Should I let my child decide where they want to live? (Beau Sinclair)

Courts and professionals instinctively know that a child who is being the subject of litigation is in great danger. One of the responses of the court system in this danger to children is to allow the child to participate, at a certain age, in the litigation. Children, at the age of twelve, are permitted to confer with the judge in chambers and express to the judge their preference for which parent should be their primary caregiver and what time should be spent with each parent. I believe that this approach is destructive. Children’s whose main analytical problem should be sixth grade math are asked to decide the most intense and important decision of their young lives. This is a responsibility families should not abdicate. Children put in this position are either frightened or over empowered. Sometimes children think they have the ability to decide this. There are long term negative consequences of a teenager who thinks they can decide where they want to live. This should be avoided at all costs.