Postdivorce Single-Mother Families in Difficulties and the Need to Reform the Current Policy: Reflections on Two Empirical Socio-Legal Studies of Taiwanese Child Custody Law

In 1996, Taiwan amended the Family Book of the Civil Code and adopted the best interests of the child" standard to substitute for the presumption of paternal custody in deciding child custody cases.The Legislative Yuan amended the law and enacted this standard because of pressure from women's movement groups and a Grand Justices' decision that declared unconstitutional the old law. Though this new law appears to represent a victory for both gender equality and child welfare, it is still necessary to conduct some empirical socio-legal studies for several reasons.