mothers losing custody to abusers

The following study adds to research that examines child custody cases involving a history of interpersonal violence. How then did they become noncustodial? “The study, written by professor of clinical law Joan S. Meier, shows that mothers who report abuse — particularly child abuse — are losing child custody at staggering rates. Where should she go when the system put in place to help her is helping her abuser instead and profiting from it? And I am happy that my experiences have formed part of several reputable UK academic studies in the last few years. In addition, the patriarchal beliefs of many religions teach and demand submissiveness and obedience from women and children. The paper purports to reveal certain correlations, or associations, between allegations of abuse, allegations of alienation, and courts ruling to change the custodial parent from mother to father, or vice-versa. Perhaps if I’d made allegations of abuse I would have done better! The entire “study” is an exercise in statistical misdirection, and the claims made in the Conclusion and Abstract are invalidated by serious statistical shortcomings. If you start from a gender-biased perspective you will inevitably reach a gender-biased conclusion. What about civil court? This doesn’t come across as superficial research. It raises awareness of how effective it might possible be for a man to make these claims in the UK. Upon losing custody of their children, many women have been issued gag orders, which prevents them from discussing their cases. What image does this conjure? Child Custody, PA and Abuse Allegations: Critique of a Paper by Joan Meier. This same sample bias contaminates all the observations which follow, irrespective of allegations of abuse or alienation. Can a father breastfeed his child? And, surprise, surprise…, “There were lower custody loss rates among the non-appealed cases.”. The only other things that matters to me is working to get body cameras on social workers made manadary, complete transparency in family courts with each FC hearing to be video taped, evidential standards in FC to be the same as in criminal courts, for all cases involving allegations of abuse/violence of any kind to be pursued and actioned in the criminal courts concurrent with any FC hearings and such criminal cases to be CONCLUDED before conclusion of the FC case. But … We need to ensure that any SW found to be committing perjury is tried in a criminal court, and then maybe they’d actually tell the truth without partisan bias. A great deal. Change ). These allegations are likely to have played a part in the decision to place the child with the mother (in 85% of cases). Unless we can see how thoroughly abuse claims are investigated and adjudicated we can’t know whether the point Meier is trying to make is valid. Worse – the wicked father may make a counter-allegation of alienation which will have the effect of further increasing the likelihood that she will lose her children. The Tenth Annual Battered Mothers Custody Conference has been scheduled for May 15 – 17, 2015. This faithfully reflects the tenor of the paper itself. Sadly, family members and friends often turn their backs on victims of abuse. But – crucially – other things are not equal in Meier’s dataset. Can Joan Meier truly be unaware that this is simply sample bias? Whether we like it or not, sometimes things do come down to gender bias, much in the same way as they do for race, religion and ethnicity. What is important is that children continue their upbringing with both parents, and to that extent the needs of the child are paramount. Even when the father’s abuse was considered by the court to have been proven, the mothers who were alleging the abuse still lost custody in 13 % of the cases. Meier studied 4,338 cases in all. In FOURTY YEARS nothing has changed for the better in FC despite the 1989 Children’s Act. We have already seen the skew due to being predominantly appellate court data, and hence the huge gender-skew in which sex is the appellant. 4 No. Specifically, the court wants to see that you actively support your child’s relationship with his father, and you encourage that relationship to develop. I know his father abused him and I doubt this has stopped. But new research shows fathers are favored over mothers in child custody battles, even when … My guess is that most people inquiring into the topic would want to know those things, but not Meier. A very true and balanced assessment, I think. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this website’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. A very high percentage of battered mothers lose custody of their children to their abuser, and an increasing number of battered mothers are not seeking the help they need. … Children need both parents when possible .Any parent that has NOT been charged with or convicted of a serious offence against children should never be refused contact (supervised if considered necessary by doctors or police). My son and I never spent a day apart in three years. It is eminently clear from the rest of the paper that “dangerous parents” means fathers. Whilst the paper tells us that mothers reporting a father’s abuse lost custody in 26% of cases, we are not told what percentage of mothers lost custody when no allegations of abuse were made, so the conclusion in the Abstract appears from nowhere. When I was accused of being insane by the father it was much easier to solve the case this way. What astounds me is the profound disregard for my son’s mental health. ( Log Out /  But there is another skew: quote, “This article focuses primarily on findings related to cases where a mother accused a father of abuse. When Courts Typically Get Involved . A further review of Joan Meier’s treatise that works through the misrepresentation of data and exposing bogus academic research driven by doctrinaire dogma. Some advocacy research is extremely well camouflaged, hiding behind apparently balanced academic language. A mother should never fear losing custody of her children after leaving a violent home. After one session with psychiatrist I was prescribed drugs for bipolar. In just 163 of those was there an allegation of abuse by the mother that was countered by a claim of alienation by the father. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Courts generally respond to a parent's substance abuse either during a child custody hearing or when complaints about suspected substance abuse—and its impact on the children—are reported either to the court that issued the child custody order or to the state (through the Department of Child Protective Services). That’s 1.8% of the cases. That does not exist. Consider the first part of that conclusion, “The findings confirm that mothers’ claims of abuse, especially child physical or sexual abuse, increase their risk of losing custody”. The UK and the US family courts are very similar in a lot of ways, and this research while not carried out in the UK, highlights the same problem we have here. The final study, published in January 2020, and funded by the US Justice Department, revealed that alienation’s impact was gender-specific, and that fathers alleging mothers were abusive were not similarly undermined when mothers cross-claimed alienation. Here we have another crucial skew in the data. Child abuse or sexual abuse is the number one reason that a mother can lose custody of her child. I decided to end the absolute white wash and left with my son. Had that review been by one of the UK leading experts such as prof Andy Bilson it might have credibility to me, and even more so if it had been a review by one of our leading female academics. “The key questions we should be asking, are why are men and women perceived a specific way in this context and what can we do to ensure that children genuinely being harmed are protected?” We need to start with social services. Most men drabbed by domestic abuse are hit by MALE partner. Both parents risk losing custody rights if the non-abusive parent knew about the abuse and didn’t prevent it. And in regard to any originating in the USA, anything that happens in the USA can stay in the USA as far as I am concerned. Mothers Losing Custody to Abusers: Sexist Bias & Power in Family Court on WBAI Radio 99.5 FM-- Wednesday, March 16, 9-10 pm PLEASE POST WIDELY On Wednesday, March 16, 9-10 pm, Joy of Resistance will present Mothers Losing Custody to Abusers: Sexist Bias & Power in Family Court on WBAI Radio @ 99.5 FM and streaming live on the web @ www.wbai.org Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. This study contributes to past research by providing qualitative accounts of women's experiences with intimate partner violence prior to custody loss, institutional abuse at the hands of the family court, and abuse experienced after custody loss. Hi Meme, the point, I think, is to raise awareness of the problem and to give professionals some insight into how they could be improving things in genuine cases of abuse. “Why are mothers who are the victims of domestic violence losing custody of their children to the courts …? In the cases she studied, it’s entirely possible that judges’ decisions were completely sound and well-founded. When fathers alleged mothers were engaged in alienation, regardless of any abuse claims, they took contact rights away from her 44% of the time; When the genders were reversed, and fathers started out with custody of the children, courts removed children from fathers and placed them with mothers  only 28% of the time; Even when the father’s abuse was proven in court, mothers who had alleged that abuse still lost custody in 13 % of the cases; By contrast, fathers lost custody only 4% of the time when a mother’s abuse was proved in court; Overall, fathers were much more likely than mothers to win contact disputes when claiming alienation. -Familiar patterns of abuse simply shift ground to the legal arena where current child custody laws and procedures present opportunities for new tactics of domination and control. There is nothing within the paper to support this conclusion. Pingback: Mothers Who Allege Abuse More Likely To Lose Custody of Their Children – Researching Reform | cathy fox blog on child abuse. In child custody cases involving allegations of child abuse or domestic violence, the common misperception is that the mother is favored over the father. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. Of the 4,338 cases in the total dataset, at least 52% involved allegations of abuse, almost all being allegations by mothers against fathers. More broadly, win rates were also identical (89%) for mothers and fathers when the other parent was found to have committed alienation. I have not seen him since. The familial and relational stability of the child is ultimately the health of the nation. But no scientist working in the field of alienation has ever defined PA as a gendered phenomenon for the good and sufficient reason that it’s not one. A standard requirement is to confirm that “the conclusions follow from the arguments of the text”. From this point on I shall simply assume the data that Meier quotes is valid (as I have no way of checking it). This research on US courts would be of no use to me in defending against such allegations in a UK FC. most custody arrangements are not made in the courts. Parental Alienation, which is a form of psychological or mental child abuse, is not some magical potion concocted by defense attorneys and experts to convince Judges they must reduce or remove a mother’s parenting time. I was found and returned. This ‘research’ and the hopelessly amateurish reporting of it are only worthy of someone who already has an answer. Thousands of Mothers Lose Their Children to Abusive Fathers Representing only women in divorce and custody cases, Diane and Charlie began my education with one grisly case. I understand father’s are equally important but the bond with a mother and child is vital for a child’s development and should never be broken. In many cases the bias favoring abusive fathers forces mothers to trade support for custody. And, if the victim is married with children, her abuser will nearly always petition for sole custody, and he’ll win 70% of the time. For all we know from the paper, the courts might have been 100% perfect in their rulings, always ensuring a safe adult was given custody of the children. So I was shut out of my daughter’s life, not by the High Court who recommended contact, but by Oxford Family Court. I was one who climbed buildings and stood with other fathers outside ‘Jurassic Judges’ and certain MPs houses in protest, and have seen prejudice swing from one gender to another. She chose only appellate court cases to study, meaning that all those that were never tried to a court and never appealed weren’t considered by her. To pull the argument apart most cogently the best place to start is this revealing quote, (A) “Mothers and fathers fared equally in several circumstances: First, when a parent’s claim of alienation was credited (across abuse and non-abuse cases) mothers and fathers lost custody at identical rates (71%). That conclusion should not have been permitted. And if it’s this hard for heterosexual abuse victims how much harder is it for those in the LGBT community where silence may still govern their lifestyle? It is going to cause upset among men however, which is a foreseeable and understandable end result of data which speaks in part to gender. After all, her entire study is based on the false premise that parental alienation is nothing more than an attempt by fathers to gain an advantage in custody cases. To Meier, the data provides a window into what she considers a parallel to the #MeToo movement. Not ones who allow themselves to be groomed, and not ones who work to their departmental or managerial agendas. In the UK, 92% of resident parents after parental separation are mothers. That hardly exhausts the many flaws in Meier’s study, but suffice it to say that Cahn isn’t interested in giving Forbes readers a balanced view of the matter. According to the Administration for Children and Families, mothers commit about twice the abuse and neglect of children that fathers do. Strictly, from the data within the paper, we cannot decide between these possibilities. Research shows children are placed in full or partial custody of their identified sexual abusers 90%of the time. That’s an important and disturbing question. Posted by Natasha in child abuse, Family Law, Judges, judicial bias, Researching Reform. Physical abuse toward her ex, especially if he’s filed a restraining order against her, can reflect poorly on her abilities as a mother. The reality is that the family courts used to be heavily biased in favour of mothers who reported sexual abuse of their children by the father.These fathers not only lost custody but were denied all future contact with their own children.This unfairness roused a movement called “fathers for justice to climb on roof of important buildings and to pickett the home addresses of judges ! Men are placed in positions of authority over their families and it is the right and responsibility of the husband to discipline his family. There is no time to waste. We call it "neglect" because this form of abuse generally results from a failure to act. How does quote (B) differ from quote (A), above? I can find nothing within the paper to substantiate it. Family courts have made it easy for batterers to abuse their families, and in this manner the abuse is legal. But a systemic bias against mothers in the courts seems unlikely, both in view of quote (A), above, and also because mothers are awarded custody far more often (~85%). In my case I never made any derogatory comments or allegations about the mother of my child, despite her taking the child to the High Court (to testify against me) without her having a solicitor (her right as a child, and free). eg Why would you analyse violence against the mother but ignore violence against the father? Learn how your comment data is processed. The “conclusion” comes from nowhere – or, rather, it comes from pre-existing prejudice but not from the data within the study. So, the data derives predominantly from appeal courts. I believe the percentage is slightly lower in the USA – perhaps 85%. We need social workers who are fit for purpose. The paper in question is “U.S. So even if all the allegations by mothers were true and all those by fathers were untrue, only a tiny percentage of all litigated cases have the problem. I think Vicky Haigh and Jo Dean would agree with the findings! Mothers who report sexual abuse nearly always lose custody. What is wicked in both cases is that in the absence of a criminal conviction either parent can be and often is jailed for sending a birthday card or waving to the children in breach of the no contact order. Family courts have made it easy for batterers to abuse their families, and in this manner the abuse is legal. In many cases, battered women are left bankrupt trying to defend themselves and their children. This denial of even indirect contact to either parent (with no criminal conviction for sex abuse) is wicked and wrong. Mothers are no more important than fathers to their children. How much harder is it for immigrants or foreign-born victims? The point in highlighting this research is to invite UK researchers to look into this issue, which we know is alive here. It can take a lot of effort, unwrapping statistics, before it stands revealed in its true colours. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. The team classified the cases into different types of abuse allegations by either parent: The study also included allegations that one parent was trying to alienate the child from the other parent. As advocacy research goes, this is not one of the more subtle varieties. He is happily married and has served as Associate Editor and Executive Editor of the Houston Law Review, and as Adjunct Professor of legal research and writing at the University of Houston Law School. What I am most interested in, is my own lived experience of domestic violence, child abuse and parental alienation. 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