The relationship between family law and the humanities/social sciences exemplified by the law of parent and child

The relationship between the law of parent and child and the humanities/social sciences seems to be so obvious that a clarification and systematization of this relationship is regarded as unnecessary. The call for an integration of the humanities and the social sciences in legal studies and legal practice was very pronounced during the 1980s and 1990s. This integration has been partially realized back then, but was revoked later on. The need for taking findings from the humanities and social sciences in law studies, legislation, and legal practice into account is more relevant now than it was ever before. In the present treatise, only the disciplines' interwoven areas pertaining to the law of parent and child can be identified. Regarding the law of parent and child, there is reasonable hope that legislation and legal practice by means of drawing on and integrating humanities' and social sciences' methods and knowledge bases may be able to find alternatives that meet the best interest of the child (or at least constitute the least detrimental alternative).