Announcing the Publication of
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, ABUSE, AND CHILD CUSTODY
Legal Strategies and Policy Issues
Edited by Mo Therese Hannah, Ph.D. and Barry Goldstein, J.D.
Description of the Book Table of Contents Book Reviews FAQ Contact the Editors
How We Know the Custody Courts Are Broken Advocating for Change: What to Tell Judges
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Battered Mothers Custody Conference Barrygoldstein.net
In a trend that started in the 1980s, and increasingly since then, family court judges across the U.S. have ordered thousands and thousands of children into unsupervised visitation with abusive biological fathers. In many cases, mothers have been 
denied any form of custody, with some losing all contact with their children. In the last few years, attorneys and social service advocates have met to address this issue at the annual Battered Mother’s Custody Conference. This book brings together the expertise and perspective of more than thirty contributors to BMCC in a comprehensive resource that arms advocates with the best thinking and most effective legal strategies in the battle to protect mothers and families from a system that often fails to address abuse and sometimes actually worsens the problem.
Domestic Violence, Abuse, and Child Custody presents insights and hands-on practice guidance from the leading experts on child custody cases that involve intimate partner violence and child abuse. Chapter authors address the prevalence of these problems, the complex reasons why protective mothers lose custody of their children, the things court agents and other professionals often do that contribute to bad outcomes, and the corrective measures that must be put into place to ensure legal protections for abused women and their children.
- Understand the harm caused by all types of abusive behavior, whether physical, verbal, financial, legal, or other forms.
- Guide the representation of protective mothers through research, case law, and consultation to improve case outcomes.
- Establish the paramount importance of children’s safety beyond all other priorities that may emerge in a child custody case.
- Provide judges with new insight into the dynamics of violence, recognize when experts and other types of witnesses are providing testimony based on myths, stereotypes, and discredited theories, and provide an empirically based, real-world rationale for orders emphasizing the safety of protective mothers and the accountability of batterers.
Written with the expressed goal of helping battered mothers assert their rights to a safe family life free from violence, the contributors to this book take a firm stand against so-called “balanced” points of view that attempt to explain or justify abusive behavior. This book is grounded in the belief that battering is never justified, and batterers are not entitled to “equal rights” to custody when the safety of a child is in question. Advocates who share that view will find this book a uniquely compelling ally in protecting and defending the rights of battered mothers.
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Email: order@civicresearchinstitute.com
Description of the Book Table of Contents Book Reviews FAQ Contact the Editors
How We Know the Custody Courts Are Broken Advocating for Change: What to Tell Judges
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Battered Mothers Custody Conference Barrygoldstein.net
Announcing The Publication Of
Legal Strategies and Policy Issues
Edited by Mo Therese Hannah, Ph.D. and Barry Goldstein, J.D.
Available April 2010 from Civic Research Institute
©Site Design by Liliane H. Miller 2010
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Men who threaten to take away the kids are engaging in post separation violence. It is common for batterers to threaten to take children away from the battered woman by proving her to be an unfit mother. For this reason, some lawyers advise women not to tell courts or mediators about child abuse or domestic abuse because, by doing so, they risk losing custody to the alleged abuser!
I agree with Gandi
“… in the end they always fall- think of it-always.”-Ghandi
And Burk
“All that is necessary for evil to succeed, is for good men to do nothing.” Sir
Edmund Burk
And Churchill
“Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm”. Churchill
“All that is necessary for evil to succeed, is for good men to do nothing and in the end evil always falls because influencial men to have courage to make positive change” – Greg
.”….and in the end evil always falls because influential men to have courage [control] to make positive change [keep control]” – Greg
Change=OWN Control
as usual Greg You are What this… is all about- you you you you and power and control. Coersive Control.
Greg don’t get it- OR ACTUALLY HE does “get-it”. The book is about his kind- The “Abusers Deniers”- who trash the victims. Perfect shining example of “Shut-them-down” we need more rights because we don’t have ALL the rights.-
But Greg-
“… in the end they always fall- think of it-always.”-Ghandi
Subject: HB 1664-FN Budget Hearings and Solutions
Honorable NH Senate Finance Committee,
Please consider the following when finalizing the 2011 NH budget
“He [Judge Kelly] said there are very few problems with conflicts in the District and Family Court system, which handles 190,000 cases a year, or 84 percent of all court cases”, Source Union Leader Sunday April 25, 2010
There are many incidences where litigation is in regard to custody of the minor children and many of these cases have extensive litigation and consume days if not weeks of court time. If the Legislative Branch passed laws on Shared Parenting and the Judicial Branch enforced these laws, this would eliminate a large budget item. The Court’s budget would be reduced by reducing excessive litigation in attempt to obtain fair and just parenting time. If Shared Parenting was imposed, without excess court time and taxpayer money, the Senate Finance Committee would have an easier time budgeting.
There are many cases where the child custody dispute has escalated into allegations of Domestic Violence or Sexual Abuse (Spousal or Child). Litigation is required to resolve these allegations. When allegations of child sexual abuse are determined by the Court to be false and mom was involved in influencing the children, after excess litigation and taxpayer monies, there are no consequences against the accuser. This occurred in my case and I am aware of many others in the same situation. Many parents continue to litigate and yes it costs them money if they retain an attorney. Yet there are those that represent themselves and the only ones that pay are the tax payers and State Budget.
The Bar Association more than likely will not support Shared Parenting. They represent a body of attorneys that make money off litigating. Until laws are passed that adopt Shared Parenting, the Court’s budget will expand and the State’s Budget will expand.
Another avenue is to audit the Division of Children, Youth, and Families in regard to the number of unfounded cases, then the children separated from one parent for an extended period of time, the need for the Court to appoint a GAL, therapists, family therapists, mediation all cloaked behind the Best Interest of the Children. False reports of abuse in these divorce cases, that the courts have budget challenges, is the catalyst that begins this unending cycle in the divorce courts. Law Enforcement can determine when true abuse has occurred and take the appropriate actions. DYCF does not need to get involved, perpetuate the case, meet their quota in order to continue receiving their Federal Program Money.
If Laws were adopted and enforced to make False Allegations of DV or SA in contested custody disputes (or any other time) a Felony (False Reporting) the number of DCYF cases would be reduced, their Federal Funding would be dramatically cut, litigation in the court would be reduced and the attorneys would not be as busy. If Shared Parenting was adopted, court litigation would be reduced and the attorneys would not be as busy.
Perhaps by reading this you have answered your own question of how to begin resolving the NH State budget issues.
It can’t be that straight forward, can it?
Greg
Congratulations for the publication release of this very important book! The “system” often fails many children in these circumstances, thus re-victimizing over and over, those it was meant to protect. Thank God for the Truth and for working through all of you to bring it into Light within the pages of what will ultimately help many…Keep on Fighting The Good Fight against abuse, and holding those accountable who let it continue.