Meroko_Love
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- Posted: Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:43:13 +0000
UPDATED: A 1989 study by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court found that in cases involving custody and visitation litigation, "The interests of fathers are given more weight than the interests of mothers and children, because of a persistent gender bias in court rooms." http://www.civicresearchinstitute.com/toc/DVAC TOC.pdf
"Findings support past research, which finds corruption, denial of due process, and gender bias in the family court system."http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a906660325~db=all~jumptype=rss
Research has found that many custody evaluators consider alienation of more significance than domestic violence in making custody recommendations. A survey of 201 psychologists from 39 states who conducted custody evaluations indicated that domestic violence was not considered by most to be a major factor in making custody determinations.
http://nawl.timberlakepublishing.com/files/Handrahan Final.pdf
Here is the control and power diagram used to help understand abusive behavior better; one of the slices includes using the children as a means to harm the victim: http://www.ncdsv.org/images/Power_and_Control_wheel_NCDSV.pdf
Fathers who batter mothers are 2 times more likely to seek sole physical custody of their children than are non-violent fathers. (APA1996, p. 40.)
Despite myths put out by the fathers' "rights" movement that mothers always win custody cases, abusive fathers actually win custody in 70% of custody disputes,http://www.civicresearchinstitute.com/toc/DVAC TOC.pdf
http://www.nafcj.net/DOJreport-PDF copy.pdf
Other common justifications used by male batterers to deny mothers' their children: Financial Blackmail: A batterer often controls the victim's finances, denying access to money. Financial battering may range from not allowing the victim to earn money to preventing education or access to work. If the victim is currently working, the abuser will make threats to destroy the means of earning a living. A batterer can convince the jury that the mother is unfit to raise a child if she cannot even work. http://aja.ncsc.dni.us/domviol/page5.html
Female victims also have to deal with sexism and discrimination they still face in society, as well as convincing a courtroom they are fit mothers. Many batterers are able to convince juries that the victim is "over-reacting" and emotionally unstable.
Where did the myth that women always win child custody disputes come from? Fathers' rights movements are a factor. The fathers’ rights movement focuses on trying to re-establish fathers’ authority and control over their children’s and ex-partners’ lives, on gaining an equality concerned with fathers’ rights and status rather than the actual care of children, and on winding back legal and cultural changes which have lessened gender inequalities. http://www.nafcj.net/DOJreport-PDF copy.pdf
Fathers’ rights groups are well-organised advocates for changes in family law, and vocal opponents of feminist perspectives and achievements on interpersonal violence.
Most importantly, the fathers’ rights movement has influenced family law, with damaging consequences for women, children, and indeed men. Above all, fathers’ contact with children has been privileged, over children’s safety from violence.
An uncritical assumption that children’s contact with both parents is necessary now pervades the courts and the media. The Family Court’s new principle of the ‘right to contact’ is overriding its principle of the right to ‘safety from violence’. The Court now is more likely to make interim orders for children’s unsupervised contact in cases involving domestic violence or child abuse, to use hand-over arrangements rather than suspend contact until trial, and to make orders for joint residence where there is a high level of conflict between the separated parents and one parent strongly objects to shared residence.
Current government policy echoes many of the key themes of the fathers’ rights movement. Both government policy and many fathers’ rights groups are guided by two central, and mistaken, assumptions: that all children see contact with both parents as in their best interests in every case, and that a violent father is better than no father at all (DVIRC, 2005, pp. 5-6). Both bodies talk of ‘conflict’ rather than violence, neglect violence as a legitimate issue for the courts and family services to address, emphasize mediation and counseling as solutions, and focus on punishing women for making false allegations or breaching contact orders. http://www.safechildcustodyfund.org/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=222&MMN_position=383:383
Despite the absurd claims of fathers' rights groups, in actuality abusive fathers who fight for custody in America win sole custody of the child(ren) almost 70% of the time.
http://www.nafcj.net/DOJreport-PDF copy.pdf
http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/clear29&div=162&id=&page=
http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/scid4&div=11&id=&page=
http://fap.sagepub.com/content/1/3/409.short
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=bbZmp7ALOq4C&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=batterers+win+child+custody&ots=VJi8vnX1aR&sig=ZyPWqsNRyyFzMHa6Y1oAyjmRB-0#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://www.csaj.org/documents/212.pdf
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:Svt6_P_WjqAJ:www.dvleap.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=o9qaxp3D8kM=&tabid=173+batterers+convince+authorities&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgpsdkdT5MeX0iF8fdpGTeI7QoEXuZRlKnkX1T8eQ3o8SC_CX791JcJpchiKsGyjrbJ5WDKdq4ZH7CtZMMYNKb3Fj-MmCsKlUyjy4-gOWS-sX-qU4eKpdxbiV9RE4OlzKIfyX38&sig=AHIEtbQYJ6wbGgGElYE5yWQ2V66EHJEXSA
--How is this myth perpetuated in society? And how can we raise awareness of this?
This is clearly a critical issue that not only affects women, unfairly stripping them of their children to their batterers, but also harmful for children who cannot escape the abusive parent.
--Thoughts? Reactions?
--Also as an aside, I'm doing my feminist ACTivism project on this and I will be attending various child custody dispute court cases soon to actually witness this happen.
"Findings support past research, which finds corruption, denial of due process, and gender bias in the family court system."http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a906660325~db=all~jumptype=rss
Research has found that many custody evaluators consider alienation of more significance than domestic violence in making custody recommendations. A survey of 201 psychologists from 39 states who conducted custody evaluations indicated that domestic violence was not considered by most to be a major factor in making custody determinations.
http://nawl.timberlakepublishing.com/files/Handrahan Final.pdf
Here is the control and power diagram used to help understand abusive behavior better; one of the slices includes using the children as a means to harm the victim: http://www.ncdsv.org/images/Power_and_Control_wheel_NCDSV.pdf
Fathers who batter mothers are 2 times more likely to seek sole physical custody of their children than are non-violent fathers. (APA1996, p. 40.)
Despite myths put out by the fathers' "rights" movement that mothers always win custody cases, abusive fathers actually win custody in 70% of custody disputes,http://www.civicresearchinstitute.com/toc/DVAC TOC.pdf
http://www.nafcj.net/DOJreport-PDF copy.pdf
Other common justifications used by male batterers to deny mothers' their children: Financial Blackmail: A batterer often controls the victim's finances, denying access to money. Financial battering may range from not allowing the victim to earn money to preventing education or access to work. If the victim is currently working, the abuser will make threats to destroy the means of earning a living. A batterer can convince the jury that the mother is unfit to raise a child if she cannot even work. http://aja.ncsc.dni.us/domviol/page5.html
Female victims also have to deal with sexism and discrimination they still face in society, as well as convincing a courtroom they are fit mothers. Many batterers are able to convince juries that the victim is "over-reacting" and emotionally unstable.
Where did the myth that women always win child custody disputes come from? Fathers' rights movements are a factor. The fathers’ rights movement focuses on trying to re-establish fathers’ authority and control over their children’s and ex-partners’ lives, on gaining an equality concerned with fathers’ rights and status rather than the actual care of children, and on winding back legal and cultural changes which have lessened gender inequalities. http://www.nafcj.net/DOJreport-PDF copy.pdf
Fathers’ rights groups are well-organised advocates for changes in family law, and vocal opponents of feminist perspectives and achievements on interpersonal violence.
Most importantly, the fathers’ rights movement has influenced family law, with damaging consequences for women, children, and indeed men. Above all, fathers’ contact with children has been privileged, over children’s safety from violence.
An uncritical assumption that children’s contact with both parents is necessary now pervades the courts and the media. The Family Court’s new principle of the ‘right to contact’ is overriding its principle of the right to ‘safety from violence’. The Court now is more likely to make interim orders for children’s unsupervised contact in cases involving domestic violence or child abuse, to use hand-over arrangements rather than suspend contact until trial, and to make orders for joint residence where there is a high level of conflict between the separated parents and one parent strongly objects to shared residence.
Current government policy echoes many of the key themes of the fathers’ rights movement. Both government policy and many fathers’ rights groups are guided by two central, and mistaken, assumptions: that all children see contact with both parents as in their best interests in every case, and that a violent father is better than no father at all (DVIRC, 2005, pp. 5-6). Both bodies talk of ‘conflict’ rather than violence, neglect violence as a legitimate issue for the courts and family services to address, emphasize mediation and counseling as solutions, and focus on punishing women for making false allegations or breaching contact orders. http://www.safechildcustodyfund.org/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=222&MMN_position=383:383
Despite the absurd claims of fathers' rights groups, in actuality abusive fathers who fight for custody in America win sole custody of the child(ren) almost 70% of the time.
http://www.nafcj.net/DOJreport-PDF copy.pdf
http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/clear29&div=162&id=&page=
http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/scid4&div=11&id=&page=
http://fap.sagepub.com/content/1/3/409.short
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=bbZmp7ALOq4C&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=batterers+win+child+custody&ots=VJi8vnX1aR&sig=ZyPWqsNRyyFzMHa6Y1oAyjmRB-0#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://www.csaj.org/documents/212.pdf
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:Svt6_P_WjqAJ:www.dvleap.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=o9qaxp3D8kM=&tabid=173+batterers+convince+authorities&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgpsdkdT5MeX0iF8fdpGTeI7QoEXuZRlKnkX1T8eQ3o8SC_CX791JcJpchiKsGyjrbJ5WDKdq4ZH7CtZMMYNKb3Fj-MmCsKlUyjy4-gOWS-sX-qU4eKpdxbiV9RE4OlzKIfyX38&sig=AHIEtbQYJ6wbGgGElYE5yWQ2V66EHJEXSA
--How is this myth perpetuated in society? And how can we raise awareness of this?
This is clearly a critical issue that not only affects women, unfairly stripping them of their children to their batterers, but also harmful for children who cannot escape the abusive parent.
--Thoughts? Reactions?
--Also as an aside, I'm doing my feminist ACTivism project on this and I will be attending various child custody dispute court cases soon to actually witness this happen.
