Bias or Best Interest of the Child? Applying the Statutory Custody Factors to Parents and other Caretakers with Disabilities

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Bias or Best Interest of the Child?
Applying the Statutory Custody Factors to Parents and other Caretakers with Disabilities

Program originally presented Tuesday, March 14, 2023

The best interest of the child standard has become the core principle of child custody law in every state. Many states, including Pennsylvania require judges to consider a factor such as “the mental and physical health of the parties” as they determine a child’s best interest. There are at least 4.1 million parents with disabilities in the United States and many more grandparents or other primary caretakers with disabilities. However, discriminatory presumptions of parental unfitness have harmed people with disabilities throughout U.S. history. Continued consideration of disability as a factor in custody determinations reinforces the false stereotype that disability corresponds to deficient parenting. Presently, parents with disabilities are four times as likely as parents without disabilities to experience a termination of parental rights and 13% of litigants with disabilities report experiencing discrimination in custody matters.

This CLE will examine the application of the best interest of the child standard as applied in Philadelphia Family Court to custody litigants with disabilities. Panelists will cover:

• Ways advocates can best represent clients with disabilities
• What evidence is most powerful in addressing the nexus between disability and the care of a child
• What the role of federal disability law may be in custody determinations

Attend this program to hear an examination of the application of the best interest of the child standard as applied in Philadelphia Family Court to custody litigants with disabilities.

Panelists:
Honorable Tiffany L. Palmer
Court of Common Pleas - Family Division
First Judicial District of Pennsylvania

Kelly Darr, Esq.
Legal Director
Disability Rights Pennsylvania

Tracy Rhodes, Esq.
Staff Attorney
Disability Rights Pennsylvania

James A. Rocco III, Esq.
Partner
Rocco Law

Course Planner:
Todd W. Nothstein, Esq.
(He, Him, His)
Staff Attorney, Legal Clinic for the Disabled (LCD)
Co-Chair, Legal Rights of Persons with Disabilities Committee

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