THE JUDGE AS BATTERER ... Mothers still running in near-4-decade-long backlash against barratry, Virginia still ignoring protective parent legislation

[Bancroft, 2002] THE BATTERER AS PARENT. Batterers win custody of their children with greater frequency [than] is generally realized. Although it is widely believed that family courts have a bias in favor of mothers, custody studies have demonstrated that since the 1970's, fathers have been at a marked advantage in custody disputes. There is a general reluctance among family courts in the U.S. and abroad to consider a man's battering as a reflection on his parenting or a factor in determining custody ...

[Silverman, 2001] AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION. Family courts are frequently reported to promote the endangerment of battered mothers and their children through awarding child custody or unsupervised child visitation to batterers, even in cases involving batterers’ continuing abuse of the mother, and/or outstanding allegations of child abuse involving these men. Previous analyses of court records have documented biases against battered women by the Massachusetts Family and Probate Court in such cases. This systemic mistreatment of battered women and their children has received little attention relative to other DV issues, despite an expanding literature describing the risks to children from battering men. This presentation will review the goals and methodology of the Battered Mothers’ Testimony Project, a collaboration of public health researchers, battered women’s advocates and human rights workers to examine the impact of family court systems on the health, safety and well-being of battered women and their children in cases of disputed custody/visitation. Preliminary findings from semi-structured interviews with 50 battered mothers regarding (1) experiences of abuse against themselves and their children, both during the relationship and since separation; (2) whether and how the batterer has continued to intimidate/abuse her through family court litigation; (3) experiences with state actors of the family court system (e.g., judges, custody evaluators); and (4) other concerns regarding their treatment within the family court system (e.g., discrimination based on race, sexual orientation, and/or socioeconomic status) will be presented. Plans for dissemination of information, organizing and activism to reform state policies and practices based on these findings will also be discussed ...

[Bancroft, 2008] CHILD CUSTODY JUSTICE. An abused woman can be vulnerable in family court if she comes in with unfounded expectations. Perhaps the most widespread myth is the belief that mothers are favored by courts in custody disputes, which stopped being true decades ago. It is true that for roughly the first half of the 1900's the "Tender Years Doctrine" was influential, and mothers had some advantage in gaining custody of young children. (Prior to about 1900, mothers had no rights regarding custody at all.) But in the 1970's the tide was turning back, for various reasons, and by the 1980's fathers were winning at least joint custody in a majority of the custody battles they undertook, and winning sole custody more often than mothers, a situation that remains today. And the fathers who are taking advantage of this imbalance are largely abusive ones; researchers have found that abusers are twice as likely as non-abusive men to seek custody ...

[Jaffe, 2005] CENTER FOR FAMILIES, CHILDREN & THE COURTS - CALIFORNIA. Perpetrators [of domestic violence] may use perpetual litigation as a form of ongoing control and harassment. The family court can inadvertently become a tool for batterers to continue their abusive behavior. Litigation exacts a high emotional and financial price for abused women already overwhelmed with the aftermath of a violent relationship ... Indicators that this misuse is occurring include an investment in custody and/or access that is out of keeping with a parent's previous involvement in child rearing ...

[Hannah, 2007] BMCC IV TRUTH COMMISSION. [T]here is a widespread problem of abusive parents being granted custody of children and protective parents, [primarily mothers], having their custody limited or denied, and/or being otherwise punished ... [O]nce abusers gain custody, they then isolate and estrange the children from the protective parents. Courts seldom punish the abusers or switch custody back to the protective parents ... The court system has failed to respond appropriately to domestic violence and child abuse cases involving custody. The Commission found many common errors made by the courts and the professionals they rely upon which contribute to these tragedies ... Sanctions against abusers and the courts must be used to prevent abusers from using legal tactics to continue their abuse through the courts ...

[PBS, 2005] BREAKING THE SILENCE: CHILDREN'S STORIES. One of the most effective ways an abusive father can inflict pain and declare his domination is to take custody of his children away from their mother. As Joan Meier, an attorney and professor of clinical law, explains, “To win custody of the kids over and against the mother’s will is the ultimate victory ... short of killing the kids.” While there may be a perception in society that the family court system has a maternal preference, statistics show that, in the past twenty years, fathers are more often being awarded custody. Furthermore, in family court cases where mothers allege battery, fathers are given custody two-thirds of the time ...

[United States Congress, 1997] FINDINGS.
(1) Family violence does not necessarily cease when family victims are legally separated by divorce or otherwise not sharing a household.
(2) According to a 1996 report by the American Psychological Association, custody and visitation disputes are more frequent when there is a history of domestic violence.
(3) Family violence often escalates following separation and divorce, and child custody and visitation arrangements become the new forum for the continuation of abuse.
(4) According to a 1996 report by the American Psychological Association, fathers who batter mothers are twice as likely [as non-violent men] to seek sole custody of their children. In these circumstances, if the abusive father loses custody he is more likely to continue the threats to the mother through other legal actions.
(5) Some perpetrators of violence use the children as pawns to control the abused party and to commit more violence during separation or divorce. In one study, 34 percent of women in shelters and callers to hotlines reported threats of kidnapping, 11 percent reported that the batterer had kidnapped the child for some period, and 21 percent reported that threats of kidnapping forced the victim to return to the batterer.
(6) Approximately 90 percent of children in homes in which their mothers are abused witness the abuse. Children who witness domestic violence may themselves become victims and exhibit more aggressive, antisocial, fearful, and inhibited behaviors. Such children display more anxiety, aggression and temperamental problems.
(7) Women and children are at an elevated risk of violence during the process of separation or divorce.
(8) Fifty to 70 percent of men who abuse their spouses or partners also abuse their children.
(9) Up to 75 percent of all domestic assaults reported to law enforcement agencies were inflicted after the separation of the couple.
(10) In one study of spousal homicide, over 1/2 of the male defendants were separated from their victims.
(11) Seventy-three percent of battered women seeking emergency medical services do so after separation ...

[Virginia Supreme Court, 2000] GENDER BIAS IN THE COURTS OF THE COMMONWEALTH. [There is also a]n apparent lack of recognition by judges in both Juvenile & Domestic Relations court and in Circuit Court of ... (ii) the abuser’s use of legal processes to continue to manipulate and control the family. In fact, many abusers appear to be manipulating the court. In such cases, it is not sufficient to look only at the context painted by the abuser; it is necessary to view the proceeding currently before the court in the light of the other proceedings involving the parties (e.g., where the abuser constantly sues the victim, harasses her attorney and others who help her, threatens witnesses, or uses child visitation, custody and support issues as an excuse to bring the family back into court many times a year.) ...

[Ducote, 1992] POST-SEPARATION FAMILY VIOLENCE RELIEF ACT. The legislature further finds that the problems of family violence do not necessarily cease when the victimized family is legally separated or divorced. In fact, the violence often escalates, and child custody and visitation become the new forum for the continuation of the abuse. Because current laws relative to child custody and visitation are based on an assumption that even divorcing parents are in relatively equal positions of power, and that such parents act in the children’s best interest, these laws often work against the protection of the children and the abused spouse in families with a history of family violence. Consequently, laws designed to act in the children’s best interest may actually effect a contrary result due to the unique dynamics of family violence ...

[Griffin, 2006] PROTECTIVE PARENT REFORM ACT (Conceived and Drafted by Richard Ducote, Esq.). In the state of Maryland, courts have committed grave errors in cases in which molested children have sought protection from an abusive parent. By failing to follow basic rules of procedure and evidence – in essence, by failing to follow due process of law – these courts have often ignored compelling evidence of abuse and – conversely – have allowed hearsay and other inadmissible evidence presented by children’s attorneys, custody evaluators, mental health professionals, mediators, screeners, and other such persons traditionally participating in child custody and visitation cases to guide the court in their custody and visitation rulings. In so doing, courts have too often inadvertently and tragically placed children in the hands of their molesters. Thus, reform is required in the state of Maryland, by way of the Protective Parent Reform Act (“PPRA”). This act is meant to ensure that a parent who reasonably believes that his or her child is threatened by child abuse perpetrated or allowed by the other parent is not punished by a Maryland court, or penalized by loss of custody, or limitation of contact or visitation ...

[American Judges Association, 1996] DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & THE COURTROOM. Studies show that batterers have been able to convince authorities that the victim is unfit or undeserving of sole custody in approximately 70% of challenged cases ...

[Chesler, 1986, 1991] MOTHERS ON TRIAL: THE BATTLE FOR CHILDREN AND CUSTODY. Mothers were not rescued from individually violent men by policemen, social workers, lawyers, or other family members. Judges did not rescue mothers from violent men either. On the contrary, the (large number of) domestically violent fathers, including those who kidnapped their children, were not imprisoned, fined, or custodially punished. Of the 12 percent of the mothers who kidnapped their children (Table Two), 80 percent were imprisoned, fined, or custodially punished ... Sixty-two percent of the fathers used violence to win custody. They physically battered, psychologically terrorized, and physically ejected mothers from their homes; they kidnapped, and, with the help of mother competitors, brainwashed children ...

[Saunders & Oehme, 2007] VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN. It may be hard to believe that an abusive partner can ever make good on his threat to gain custody of the children from his victim. After all, he has a history of violent behavior and she almost never does. Unfortunately, a surprising number of battered women lose custody of their children (e.g., Saccuzzo & Johnson, 2004). This document describes how this can happen through uninformed and biased courts, court staff, evaluators, and attorneys and how the very act of protecting ones' children can lead to their loss ...

[Neustein & Lesher, 2005] FROM MADNESS TO MUTINY: WHY MOTHERS ARE RUNNING FROM THE FAMILY COURTS -- AND WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT. "A groundbreaking new book that is perhaps the most highly readable scholarly work I’ve encountered in my 14 years in academia ... The very first to provide the historical and contextual chronology of this system’s steady decline into chaos and corruption over the past two decades. It is eminently accurate and rigorously documented -- a book that will hit scholars, professionals, and lay persons right between their eyes. This is the book that mothers have been waiting for ..." Maureen Therese Hannah, Siena College

70% of abductions are by mothers

BY CAROLINE MARCUS
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
March 4, 2007

MOTHERS are responsible for seven out of 10 international parental child abductions, an Australian study has found. And the most common reason for the abduction is flight from an abusive relationship.
The findings of the International Social Service Australia (ISS) report present a sharp contrast to the 1970s, when fathers were overwhelmingly the perpetrators of parental abductions.
The key findings of the paper, titled Learning From The Links Between Domestic Violence And International Parental Child Abduction, were released to The Sun-Herald ahead of the report's publication later this month.
The results revealed a huge cultural shift over the past three decades, ISS executive director Maria Brett said.
"In the 1970s, it was a different time and a different environment, and we saw a lot of unhappy men wanting more contact with their children resorting to abduction," she said.
"These days, there are more women in domestic violence cases abducting their children and taking them overseas."
In the 1970s, fathers were responsible for 80 out of 99 cases analysed in a previous study drawn on by the report. The mother was the abductor in 18 of those cases.
Yet in 1999 women made up 70 per cent of abductors in an analysis of 1080 applications under the 1980 Hague Convention, an international treaty set up to deal with child abductions.
Men comprised 29 per cent of abductors and the remaining 1 per cent included abductors of both sexes - grandparents or another relative.
In 78 per cent of cases, abducted children were younger than nine years old.

This article can be found at:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/70-of-abductions-are-by-mothers/2007/03/03/1172868811287.html#

... My mother is a formerly battered woman who is the first American to receive asylum in Europe. My brother and I were abused children who were failed by ... -Jennifer Collins

Veronique Wyvell, RN
Member, Fairfax County Network Against Family Abuse
Founder, MOMMY GO BYE-BYE: Mothers Against Unjust Law
7831 Enola Street, #TA7, McLean, Virginia 22102
VWyvell@patriot.net

MAUL (Mothers Against Unjust Law) Goals:
Rebuttable PRESUMPTIONS Against Custody for Batterers
PPAs (Parenting Plan Agreements) before Litigation
Moratorium on CCEs (Child Custody Evaluations)
MINIMUM Parent-Time Schedules (UTAH Code)
JURY Trials (in Domestic Relations Cases)
PROTECTIVE Parent Reform Acts
DIGITAL Courtroom Records
ALI's Approximation Rule
TERM LIMITS for Judges