Web resource:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-0034017151&partnerID=40&md5=e62a96954485a4e463a77cf3ed16f639
Type:	Journal Article
Title:	Revealing the existence of child abuse in the context of marital breakdown and custody and access disputes
Other Titles:	Child Abuse and Neglect
Authors:	Frederico, M Sheehan, R Hewitt, L Brown, T
Year:	2000
Citation:	No 6 Vol.: 24
Notes:	Objective: Child abuse in the context of legal and de facto marital breakdown has received little attention internationally. Many believe it does not exist in this context and regard it as just a 'gambit in the divorce wars.' Recently, however, family courts in a number of countries have become concerned over the management of child abuse allegations in custody and access cases, known more commonly now as residence and contact cases. This article presents a unique research study, which investigated how the Family Court of Australia dealt with such cases. The study, covering all forms of child abuse, sought to discover who were the families bringing these problems to family courts, what precisely the abuse was and how the courts dealt with it. Method: The study reviewed court records of some 200 families where child abuse allegations had been made in custody and access disputes in jurisdictions in two states, observed court proceedings and interviewed court and related services' staff. Results: The findings showed that these cases had become a core component of the court's workload without any public or professional awareness of this change, that the abuse was real, that it was severe and serious, and that the courts and child protection services did not provide appropriate services to the families. Conclusion: A new specialized intervention system was developed based on the research and it is now being trialed and evaluated. The new intervention system contains features derived from the research findings that may be suitable internationally for implementation. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. Cited By (since 1996):16Export Date: 23 July 2013Source: Scopus
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/16711
Physical description:	Pages 849-859
Appears in Collections:	Journal Articles

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