THE COMPLETE BOOK OF CHILD CUSTODY

An unforbidding introduction to child custody--the issues and options--which leans on primer-techniques like first-name ""case-histories"" and short, subheaded sections. Author Ramos inveighs against the use of children as weapons in adult battles: she recommends trying counseling or, that failing, mediation (and she touts the services of the American Arbitration Association), before resorting to court action. Judges, she pronounces, are unsympathetic to parents who instigate custody-suits at the expense, in effect, of their children; and she notes that legal costs run so high that only the lawyers stand to benefit. Ramos approaches each of the standard custody-alternatives--sole, split, and joint--from the standpoint of impact: How do children feel about one-parent custody? How do parents feel? What are the problems? The traps? Unlike Woolley (below), who declares her preference for a shared (joint) arrangement, Ramos maintains a non-partisan stance atop a traditional base. Reassuring, if rather obvious.