Type:	Journal Article
Title:	Children in the crossfire: child custody determinations amoung couples with a history of intimate partner violence
Other Titles:	Violence against women
Authors:	Monary-Ernsdorff Holt, Victoria L Koepsell, Jennifer Kernic, Mary A
Keywords:	Family law
Year:	2005
Publisher:	Sage Publications
Citation:	11 (8)
Notes:	This article presents a retrospective cohort US study that examined the effects of a history of intimate partner violence (IPV) (whether there is substantiation of that history and whether the court handling the custody knew of that history), on the outcomes of child custody and visitation. Primary concerns arising from the study include: a lack of identification of IPV even among cases with a documented history; and a lack of strong protections among cases in which a history of substantiated IPV is known. In the US context, most states mandate the consideration of IPV in child custody proceedings. It found that almost one half of those cases with a history of police- or court-reported IPV had no mention of it in the marriage dissolution case files. One of the obstacles to the effective identification of IPV is the lack of or inadequate screening for IPV by family courts. A related factor is the lack of coordination of domestic violence services across different courts and failure to apply findings of IPV from other courts to the custody proceedings. Many of the divorce proceedings did not involve legal counsel and formal evaluations, which required disclosure to rest with the victim. The findings show that: mothers with a history of IPV victimisation were no more likely than comparison group mothers to be awarded child custody; consistent with ‘friendly parent’ policy that it is in the best interests of the child to have involvement and care from both parents, the fathers in the study were rarely denied child visitation; consistent with this policy of joint custody, fathers from 2 of the 3 groups with a history of IPV were no more likely than comparison group fathers to be denied child visitation (which is inconsistent with the aim of strong measures to protect victims and their children).
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/13840
ISSN:	1077-8012
Appears in Collections:	Journal Articles

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