Other studies also suggest that a parent's sexual orientation should not be a determinant in custody decisions.

Mexican courts delay Convention cases and often improperly treat them as custody decisions.

Both sides agreed that the temporary custody would not have a bearing on the final custody decision.

Two years later, Jeremiah's mother unexpectedly turns up and takes him away, aware of the lack of power her parents have over the custody decision.

Just hours before the hearing today, the grandparents met with a mediator and accepted the judge's custody decision.

Yet custody decisions - if truly to be in children's best interests - must reflect the particular psychological needs of each child.

Ms. Polikoff said judges should not base custody decisions simply on the number of hours a parent spends with the children.

Such child abduction by foreign-born parents in defiance of American custody decisions is a growing phenomenon, experts say.

The real data shows that less than 5% of custody decisions go to sole custody by fathers.

For more than 150 years, American courts have made custody decisions by asking what arrangements would be in the best interests of the child.