Michael Saini
Biographic Data
| ID | 3674705 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michael Saini |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michael |
| FAMILY NAME | Saini |
| SIGNATURE | SAINI M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Toronto |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5475-4033 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 44 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 85 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 43 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Introduction
The seeds of this Special Feature were planted 15 years ago through the observation of young children's everyday routines and rituals at a day-care centre. It was clear, even then, that children developed inventive ways to manage transitions seeking comfort and connection in the moment of parting, such as pressing a hand against a window to mirror a parent's touch on the other side. Children often relied on transitional objects to self-soothe aft…
New footprints on an old trail
I am thrilled to join Family Court Review (FCR) as the new Social Science Editor. I am honored and profoundly privileged to take on this prestigious role within the family law community. I approach this opportunity with an earnest appreciation for those who have contributed to the journal's history over the past sixty-plus years. I have tremendous respect for FCR's longstanding tradition of connecting scholarship, law, and mental health practice …
Transitions between homes in parenting plans
Children and adolescents can experience a wide range of emotions when transitioning between their parents' homes after separation and divorce, including anticipation, distress, and fear. Even when they enjoy spending time at each parent's residence, changeovers can expose them to interparental conflict and loyalty conflicts. Poorly managed, these changeovers can have a direct impact on children's overall adjustment and sense of belonging. Despite…
Psychometric validation and comparative analysis of the eldercaring conflict checklist ( ECC )
The Eldercaring Conflict Checklist (ECC) was initially developed as a comprehensive 70‐item measure to assess eldercaring family conflicts. The ECC short‐form offers a more practical version for use by professionals while retaining psychometric integrity. Two studies involving a total sample of 354 family and eldercare professionals were combined to assess the newly created 28‐item ECC. Results found the short‐form reliable in terms of total scor…
Children and adolescents’ experiences of using supervised services
Defining points and transformative turns in family violence, parenting and coparenting disputes
Family violence is a multifaceted issue encompassing various harmful behaviors within familial relationships. This paper explores the definitional problems presented in this special issue on family violence and its impact on parenting and coparenting. By examining the shifts and expansions of concepts related to family violence over time, we highlight the transformative turns in this special issue that have helped us to clarify our understanding …
Educating for change
Parent education programs have been designed explicitly for separated and divorced parents. These programs typically aim to help parents navigate the challenges of co‐parenting, reduce their children's exposure to interparental conflict, and promote their children's well‐being post‐separation and divorce. Evaluating the effectiveness of parent education programs has been challenging, given the heterogeneity of formats, duration, and settings of t…
The Co‐Parenting Across Family Structures Scale
Co‐parenting, the undertaking of parents working together to raise their children, is well documented as an important consideration of children's adjustment in Western countries, but we know less about the role of co‐parenting in other cultures. In China, for example, co‐parenting has only recently emerged in the social science literature. This study aimed to examine the cultural sensitivity of the CoPAFS instrument among Chinese Mandarin‐speakin…
A survey of mothers' experiences of shared parenting and domestic violence
This cross‐sectional survey reports on the experiences and impact of mothers in shared parenting arrangements and their young children ages 0–4 years across three provinces in Canada (Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario). The purpose of the study was to explore shared parenting arrangements in the context of domestic violence, and we sought to recruit mothers from a range of experiences regarding reported violence in their relationships with their ex‐part…
The use of parental alienation constructs by family justice system professionals
Parent–child contact problems (PCCP) after separation and divorce are the focus of heated debate in academia and the popular media as to how best to identify, assess and respond to children who resist or refuse time with a parent. Practitioners disagree about the extent to which parental alienation (PA) is a valid and widespread phenomenon versus a legal strategy to counter IPV and child abuse allegations. This study sheds light on prevailing att…
Bridging the Gap
A Balancing Act When Children Are Young
Children's Strategies for Giving Voice to Needs Consistent with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
In this exploratory study, we analyze strategies presented by young children in the context of having their voices heard. We elicit first‐hand accounts of N = 113 5‐year‐old children's responses to rights‐based scenarios to identify their will‐expression strategies. We assess developmental factors including, emotional competence, social competence, IQ, and parenting style. Results indicate that the most common tactics involve verbal expression, f…
Parental Alienation
Parental Alienation: Science and Law is a book that brings together known supporters of parental alienation theory to review the definitions, prevalence, consequences and interventions for treating cases where parental alienation has been identified as the dominant cause of parent‐child contact problems. The book provides a review of published literature that favors parental alienation theory and highlights topics and issues that are central to t…
Meta-Analysis on Interventions for Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence
Several reviews have been conducted on children’s outcomes following exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV), but there remain inconsistent findings. We conducted a meta-analysis on child emotional and behavioral outcomes of IPV exposure interventions, based on published reviews that included a child component. We also explored relative effect sizes by examining moderators of the effect sizes across studies. This meta-analysis included 21 eva…
Views and Experiences of Parents in the Family Justice Process in Ontario and Quebec
As part of a larger prospective longitudinal research project to track parents as they navigate the family court system in Canada’s two largest provinces, this paper reports on the mixed methodology results at Time 1 as parents came into contact with the family courts. Data was collected by using in-person surveys at seven family court sites in Ontario and five family court sites in Quebec. A total of n = 1,539 litigants in Ontario (n = 865) and …
Recruitment in response to a pandemic
COVID-19 has required researchers to change methods to better reflect the new realities of social distancing, sheltering in place, and the use of extended quarantines to isolate from the community. The paper illustrates the implications of shifting recruitment strategies midstream with populations that are already normally considered 'hard-to-reach'. The population in this illustration involves mothers with young children in shared parenting arra…
Family dispute resolution
Coparenting autistic children during Covid-19
Globally, parents and caregivers of children with autism have been particularly impacted by the recent changes due to COVID-19. Reduced access to schools, community supports, and therapeutic services makes parenting more challenging during the pandemic, and especially for parents with children with autism and who are experiencing family breakdown. There remains little guidance to assist coparenting autistic children during COVID-19 after separati…
The Impact of Coparenting on Mothers' Covid-19-Related Stressors
To test and explore whether more positive coparenting will significantly predict lower COVID-19-related stress across family configurations and dynamics and across both higher- and lower-income mothers, we developed and circulated an online survey among mothers from the U.S. and Canada. Coparenting was measured using the Coparenting Across Family Structures (CoPAFS) short form (27 items) scale, comprised of factors representing five coparenting d…
Gatekeeping by Allegations
Allegations of child maltreatment and neglect, including child sexual abuse, in the context of child custody disputes pose particular challenges for child protection services, family law professionals and the courts to identify children at risk of harm, as well as children impacted and exposed to other risk factors. Accurately identifying child maltreatment requires assessing the background, the history and the context of the allegations in order…
A Multidisciplinary Perspective on the Role, Functions, and Effectiveness of Parenting Coordination
Based on a survey conducted in 2018 in collaboration with the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts’ (AFCC) Task Force on Parenting Coordination, this paper explores issues related to the process and perceived outcomes of parenting coordination for families post separation and divorce. The views expressed emerge from a diverse and multidisciplinary sample ( n = 289) from legal, mental health, and conflict resolution backgrounds. Almost ha…
The intersection of child welfare, intimate partner violence and child custody disputes
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand child welfare investigations that involve child custody disputes in Ontario, Canada. Methods: The study used data from the Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect. The OIS is a cyclical, cross sectional provincial child welfare study conducted every five years. Characteristics of investigations involving child custody disputes were examined by conducting chi-square tests on k…
“Fathers’ Rights” Activism, Discourse, Groups and Impacts
The fathers’ rights movement emerged in its current form in the 1980s as a decentralized, transnational, grassroots network of activists, support groups, and public polemics concerning child custody and child support laws and policies in the context of separation and divorce. This scoping review reports on existing research on the fathers’ rights movement to provide a comprehensive roadmap of how the fathers’ rights movement has so far been under…
The Complexity of Families Involved in High-Conflict Disputes
The use of the term ‘high conflict’ to describe a wide range of family dynamics after separation and divorce has increased significantly over the years. At the moment, no consensus on the definition of high conflict exists. Lack of definitional clarity hinders the ability for legal and mental health professionals to assess, identify, and effectively intervene with this population. Based on a rapid evidence assessment of 65 empirically based socia…
Ongoing and online
A Qualitative Synthesis of Children’s Participation in Custody Disputes
Objectives: This qualitative synthesis explores the voices of children in the context of child custody disputes over the last 20 years. The purpose was to (1) systematically retrieve qualitative studies to explore children’s views and preferences in the context of decision making postseparation and divorce and (2) explore how children’s voices are being heard or not. Method: Qualitative studies were identified through a systematic retrieval proce…
Recruitment in response to a pandemic
COVID-19 has required researchers to change methods to better reflect the new realities of social distancing, sheltering in place, and the use of extended quarantines to isolate from the community. The paper illustrates the implications of shifting recruitment strategies midstream with populations that are already normally considered 'hard-to-reach'. The population in this illustration involves mothers with young children in shared parenting arra…
A Qualitative Synthesis of Children’s Experiences of Shared Care Post Divorce
Objectives : Children’s views and experiences of shared care arrangements post separation were explored to provide their voices to the ongoing discussions of shared parenting. Methods : Qualitative synthesis included a systematic and transparent method for retrieval, screening, and analysing qualitative studies. The inclusion criteria accepted studies that were: qualitative in design; included children as participants in shared care parenting tim…
A Balancing Act When Children Are Young
Parent–child supervised visitation within child welfare and custody dispute contexts
Child protection workers' experiences of working with high-conflict separating families
Real-World Dangers in an Online Reality
Children and youths use electronic technology such as the Internet more than any other medium through which to communicate and socialize. To understand the phenomenon of cyber abuse from children's and youths' perspectives, the authors examined anonymous posts made by children and youths to a free, 24-hour, national, bilingual phone and Web counseling, referral, and information service. The children and youths were between 11 and 24 years of age …
Interventions to Reduce Distress in Adult Victims of Rape and Sexual Violence
Objectives: This article presents a systematic evaluation of the effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing distress in adult victims of rape and sexual violence. Method: Studies were eligible for the review if the assignment of study participants to experimental or control groups was by random allocation or parallel cohort design. Results: Six studies including 405 participants met eligibility criteria. Meta-analyses revealed that specific…
Feeling the pressure to take sides
Canada’s First Integrated Domestic Violence Court
Family dispute resolution
The Impact of Coparenting on Mothers' Covid-19-Related Stressors
To test and explore whether more positive coparenting will significantly predict lower COVID-19-related stress across family configurations and dynamics and across both higher- and lower-income mothers, we developed and circulated an online survey among mothers from the U.S. and Canada. Coparenting was measured using the Coparenting Across Family Structures (CoPAFS) short form (27 items) scale, comprised of factors representing five coparenting d…
Dimensions of conflict for separated families index
Real-World Dangers in an Online Reality
Children and youths use electronic technology such as the Internet more than any other medium through which to communicate and socialize. To understand the phenomenon of cyber abuse from children's and youths' perspectives, the authors examined anonymous posts made by children and youths to a free, 24-hour, national, bilingual phone and Web counseling, referral, and information service. The children and youths were between 11 and 24 years of age …
Ongoing and online
Quality of Abstracts in the Context of a Systematic Review on Parenting of Children with Chronic Health Conditions and Disabilities
Interventions to Prevent and Reduce Cyber Abuse of Youth
Objectives: The Internet has created a new communication tool, particularly for young people whose use of electronic communication is exploding worldwide. While there are many benefits that result from electronic-based communication, the Internet is concurrently a potential site for abuse and victimization. Methods: This paper systematically reviews the effectiveness of cyber abuse interventions in increasing Internet safety knowledge and decreas…
Systematic Synthesis of Qualitative Research
Qualitative synthesis within the family of systematic reviews meets an urgent need to use knowledge derived from qualitative studies to inform practice, research, and policy. Despite the contingent nature of evidence gleaned from the synthesis of qualitative studies, systematic synthesis is an important technique and, used judiciously, can deepen our understanding of the contextual dimensions that emerge from qualitative research. This book prese…
A Qualitative Synthesis of Children’s Participation in Custody Disputes
Objectives: This qualitative synthesis explores the voices of children in the context of child custody disputes over the last 20 years. The purpose was to (1) systematically retrieve qualitative studies to explore children’s views and preferences in the context of decision making postseparation and divorce and (2) explore how children’s voices are being heard or not. Method: Qualitative studies were identified through a systematic retrieval proce…
Parent–child supervised visitation within child welfare and custody dispute contexts
Child protection workers' experiences of working with high-conflict separating families
A scoping review of qualitative studies about children experiencing parental separation
This article explores a scoping review of qualitative studies about children’s experiences and feelings during times of parental separation. The purpose of the review was to explore children’s feelings and attitudes about their parents’ separation and how their voices are heard during times of parental separation. The scoping review examined 44 studies in 13 countries involving 1525 children. While the studies examine how and why children’s voice…
Interventions to Reduce Distress in Adult Victims of Rape and Sexual Violence
Objectives: This article presents a systematic evaluation of the effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing distress in adult victims of rape and sexual violence. Method: Studies were eligible for the review if the assignment of study participants to experimental or control groups was by random allocation or parallel cohort design. Results: Six studies including 405 participants met eligibility criteria. Meta-analyses revealed that specific…
Children Resisting Contact With a Parent Postseparation
The process of separation and divorce demands significant changes among family relationships requiring the ongoing negotiation of roles and responsibilities. Most children of separated parents will continue to want contact with both parents, but a small subgroup of children will align with one parent and simultaneously resist or reject the other. Several names and etiological suggestions have been coined to label these extreme alignments, but man…
A Critical Review of Relocation Research Specific to Separation and Divorce
Relocation, as an issue in the context of family law, typically involves the proposed move of a separated or divorced parent with a child to a new residence a substantial distance away from the non-moving parent. Based on a comprehensive review of the empirical evidence, 11 studies that focused on relocation within the context of separation and divorce were located, retrieved and appraised based on a common standard for assessing the methodologic…
A Qualitative Synthesis of Children’s Experiences of Shared Care Post Divorce
Objectives : Children’s views and experiences of shared care arrangements post separation were explored to provide their voices to the ongoing discussions of shared parenting. Methods : Qualitative synthesis included a systematic and transparent method for retrieval, screening, and analysing qualitative studies. The inclusion criteria accepted studies that were: qualitative in design; included children as participants in shared care parenting tim…
Parenting Plan Evaluations
Empirical Studies of Alienation
Canada’s First Integrated Domestic Violence Court
Shared Parenting in Canada
There is a complex interplay between federal and provincial parenting statutes in Canada. Although most statutes continue to use the traditional concepts of “custody” and “access,” in practice most lawyers and judges use more child‐focused terminology for parenting plans. There is a lack of reliable data on postseparation parenting in Canada, though a number of studies and data sources clearly indicate that there is growing use of various forms o…
Dimensions of conflict for separated families index
“Fathers’ Rights” Activism, Discourse, Groups and Impacts
The fathers’ rights movement emerged in its current form in the 1980s as a decentralized, transnational, grassroots network of activists, support groups, and public polemics concerning child custody and child support laws and policies in the context of separation and divorce. This scoping review reports on existing research on the fathers’ rights movement to provide a comprehensive roadmap of how the fathers’ rights movement has so far been under…
The Complexity of Families Involved in High-Conflict Disputes
The use of the term ‘high conflict’ to describe a wide range of family dynamics after separation and divorce has increased significantly over the years. At the moment, no consensus on the definition of high conflict exists. Lack of definitional clarity hinders the ability for legal and mental health professionals to assess, identify, and effectively intervene with this population. Based on a rapid evidence assessment of 65 empirically based socia…
Feeling the pressure to take sides
Gatekeeping by Allegations
Allegations of child maltreatment and neglect, including child sexual abuse, in the context of child custody disputes pose particular challenges for child protection services, family law professionals and the courts to identify children at risk of harm, as well as children impacted and exposed to other risk factors. Accurately identifying child maltreatment requires assessing the background, the history and the context of the allegations in order…
A Multidisciplinary Perspective on the Role, Functions, and Effectiveness of Parenting Coordination
Based on a survey conducted in 2018 in collaboration with the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts’ (AFCC) Task Force on Parenting Coordination, this paper explores issues related to the process and perceived outcomes of parenting coordination for families post separation and divorce. The views expressed emerge from a diverse and multidisciplinary sample ( n = 289) from legal, mental health, and conflict resolution backgrounds. Almost ha…
The intersection of child welfare, intimate partner violence and child custody disputes
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand child welfare investigations that involve child custody disputes in Ontario, Canada. Methods: The study used data from the Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect. The OIS is a cyclical, cross sectional provincial child welfare study conducted every five years. Characteristics of investigations involving child custody disputes were examined by conducting chi-square tests on k…
Children's Strategies for Giving Voice to Needs Consistent with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
In this exploratory study, we analyze strategies presented by young children in the context of having their voices heard. We elicit first‐hand accounts of N = 113 5‐year‐old children's responses to rights‐based scenarios to identify their will‐expression strategies. We assess developmental factors including, emotional competence, social competence, IQ, and parenting style. Results indicate that the most common tactics involve verbal expression, f…
Psychology (37 works) · Medicine (22 works) · Social Psychology (21 works) · Family Dynamics and Relationships (20 works) · Political science (20 works) · Law (17 works) · Developmental psychology (15 works) · Psychiatry (15 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Child Abuse and Trauma (13 works)