protocols and procedures) by describing the investigator’s position as an expert learner, rather than just an ‘expert’. In line with current literature, it highlights the benefits of thinking consciously and in a considered manner. Furthermore, it indicates the benefits of a team approach to investigations, which could be considered an area for further investigation. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. ( Psychology)