PSYCHOLOGIST’S PRACTICES IN FAMILY COURTS
legal psychology; family; divorce.
Attained 30 years since the first contest for psychologist at the Court of Justice in Sao Paulo (1985), it was identified the need to carry out a systematized national historical research on psychologist path at the Family Court. During that period, some changes in families and Brazilian legislation have affected the psychologist performance. Several studies and events have passed, the offer of training in Legal Psychology was expanded and practically all Courts of Justice have held public service exams for psychologist. The aim was to analyse historically the development context of the psychological practices at the Family Courts. The periodization, which consisted into three terms, took place through legislative frameworks. The survey and analysis of the documents between the contest at the TJSP - Court of Justice in Sao Paulo (1985) and Mediation Law (2015) were delimited. The analysis was made from categories, which were defined a priori. Documents were analysed based on bibliographies about family life after divorce and the results were presented in a historical course. In the first phase, the struggles to consolidate positions were directed "to the best interests of the child," and the demand for technical expertise divided the category into two perspectives. In the second, the demand complexity for expertise increased due to emerging issues; the regulation of practices began as a result of ethical complaints; the expertise function was consolidated and mediation was in evidence. In the third, the psychologist's assignments expanded, provoking tensions and debates; the intervention activities were transferred to other agencies; services were scrapped and some rights and spaces consolidated by the category were withdrawn, alerting to a possible extinction of the position in the Family Courts. The psychologist’s practices in Family Courts were forged in a hybrid terrain, between the judicialisation of family conflicts and the uncritical assimilation of culture of peace. The current configurations of the field revitalize the inquiry of Brito (1993), "Family Court, a matter for psychologists?".