Attachment--A Hot but Frequently Misunderstood Concept

As a domestic relations mediator and Guardian ad Litem, I frequently see parties and attorneys bandying about the concepts of "attachment" and "attachment disorder" for greater leverage in the dispute, and "[t]he concept of attachment can readily tip the scales in custody and parenting-time cases involving infants and young children."   See Pamela S. Ludolph & Mildred D. Dale, Attachment in Child Custody:  An Additive Factor, Not a Determinative One, Family Law Quarterly, Vol. 46, No. 1, Spring 2012.  However, as Ludolph & Dale detail, "attachment is often incompletely understood in both the legal and mental health communities." 

Internet Child Porn, Second-hand Viewers, and Victim Restitution

As a guardian ad litem (GAL) and domestic relations mediator in New Mexico, I take special interest in unusual court cases involving children.  In the September 2012 ABA Journal, Lorelei Laird details the plight of several young women in their 20s who were sexually abused as small children by predators who then put pornographic images of the abuse on the Internet for others to access and enjoy.  Laird poses the question of "should those who download child pornography pay the victims and, if so, how much?"