Children and custody.

• Author: Basagoitia, Luis
• Position: Letters - Letter to the editor

I read "The End of Custody in Florida: Finally Parents Are Just Parents" (November 2008) about the new custody law adopted this last October. The author states that now finally parents will be called parents. I also detected a self-congratulatory, smug tone in the article of a job well done by the Bar's Family Law Section and its 2008 Legislative Committee. I could not disagree more.

The latest modification of the custody does not amount to more than rearranging the chairs on the Titanic's deck. When are we lawyers going to learn that lawyers are the worst people to deal with children's issues? This is nothing but a case of the fox guarding the henhouse. We delude ourselves that this time we are going to make a difference.

What we conveniently forget is that the legal adversary system is inherently flawed to deal with children in the difficult situation of ending relationships. Instead of five-day trials, now we are going to have five-day trials about who is going to take one child to the ballet. Of course, it is in our interest to continue this senseless litigation at the expense of the children.

But, hey, we have to make a buck, right? The immediate effect of this new law is at least, at first glance, more work for attorneys. Therefore, clients will have to pay more. Therefore, it is not just a law that won't work, but the clients will pay more. This is what happens when the fox is guarding the henhouse.

We need to stop being so arrogant and leave this where it belongs: outside the judicial system. The matter of child psychology needs to be addressed in a psychology-oriented system where there are no advocates who tear each other apart and in the process destroy the lives of children.

Perhaps there should be judges, but they should not be lawyers, but mental health professionals whose only...