Virginia Child Custody Project

The Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media is pleased to announce the launch of the Virginia Child Custody Project. This freely available website explores child custody in Virginia and nationally within a broad historical and legal context with the goal of providing an impartial, interdisciplinary resource grounded in humanities scholarship.

With funding from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at George Mason University, the website presents framing essays by leading scholars and practitioners on key issues in the complex field of child custody. Essays address topics such as the history of child custody in Virginia, the definition of family and child custody issues, child custody in the media, alternative dispute resolution, and the “best interests of the child” standard.

Authors include:

• Mary Ann Mason, Professor, Center for Health, Economic & Family Security, University of California Berkeley School of Law;
• Michael Grossberg, Professor of History and Professor of Law, Indiana University;
• Peter Salem, Executive Director, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts;
• Alison L. Lefkovitz, Assistant Professor of History, Rutgers University, University College-Newark;
• Andrew Schepard, Max Schmertz Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Children, Families and the Law, Hofstra University;
• Herbie Difonzo, Professor of Law, Hofstra University School of Law.

CHNM envisions expanding the project in the future to include custody laws and cases, recent research projects and studies, resource reviews, and links.