Warring Parents, Wounded Children, and the Wretched World of Child Custody: Cautionary Tales

With journalist Helmreich, psychoanalyst Marcus, a veteran forensic evaluator for New York State child custody cases, has collected a sad, scary docket of divorce stories, taken from his 20-plus years on the job, that expose the dysfunctional legal system currently making the worst of already traumatic situations. Each chapter presents the narrative of a different family struggling through divorce, a breakdown of Marcus's recommendations in their court case and ""reflections"" that draw out hard-earned lessons; the Gordons, for instance, could have avoided more than a decade in litigation had one of the spouses done a better job hiding an affair. Accurately labeled ""cautionary tales,"" the stories' cumulative portrait is of a legal system as useful in family problem-solving as a hammer is in dentistry. The tone is suitably professional and detached, and the final chapter lists the take-home messages in clear language (encouraging ""correct attitudes"" and self-critical honesty), but the practical upshot can get lost in the parade of unhappiness, betrayal, abuse and familial collapse.