Child Dead and Parent Charged with Murder After Psychologist Recommends Said Parent to Court: Turkat Responds to Gould and Posthuma’s Custody-Evaluation Fallacies

Consider a recent custody dispute presided over by Judge Michael Algeo in Montgomery County, Virginia.1 Here, a father Judge Algeo ordered previously into supervised visitation was asking the court to remove it. In weighing the request, Judge Algeo ordered the father to have a psychological evaluation. The psychologist who performed the evaluation advised the court it was safe for the child to have unsupervised visits with the father. Judge Algeo endorsed the psychologist’s recommendation. The fourth unsupervised visit resulted in the death of the child and the father charged with murder.2 In this tragic example, the court had significant concern that led it to originally order supervised visitation, but it then chose to listen to the advice of a psychologist instead of sticking with its own initial judgment. If the court had not followed the psychologist’s recommendation, that child might still be alive today. The same could be said if the court had not ordered a psychological evaluation in the first place. Can there be any doubt that a psychological evaluation in a custody matter can have harmful effects? As evidenced in Virginia, endorsing a psychologist’s recommendation ended in a child’s wrongful death

Child Dead and Parent Charged with Murder After Psychologist Recommends Said Parent to Court: Turkat Responds to Gould and Posthuma’s Custody-Evaluation Fallacies

Consider a recent custody dispute presided over by Judge Michael Algeo in Montgomery County, Virginia.1 Here, a father Judge Algeo ordered previously into supervised visitation was asking the court to remove it. In weighing the request, Judge Algeo ordered the father to have a psychological evaluation. The psychologist who performed the evaluation advised the court it was safe for the child to have unsupervised visits with the father. Judge Algeo endorsed the psychologist’s recommendation. The fourth unsupervised visit resulted in the death of the child and the father charged with murder.2 In this tragic example, the court had significant concern that led it to originally order supervised visitation, but it then chose to listen to the advice of a psychologist instead of sticking with its own initial judgment. If the court had not followed the psychologist’s recommendation, that child might still be alive today. The same could be said if the court had not ordered a psychological evaluation in the first place. Can there be any doubt that a psychological evaluation in a custody matter can have harmful effects? As evidenced in Virginia, endorsing a psychologist’s recommendation ended in a child’s wrongful death

Harmful Effects of Child-Custody Evaluations on Children

Child-custody evaluations have become commonplace in family-law disputes over living arrangements, parental decision making, and time-sharing with offspring. A quarter century ago, I raised the issue that child-custody evaluations had no scientific validity.1 When I reviewed the literature again a decade ago, the lack of scientific validity remained unchanged, prompting me to bring the issue directly to the readership of this journal.2 Unfortunately, even today’s prominent proponents of child-custody evaluations admit that at the present time there is still no scientific evidence whatsoever that a child-custody evaluation results in beneficial outcomes for the children involved.3 In light of the above, it is reasonable to ask: Why are child custody evaluations ordered with regularity when there is no scientific evidence to support them? There are a variety of reasons. First, it is rational and fair to expect mental-health experts to be more capable at rearranging families than judges; after all, the latter are not trained as psychologists or psychiatrists, and in the quest to make these critical decisions correctly, it is prudent to look to experts for advice. However, this assumption comes into question because there is no scientific evidence proving that mental-health professionals are better at making child-custody decisions than judges. In fact, there is no scientific evidence that mental-health professionals are better at making child-custody decisions than anyone, be they professionals, laypersons, or otherwise

Can economic crises be good for your diet?

With fortuitously timed data - collected before, during and after a major macro-financial crisis in Bulgaria - we revisit several hypotheses in the economics and nutritional literature related to the tendency of households to smooth their nutritional status over time. We explore the dietary impact of both falling real incomes in the context of hyperinflation and crisis and changing relative prices and the changing responsiveness of different groups of people to these incomes and prices over six year of fundamental structural reforms of the economy. Our results highlight large and dramatically changing food and nutrient elasticities, which challenge the perception of household ability to smooth their nutrient stream during economic crises and transitions.Crisis, Diet, Fluctuation, Health, Nutrition

Liderança para a Justiça Social: Pedagogicas para a Justiça Social

The relationship between educational leadership and practices of social justice is now entering its second decade with respect to empirical research studies. There have been three distinct research agendas: the first involves attempts to define the meaning(s) of educational leadership for social justice; the second is the descriptive documentation of school leadership behaviors which address social injustices and inequities within schools; and, the third focuses on the development of leadership preparation programs that include social justice as a curricular foundation. This paper is delimited to a review of literature documenting the relationship between social justice and leadership preparation programs, highlighting specific pedagogies, and building towards a curriculum. We take a chronological perspective moving from early theoretical conceptions of social justice to early studies on preparation programs and then focus on second generation empirical research centered on social justice pedagogies and curriculum developmentLa relación entre el liderazgo educativo y la práctica de la justicia social ha comentando una segunda década con respecto a los estudios de investigación empírica. Ha habido tres agendas de investigación diferenciadas: la primera se refiere a los intentos por definir cuál es el significado de liderazgo educativo para la justicia social; la segunda es la búsqueda de descripciones claras de los comportamientos de los líderes que se ocupan de las injusticias sociales y las desigualdades dentro de las escuelas; y, la tercera se centra en el desarrollo de programas de preparación para el Liderazgo escolar que incluyen la justicia social como eje del currículo. Este trabajo realiza una revisión de la literatura que documenta la relación entre la justicia social y los programas de preparación para el liderazgo en las escuelas. Desde una perspectiva cronológica, pasamos a revisar cuáles son las primeras concepciones teóricas de la justicia social y, a continuación, nos centrmos en abordar la investigación empírica desarrollada en esta segunda generación de estudios sobre las pedagogías de la justicia social y el desarrollo del currículoA relação entre a liderança ea prática da justiça social educacional tem sido comentando a segunda década em relação a estudos empíricos. Houve três agendas de pesquisa distintas: a primeira refere-se a tentativas de definir qual é o significado de liderança educacional para a justiça social; o segundo é a busca de descrições claras dos comportamentos dos líderes que abordam as injustiças e desigualdades sociais dentro das escolas; ea terceira centra-se no desenvolvimento de programas de preparação para a liderança escolar, incluindo a justiça social no centro do currículo. Este trabalho é uma revisão da literatura que documenta a relação entre os programas de justiça e de preparação sociais para a liderança escolar. Do ponto de vista cronológico, revisamos o que as primeiras concepções teóricas de justiça social, então nós centrmos na abordagem de pesquisa empírica desenvolvida nesta segunda geração de estudos sobre as pedagogias de justiça social e de desenvolvimento curricula

Can Economic Crises Be Good for Your Diet?

With fortuitously timed data – collected before, during and after a major macro-financial crisis in Bulgaria – we revisit several hypotheses in the economics and nutritional literature related to the tendency of households to smooth their nutritional status over time. We explore the dietary impact of both falling real incomes in the context of hyperinflation and crisis and changing relative prices and the changing responsiveness of different groups of people to these incomes and prices over six year of fundamental structural reforms of the economy. Our results highlight large and dramatically changing food and nutrient elasticities, which challenge the perception of household ability to smooth their nutrient stream during economic crises and transitions.crisis, diet, fluctuation, health, nutrition