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{
    "pk": 31494,
    "title": "Best Interests of the Child and Expanding Family",
    "subtitle": null,
    "abstract": "<p><em>“Out of choice, necessity, or a sense of family responsibility, it has been common for close </em><em>relatives to draw together and participate in the duties and the satisfactions of a common </em><em>home.”</em></p>\n<p><em>—Moore v. City of East Cleveland</em><em>1</em></p>\n<p><em>All fifty states have adopted the “best interests of the child” standard governing initial </em><em>child custody determinations. However, the wide judicial discretion accompanying this broad </em><em>standard has resulted in disparate application across custody cases nationwide. These </em><em>disparities are particularly prevalent in cases where children have a significant connection with </em><em>extended family members or nonparent caregivers. </em></p>\n<p><em></em><em>As of 2017, a third of American households with children relied on extended family </em><em>for childcare assistance. This percentage is likely even higher given the uptick in </em><em>multigenerational households during the COVID-19 pandemic. Multigenerational family </em><em>living, once viewed primarily as a cultural niche, is growing across all racial groups. Now, </em><em>nearly one-quarter of Americans aged twenty-five to thirty-four reside with parents or older </em><em>relatives. Among those living in multigenerational households, over 70% report they reside </em><em>with a child under eighteen. These statistics reflect the overall reality that today, less than half </em><em>of all children live in a traditional two-married-parents nuclear family. Recent legislative </em><em>proposals recognize the expansion of the nuclear family, granting legal rights and status to </em><em>new categories of individuals. Despite this shift away from the traditional parent-child family </em><em>structure, almost all statutory and judicially determined factors that govern state courts’ </em><em>determination of the “best interests of the child” in custody cases only consider the relationship </em><em>between biological parents and children. </em></p>\n<p><em></em><em>This Article conducts a fifty-state survey of the current statutes and cases applying the </em><em>“best interests of the child” standard in custody determinations. The survey results indicate </em><em>that although every state and D.C. have adopted the “best interests of the child” standard, its </em><em>application across cases is inconsistent, particularly in cases where a parent resides with </em><em>extended family members or regularly seeks childcare assistance from extended family </em><em>members. Based on the survey findings, this Article advances a three-pronged recommendation </em><em>to increase consistency in these cases to meet the realities of expanding family structures: (1) </em><em>adoption of mandatory, delineated statutory factors; (2) a requirement to make specific </em><em>findings of fact as to each statutory factor; and (3) the addition of a factor considering the </em><em>history and nature of the child’s relationship with any extended family members and nonparent </em><em>caregivers.</em></p>",
    "language": null,
    "license": {
        "name": "All rights reserved",
        "short_name": "Copyright",
        "text": "© the author(s). All rights reserved.",
        "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/authors"
    },
    "keywords": [],
    "section": "Article",
    "is_remote": true,
    "remote_url": "https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6f3328dz",
    "frozenauthors": [
        {
            "first_name": "Stephanie",
            "middle_name": "L",
            "last_name": "Tang",
            "name_suffix": "",
            "institution": "",
            "department": ""
        }
    ],
    "date_submitted": null,
    "date_accepted": null,
    "date_published": "2024-02-29T19:00:00-05:00",
    "render_galley": null,
    "galleys": [
        {
            "label": "PDF",
            "type": "pdf",
            "path": "https://journalpub.escholarship.org/ucilr/article/31494/galley/22563/download/"
        }
    ]
}