Child's Point of View

In divorce cases, most people consider it obvious that one parent should get the child and the other parent legally enforceable visiting rights. But "most people" does not include the authors of Beyond the Best Interests of the Child, a surprising application of psychoanalytic insight to child-custody law.

Among the conclusions of the book:

> The parent who wins custody of a child should make all decisions about the child's life, including when--or whether--the other parent should visit. The courts must not be used to enforce visiting privileges if the parents fail to agree.

> A "natural" parent who has given up a child for any reason should have no legal right to reclaim him.

> Adoption should take place early, even before birth, when possible.

The authors are Joseph Goldstein, professor of law, science and social policy at Yale; Anna Freud, Sigmund's analyst daughter and an authority on children; and Albert Solnit, director of Yale's Child Study Center.

Child development studies stress the crucial importance of an early, nurturing and continuing relationship between a child and a mothering figure. To guard this continuity, the authors are willing to go far. In divorce cases, they suggest that two equally acceptable parents draw lots for custody.

Gross Abuse. In adoptions, decrees should be final and unconditional, except in cases of gross neglect or abuse. From the child's point of view, the authors argue, a struggle between natural and adoptive parents is not a dilemma; his "real" parents are the ones who raised him. The authors also insist on quick disposition of cases, since delays are disruptively long in terms of a child's sense of time.

Some critics detect a whiff of the unreal about the conclusions. Judge Nanette Dembitz of New York State's Family Court, for example, calls the proposal that can deny visiting rights "blind and untenable." But the book is making headway. In Washington, D.C., Judge Tim Murphy cited it in denying a custody claim by a natural parent. He also heeded the warning on the child's time-sense: once he made up his mind, instead of keeping the parties waiting for a written decision, he ushered them into chambers for an immediate ruling.

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