"The least detrimental alternative", the authors' seminal principle for safeguarding a child's growth and development by minimizing intrusions of the law, has been cited in more than 1,000 child custody cases since 1973.

'In the best interest of the children' describes the author's experience of his daughters' adoption in the US. For Belgium to recognize this adoption, the author's family even had to take the Belgian State to Court. This far-reaching experience encouraged the author to reflect about the topic of international adoption. Why is adoption being treated as a suspicious institution by the same agencies which claim to act only in 'the best interest of the children'? This book denounces the practices described above, and calls for action to change them. Professor Elizabeth Bartholet, Morris Wasserstein Professor at Law, Faculty Director Child Advocacy Program, Harvard Law School: "Key forces mounting the attack [against international adoption] claim the child human rights mantle, arguing that such adoption denies heritage rights, and often involves abusive practices. Many nations assert rights to hold onto the children born within their borders, and others support these demands citing subsidiarity principles. But children's most basic human rights to family are at the heart of the true meaning of subsidiarity, and children will often find family only in international adoption. This book is important because it tells the story about how governments and government officials, claiming to represent the best interest of the children, prevent good people from giving children the nurturing home they so desperately need. We need more adoptive parents like this to speak up and help change current international adoption policies and practices in the best interest of the children."

Three distinguished authorities in law, psychiatry, and child development critically evaluate current child placement laws.

You Can Protect Your Children in Divorce You can stop the divorce court from invading your privacy You can stop the illegal family studies You can limit the judges authority to rip your life apart You can stop the personal attacks on your parenting style You can stop the system from hurting your child You can stop the system from making you broke You can learn to protect those you love most The Divorce Industry takes BILLIONS of dollars from our children every single year! STOP THEM NOW! This book will give you the arguments, the legal framework for stopping the divorce custody machine dead in its tracks. This book will show you how to stop giving up your rights to your children. Your children need you in their lives. The most important thing you can do to give your child a future is to remain a full parent in their lives. To retain equal time to show them love and to teach them through your daily example. Children do best in life when they have two fit parents active in their lives. Your right to the care, custody and control over your child is a Fundamental Liberty, just as your right to free speech is, or your right to freedom of religion is a Fundamental Liberty. Your child has the right to associate with you and to have you as a parent, not a visitor, in their life. You and your child have privacy rights in your family life that are between you and your child as individuals. They do NOT come from the marriage, and, if you are a natural parent, they do NOT come from the Government. If you let them, the State will take your rights adn do with them what they please. Knowledge is Power! Know your Rights! Protect Your Children

This updated edition consolidates all child-centred legislation, from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child through to the Referendum on Children's Rights 2012, in an easy-to-understand format.

The second volume in a classic trilogy of reference works often cited in child custody cases, which introduced the concept of the “least detrimental alternative” when addressing a child’s welfare. The second volume in a classic trilogy of works by Joseph Goldstein, former Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law at Yale Law School; Albert J. Solnit, the former director of the Yale Child Study Center, and Anna Freud, daughter of Sigmund Freud. These texts (Beyond the Best Interests of the Child was the first in the series, and In the Best Interests of the Child was the third) are classic references often cited in child custody cases; Before the Best Interests of the Child specifically addresses when the state should intervene. Rather than the familiar legal "best interests of the child" doctrine, the authors’s work is based on the more realistic standard of finding the "least detrimental alternative." This is indispensable reading for social workers, family court judges, lawyers, psychologists, and parents.

Topical and compelling, this volume provides an excellent re-evaluation of the ‘best interests’ test in the healthcare arena; the ways in which it has developed, the inherent difficulties in its use and its interpretation in legal cases concerning the medical care of children. Comprehensively covering both the English and Scottish position within the context of the European Convention of human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the author examines a wide range of healthcare situations, from the commonly occurring to the unusual, offering a detailed analysis of legislation, case law, cases and their implications. It includes discussions on: the extent to which a child’s body can be examined, operated on and affected by medicines, devices or procedures intended to bring about medical change the appropriate scope of parental choice and authority and at what stage of their development children should be allowed to make their own decisions the response to situations where the interests of children may be in conflict – the cases of conjoined twins or the donation of organs to siblings. This work is a key resource for postgraduates and researchers working and studying in the fields of law, healthcare and medicine.