Type:	Non-Fiction
Title:	From madness to mutiny – why mothers are running from the family courts – and what can be done about itThe Northeastern series on gender, crime and law
Authors:	Neustein, Amy Lesher, Michael
Keywords:	Child protection;Sexual assault;Family law
Year:	2005
Publisher:	Northeastern University Press, Boston
Notes:	This book examines the US family courts system and its failure to protect women and children. The purpose is to illustrate the culture of the family courts and then explaining how decisions fit within a framework that makes sense to the system’s practitioners but would appear to look like judicial madness to anyone else. The authors discuss cases in which mothers who believe their children have been sexually abused by their fathers are disbelieved or punished. In such cases, the mother is treated as the unfit parent and her children are removed and placed in foster care or with the father accused of abusing them. The authors adopt the method of ethnomethodology, a form of sociological inquiry, to show how judges, attorneys, law guardians, child protective caseworkers and court appointed mental health experts produce a closed family court, which looks like madness to outsiders. Parental ‘mutiny’ is explored where some parents, who have never participated in political protest before, begin to challenge system. The social interactive work of mothers trapped inside the system is also examined. The new US legal context is outlined and the system’s failure to react to criticism from media and legislators is described. Changes and reforms are suggested.
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/11516
ISBN:	9781584654629
Physical description:	320 p.
Appears in Collections:	Books

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