Discussion Boards are an important component of your coursework and will solidify your learning of the topics in each unit. Please refer to the Discussion Board Rubric in Course Documents for grading information.

Discussion Boards are an important component of your coursework and will solidify your learning of the topics in each unit. Please refer to the Discussion Board Rubric in Course Documents for grading information.

When posting on the Discussion Board,

Communications must be professional and civil at all times. All posts must be done in an environment that is collaborative.

The goal of Discussion is a free exchange of ideas and viewpoints with the freedom to disagree with one another in a respectful and thoughtful way.

Reread messages and posts before sending them to ensure that your contributions are positive and diplomatic in tone and content.

Family Law

If you were a paralegal working on a child custody case, you would first have to know which factors play a part in child custody decisions in your state. Custody decisions are made on the basis of the “best interests of the child” – for a good explanation of this concept, see: Focusing on the “Best Interests” of the Child. State statutes on child custody include factors similar to those listed in this article regarding the child’s best interest, as does the “Illinois Best Interest of the Child Statute” set forth in Application 1 in Chapter 8.

Source: Focusing on the “Best Interests” of the Child: FindLaw. Retrieved from http://family.findlaw.com/child-custody/focusing-on-the-best-interests-of-the-child.html.

How do these “best interest of the child” statutes, which require judges to make findings based on the factors listed in the statute, prevent gender bias from playing a role in a judge’s custody decision?