Only weeks seem to pass before yet another child's murder by their parent is reported, often after activity by the Family Court which goal is to safeguard children. A New York State case immediately came to mind when a judge returned custody of a child to their parent who had just been released from prison for child abuse. This, despite professional plea not to do so. A lawyer later remarked that the judge had excellent legal credentials but lacked common sense. Sadly, the decisions of judges, lawyers, doctors, and the general public tend to lack knowledge of child psychological development, they instead relying on what a psychologist long ago described as "naive psychology," the knowledge about behavior which one gained through personal experiences, some being accurate but not all.
Other common troubling decisions derive from judicial beliefs that (1) children are best served by living with their biological parents, and (2) that a child should live with their biological parent despite the parent's lengthy non-involvement and failure to pay child support. Thus biology is considered to supplant psychology regardless of its harmful impact on the individual. Consider: would a grown woman accept being forced to live with a man to whom she was once married, years after he deserted her? Yet children are regularly forced into this equivalent situation despite state mandate that judicial decisions be made in the best interests of the child.