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

by Joseph Helmreich, Paul Marcus

Screenwriter Helmreich and Psychologist Marcus, the latter a longtime court insider who has witnessed untold trauma as an evaluator in custody disputes, present us with a book that is shocking, tragic and ultimately enlightening. The authors present in-depth understanding of the havoc child custody disputes can wreak not only on the couple but, more importantly, on the children. Harshly detailed, we come to know through this text the personal motivations and behaviors that end up devastating lives. Here, parents can learn what to do, and what not to do, to avoid bitter tragedy in such cases. Judges, lawyers, guardians and mediators will also find this book enormously educational and useful.

The ten cases in this book have been culled from years of experience as a court-appointed child custody evaluator. Commentaries at the end of each chapter offer analyses and concrete, practical information for parents in similar situations.

146 pages, Hardcover

First published December 30, 2007

About the author

Joseph Helmreich is the author of "The Return" (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 2017) and co-author of "Warring Parents, Wounded Children, and the Wretched World of Child Custody" (Greenwood Press, 2007). He lives in New York City and works in film distribution.

Reviews

[Dahlia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be required reading for anyone divorcing/separating from their spouse and have children. The casualties of warring parents are wounded children.

Dr. Marcus has been a forensic psychologist for the past 25 years and has evaluated thousands of cases. This book highlights the worst cases, and the repercussions to the entire family.

The take aways from this book are two points. One is to love your children more than you hate your spouse and the other is to avoid escalating your dispute where the court has to get involved. Dragging the kids into your dispute, effects their self esteem, their future love life and leaves them with a general distrust of the world.