Before the Best Interests of the Child

The second volume in a classic trilogy of works by Joseph Goldstein former Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law at Yale Law School; Albert J. Solnit the former director of the Yale Child Study Center and Anna Freud daughter of Sigmund Freud. These texts (<i>Beyond the Best Interests of the Child</i> was the first in the series and <i>In the Best Interests of the Child</i> was the third) are classic references often cited in child custody cases; <i>Before the Best Interests of the Child</i> specifically addresses when the state should intervene. Rather than the familiar legal best interests of the child doctrine the authors's work is based on the more realistic standard of finding the least detrimental alternative. This is indispensable reading for social workers family court judges lawyers psychologists and parents.