Abusers gaining custody in family courts: A case series of over turned decisions

Abstract

This article presents findings and recommendations based on an in-depth examination of records from 27 custody cases from across the United States. The goal of this case series was to determine why family courts may place children with a parent that the child alleges abused them rather than with the nonoffending parent. We focused on “turned around cases” involving allegations of child abuse that were at first viewed as false and later judged to be valid. The average time a child spent in the court ordered custody of an abusive parent was 3.2?years. In all cases we uncovered the father was the abusive parent and the mother sought to protect their child. Results revealed that initially courts were highly suspicious of mothers' motives for being concerned with abuse. These mothers were often treated poorly and two-thirds of the mothers were pathologized by the court for advocating for the safety of their children. Judges who initially ordered children into custody or visitation with abusive parents relied mainly on reports by custody evaluators and guardians ad litem who mistakenly accused mothers of attempting to alienate their children from the father or having coached the child to falsely report abuse. As a result, 59% of perpetrators were given sole custody and the rest were given joint custody or unsupervised visitation. After failing to be protected in the first custody determination, 88% of children reported new incidents of abuse. The abuse often became increasingly severe and the children's mental and physical health frequently deteriorated. The main reason that cases turned around was because protective parents were able to present compelling evidence of the abuse and back the evidence up with reports by mental health professionals who had specific expertise in child abuse rather than merely custody assessment.     

Evolution of Residential Custody Arrangements in Separated Families

Summary

This study tracks the evolution of three types of residential custody arrangements over a two-year period: sole custody with the father (n = 59 children), sole custody with the mother (n = 69 children), and joint custody (n = 69 children). Three categories of change were defined: (a) no change, (b) minor change (changing the schedule of visits or residence with a parent), and (c) major change (changing the custody arrangement). The results show that a minority of children changed custody arrangement but almost half the children in joint custody changed custody arrangements during the two years of the study. More young children and more girls changed custody arrangements, and girls who changed custody usually went to their mothers. With time, a type of polarization may be observed toward sole custody because there were less parents truly active in child custody at T2 than at Tl.     

Gender Differences in Stories of Violence and Caring by Preschool Children in Post-Divorce Families: Implications for Social Competence

Themes of violence and caring in the spontaneous play of preschool-aged children in response to a revised version of the Attachment Story Completion Task (Bretherton, Ridgeway, & Cassidy, 1990) were analyzed in relation to their social behavior in child-care settings. All children (n = 66, 39 boys) lived in post-divorce families, primarily in the custody of their mothers. Some story enactments of violence predicted negative social behavior in child-care for both boys and girls. Other story enactments were strongly associated with gender and did not uniformly predict social behavior, suggesting that gender socialization plays a significant role in children's play representations of violence and caring. Implications for children's development and the interpretation of children's play behavior are discussed.     

From surviving to thriving: Understanding reunification among African American mothers with histories of addiction

Child maltreatment cases involving substance abuse have increased. Estimates reveal that between 40% and 80% of all families involved with child protection have substance-abuse issues. Only 12%-20% of substance-abusing families regain custody of their children. Little is known about the factors that contribute to substance-abusing women regaining or losing custody of their children. Using the Multiple Embedded Case Study method, this study illuminates the experiences and feelings of mothers struggling to overcome addiction and highlights the main differences between women who regained custody and those who permanently lost custody of their children. In this study, 50% of the women lost custody and 50% regained custody of their children. The women who lost custody of their children tended to be in survival mode, characterized as going through the motions, engaging in acting-out behaviors, and failing to follow treatment recommendations. The women who regained custody of their children tended to thrive, characterized as having internal motivation, taking responsibility, and engaging the material. This study advances our knowledge of the factors contributing to reunification. Understanding these factors can lead to the development of practices that increase the likelihood of reunification for families struggling to overcome addiction.     

Child custody evaluations and domestic violence: case comparisons

The literature indicates that witnessing domestic violence is harmful to children, that them is a high overlap between domestic violence and child abuse, and that safety is an important issue for separating women because separation from abusive partners is a particularly dangerous time for victims of domestic violence. Further, child custody is often a contentious issue in domestic violence cases. Child custody evaluations are typically used to assist courts in deciding custody when custody is disputed and when the best interests of the child are unclear. The concept of "best interests of the child" does not specify evaluation techniques or approaches, however, and while custody evaluation standards generally address the best interests of the child, they offer little guidance in high-risk situations such as parental domestic violence. In addition, there has been limited research focused on understanding the custody evaluation process or the degree to which practitioners differ in their procedures and reporting for cases with and without parental domestic violence. This study is one of the first to examine characteristics of disputed custody cases and their custody evaluation reports differences between domestic violence and non-domestic violence cases. This study selected a 60% random sample of cases with custody evaluations in Fiscal Year 1998 and 1999 (n = 82 cases). Out of the 82 cases, 56% (n = 46) met criteria for classification into the domestic violence group and 44% (n = 36) did not. In general, results indicated that although there were some important differences in court records between cases with and without domestic violence, there were only minor differences between custody evaluation reported process and recommendations for the two groups. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

“If I Killed You,I'd Get the Kids”: Women's Survival and Protection Work with Child Custody and Access in the Context of Woman Abuse

Public interest in child custody and access has intensified under the guise of gender neutrality and without adequate attention to gender based violence. A study of formal systems' responses to abuse by intimate partners identified child custody and access as a central issue. Interviews with women revealed that upon leaving abusive partners, women's work involved the contradictory requirements of preserving the children's relationships with, yet protecting them from, their fathers. Interviews with service providers and document analysis illustrated how certain practices, policies and ideologies create and sustain these requirements. Findings illustrate that gender analysis and accounting for violence in custody and access practice are necessary to the safety of women and children.     

Testing in child custody evaluations: An overview of issues and uses

The use of tests in child custody evaluations is controversial. Few tests were designed specifically for use in the custody context or include norm samples of parents involved in custody disputes. Use of data derived from tests administered in the custody context can create both scientific and ethical concerns in some cases. However, surveys of child custody evaluators indicate that test usage is common and has in fact increased substantially over the past several decades. The current article reviews the literature regarding the use of tests with adults and children involved in custody disputes and cases with alleged intimate partner violence. Psychometric properties of commonly used tests are discussed, as well as the risks and limitations of test usage in custody evaluations.     

Factors Related to Custody,Visitation, and Child Support for Divorced Fathers

This study explores factors associated with variables related to custody, visitation, and child support for divorced fathers. One hundred twenty-five divorced fathers were randomly selected from court records in Roanoke County, Va. The majority of these men were noncustodial parents. Survey questions fell into one of five categories: ( 1 ) children, (2) circumstances surrounding the divorce, (3) relationship with the former spouse, (4) economic variables and, (5) background variables. In an exploratory analysis, stepwise multiple regression was utilized in order to develop a subset of independent variables that were useful in predicting the following dependent variables: custody satisfaction, visitation frequency, visitation quality, child support paid, and satisfaction with child support. Results and implications are discussed.     

Unpacking Court Divorce Decrees,Children’s Outcomes,and Three Unconfounded Determinants: An Evidence-Based Look

This article examines evidence on 3 determinants of the outcomes of children of divorce that are shaped but neither confound or are confounded by court decrees for custody and parenting time: father contact or involvement, high interparental conflict, and domestic violence. This evidence is brought to bear in an analysis that contrasts predictions based on the rationales for sole maternal versus joint custody and explores implications for judicial decision making. It is found that the best-interests-of-the-child standard better serves children in contested cases when this evidence is taken into account. A call is made for rebuttable presumptions for joint custody and commensurate parenting time except when parent-perpetrated violence or other patterns of abusive behavior are substantiated. Steps for judicial reform are proposed.     

Child custody placement outcomes for mothers

Internationally there is a broad literature on risks for child custody placements. In contrast, very little is known about their outcomes on parents. The topic is relevant not only for parents themselves but also for children placed outside their homes, as many children keep contact with their birth parents or return to live with them. In a retrospective cohort study setting we analyze child custody placement outcomes (social assistance receipt, unemployment and work disability) for mothers whose children had been taken into custody between 1997 and 2004 in Finland. Data from a child placement register were merged with several administrative social insurance registers. Comparison groups of population mothers are included in the study. The procedure yielded an internationally unique database. According to the results of our study, mothers whose children are taken into custody are more often unemployed and in need of social assistance than mothers in the comparison group. Furthermore, they are also more often on a disability pension, due to mental health problems in particular, than mothers in general. While considering the results, we examine family policy and general welfare policy implications of support to families whose children have been taken into custody.     

Siblings as Providers of Support and Care during Middle Childhood: Children's Perceptions

This article describes some of the findings of a study undertaken to seek the views of 69 Scottish primary school children of their sisters and brothers. The study found that siblings were perceived to be a significant source of support and help to the children. Sibling support was particularly important to children with few other supportive relationships. Sibling caretaking which was viewed primarily positively both by the caretaking and looked after children, was found to be a common experience among the nine to 12–year-old children. Negative consequences of sibling caretaking included annoying, domination and abuse by siblings. Although over a quarter of the children's siblings were not living in the Same household, the majority of children perceived siblings to hold a special importance in their lives. Issues raised for parents and professionals concern the maintenance of relationships between siblings who do not live together; how to enhance the supportive aspects of sibling relationships, while offering protection against the negative aspects of sibling dichotomy; and facing the reality of sibling caretaking. Much more needs to be known about children's everyday experiences of growing up with their sisters and brothers, if we are to understand more fully the complexities of sibling relationships.     

Mothers living apart from their children

Following Darley's analysis of the implications for women of ascribed (e.g., motherhood) vs. achieved (e.g., career) roles, this study examined stress and coping in four areas. Seventeen women who lived apart from their children (noncustody) and fourteen women who lived with their children (custody) were interviewed. The stressfulness of the noncustody situation appeared in negative evaluations of women who do not have custody, in the difficulties of dealing with ex-husbands over custody, in the lack of support from family and sometimes friends, and in the lack of hopes for the future. Yet, mothers who lived apart from their children were as “fit” as mothers who lived with their children. Child custody appeared to be a fluid issue regardless of the current custody situation for both custody and noncustody mothers.     

Ethical Violations: What Can and Does Go Wrong in Child Custody Evaluations?

Child custody evaluations can have a significant impact on the adjustment and well-being of children and family members. Custody evaluators must be qualified and held to the highest professional standards. The authors of this article review custody evaluations and often witness inadequate and unprofessional evaluations. In this article, ethical mistakes seen regularly are highlighted. Many mistakes occur when cases are complex and include allegations of child maltreatment or intimate partner violence. Therefore, it is important that custody evaluators be trained in family and child psychology, attachment dynamics, psychological assessment, child abuse, and intimate partner violence. Child custody work needs to be monitored closely to ensure that mistakes can be eliminated in order to avoid unnecessary harm to children and families.     

Mother-child relationships of mothers living apart from their children

Mothers' perceptions of mother-child relationships when mothers lived with or apart from their children were examined. Interviews and questionnaires were employed with 16 custody mothers and 17 noncustody mothers. Relationships of custody mothers with the children were more positive and less hostile and mothers felt they had gained in the parental role. Noncustody mothers reported more negative, hostile, and nonexistent relationships with their children. Noncustody mothers had less contact with sons than daughters and overall less contact with children than was reported for noncustody fathers. The results were discussed in terms of a complicated set of agendas on the parts of mothers, fathers, and children, all of which were thought to contribute to the more negative noncustody mother-child relationships. Further research is needed to assess the perceptions of all family members in these complex situations.This research was supported in part by a grant from the College of Home Economics Research Institutes, Texas Tech University.     

A Review of Data Based Studies Addressing the Affects of Homosexual Parenting on Children's Sexual and Social Functioning

Part of the intellectual and political movement to provide homosexuals equal rights and opportunities under the law extends to homosexuals and bisexuals seeking custody of their biological children after divorce and/or custody of an adopted child. Family courts take into consideration parents' sexual orientation when considering custody decisions. To date, the data based research on children reared by homosexual parents is sparse. A search of the published literature identified fourteen data based studies which addressed some aspect of homosexual parenting and its effects on children. Each study was evaluated according to accepted standards of scientific inquiry. The most impressive finding was that all of the studies lacked external validity, and not a single study represented any sub-population of homosexual parents. Three studies met minimal or higher standards of internal validity, while the remaining eleven presented moderate to fatal threats to internal validity. The conclusion that there are no significant differences in children reared by lesbian mothers versus heterosexual mothers is not supported by the published research data base.     

The Lingering Debate Over the Parental Alienation Syndrome Phenomenon

ABSTRACT

It's been more than a quarter century since the Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) phenomenon was first observed yet it remains a highly debated concept in the legal and mental health professions. In the years since its inception, judges have relied on PAS to make both short and long-term decisions in custody and visitation cases. Those who support PAS claim that there is scientific evidence to prove its existence, while those who oppose it suggest that it is pseudoscience and should not be relied upon in court to make binding decisions in custody and visitation cases. The critics believe that other factors must be considered in these cases and that PAS is too simple an explanation for complex behaviors seen in parents and children during custody and visitation proceedings. This paper presents both sides of the argument and suggests that the PAS debate lingers on and remains unsettled. It presents the position that there is scientific evidence to support a clinical claim that PAS is observed in some cases, and it presents the argument that not enough rigorous experimentation has been done to prove once and for all that PAS is a diagnosable phenomenon.     

Substantiation of Sexual Abuse Allegations

Professional practices and decision-making procedures in investigation of child sexual abuse were studied by interviewing child protection professionals in the southeastern U.S. regarding 175 allegations of abuse. Investigation procedures used, factors associated with the decision to substantiate, and the child protection workers' degree of confidence in their decisions were recorded for each allegation. It was found that substantiated cases: (a) involved significantly older children; (b) were more likely to involve intrusive types of abuse and children of minority race; and (c) were less likely to involve a visitation or custody dispute. Characteristics of the child's disclosure served as the primary basis for substantiation decisions, although medical evidence and affective and behavioral indicators also contributed to the decisions. Case workers were less certain of their decisions when allegations involved young children and adolescents and when allegations were made in the context of custody disputes. In terms of investigatory procedures, anatomical dolls and drawings were rarely used, alleged offenders were interviewed in fewer than one quarter of the cases, and medical and law enforcement consultations were obtained at a higher rate than mental health consultations.     

Relations between postdivorce custody arrangements,family contexts,and children’s adjustment

The goal of the present study was to shed light on the relation between postseparation custody arrangements and family contexts in which school-age children (8–12 years old) live so as to better understand the processes underlying their adjustment. The sample was composed of 112 dyads (parents and children) from families in joint custody (n?=?37) or maternal custody (n?=?75). The dyads were met with twice at a 1-year interval. Compared with those in joint custody, the respondents with sole custody had a negative opinion of the transitions between homes and had the impression that the children were more involved in interparental conflicts. This analysis showed that the difficult nature of transitions between homes was a crucial mediating variable in the relation between conflicts and the children’s adjustment, but that other variables, such as the relational problems with the mother, played a role, particularly in joint custody situations.     

Experiences of Custody Evaluation: Perspectives of Young Adults Who Were the Subject of Family Court Proceedings as Children

ABSTRACT

Court-ordered custody evaluations are conducted primarily to assist courts in making decisions regarding the best interests of children in the context of parental disputes over custody and access. They also represent the most common means through which children's wishes in relation to custody and access are presented as evidence. This article reports on a qualitative research study of young adults' recollections of participating in custody evaluations ordered by the Family Court of Australia. In-depth interviews were conducted with 18 young adults, aged 18 to 26. Two major areas of inquiry are addressed in this article: (1) participants' recollections of interviews conducted by social workers and psychologists for the purpose of custody evaluation, and (2) their suggestions for ways in which professionals working with children in this context might make the process easier for children. Taken together, their experiences point to some useful principles for practice in this field.