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Not before, Pingback: Mariella Frostrup: victim-blaming does a disservice to survivors – #thecourtsaid. Not ones who allow themselves to be groomed, and not ones who work to their departmental or managerial agendas. The UK and the US family courts are very similar in a lot of ways, and this research while not carried out in the UK, highlights the same problem we have here. This need not be inconsistent with a claim that, other things being equal, mothers and fathers are equally likely to be alienators. The domestic violence manuals state that if there is a personal protection order in the case, the father is not allowed to have unsupervised visitations, let alone custody. Even when the father’s abuse was considered by the court to have been proven, the mothers who were alleging the abuse still lost custody in 13 % of the cases. Fathers were overall much more likely to win than mothers by claiming alienation. The US study was produced by Professor Joan Meier, a nationally recognised expert in the US on domestic violence, and Sean Dickson, and is the second piece of research they have published on this topic. Drug abuse by a parent potentially causes the loss of visitation, custody and even parental rights in the most serious of cases. This denial of even indirect contact to either parent (with no criminal conviction for sex abuse) is wicked and wrong. Until we do this, all other efforts on behalf of children are like Sisyphus. Moreover, Meier’s quote, above, indicates that this is not gendered: both mothers and fathers as resident parents guilty of alienating run the same risk of having the children moved to the other parent. A standard requirement is to confirm that “the conclusions follow from the arguments of the text”. But Meier’s less interested in facts than she is in keeping kids from maintaining healthy relationships with their fathers post-divorce, so why use a real definition of PA when a false one is so much more serviceable? Women usually are the primary caretakers of children before and after divorce, and they have profound fears of losing custody, whereas the batterer has little to lose by using custody as a bargaining and power tactic. The following study adds to research that examines child custody cases involving a history of interpersonal violence. child custody outcomes in cases involving parental alienation and abuse allegations: what do the data show?”, By Joan S. Meier, Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law 42:1, 92-105 (2020). The final study, published in January 2020, and funded by the US Justice Department, revealed that alienation’s impact was gender-specific, and that fathers alleging mothers were abusive were not similarly undermined when mothers cross-claimed alienation. But no scientist working in the field of alienation has ever defined PA as a gendered phenomenon for the good and sufficient reason that it’s not one. The research here is gender-biased. I understand father’s are equally important but the bond with a mother and child is vital for a child’s development and should never be broken. The possible reasons for this are, (a) the courts are biased against mothers, or (b) the courts are broadly accurate in their assessments but a larger percentage of alienation claims by mothers than by fathers are false within Meier’s skewed dataset. This research on US courts would be of no use to me in defending against such allegations in a UK FC. A pilot version of the study was published in 2017 and found that family courts only believed a mother’s claim of a child’s sexual abuse 1 out of 51 times (approximately 2%) when the accused father alleged parental alienation. (Note in passing how statistically weak is the 28% figure, resulting as it does from just 19 cases out of an original dataset of 4,338). Whether we like it or not, sometimes things do come down to gender bias, much in the same way as they do for race, religion and ethnicity. Meier simply takes as axiomatic that the explanation is (a), bias against mothers. I believe the percentage is slightly lower in the USA – perhaps 85%. Courts generally respond to a parent's substance abuse either during a child custody hearing or when complaints about suspected substance abuse—and its impact on the children—are reported either to the court that issued the child custody order or to the state (through the Department of Child Protective Services). The study, written by professor of clinical law Joan S. Meier, shows that mothers who report abuse — particularly child abuse — are losing child custody at staggering rates. More broadly, win rates were also identical (89%) for mothers and fathers when the other parent was found to have committed alienation. (Mildred Daley Pagelow, Battered Women A Historical Research Review and Some Common Myths, p. 107). I think Vicky Haigh and Jo Dean would agree with the findings! We read this in its Conclusion, “The data support the widespread critiques of family court proceedings sending children into the care of destructive and dangerous parents.”. The wording of the above quote (and throughout the paper) invites us to interpret these associations thus: if a poor abused mother has the nerve to allege that her ex-partner is abusive, she is likely to be punished for it by removal of her children. What is in contention is how the data may be interpreted. Child neglect may be a reason to lose custody of a child if it is serious Child neglect may be a form of abuse. Physical abuse is a legal basis for a mother to lose custody of the child. Incredibly, mothers also risk losing custody if they accuse fathers of beating or sexually abusing them or their children — even or especially if these allegations are supported by experts (Chesler, 2011). The custody reversals in (B), i.e., 44% or 28%, are less than in (A), i.e., 71%, because the latter is conditional upon the alienation claim being believed. As it is, it is simply unhelpful ‘white noise’ of no value – trash on the periphery of my life. Cahn, who, just like Meier, is a law professor at George Washington University asks no questions, but merely regurgitates Meier’s claims. Do children need a relationship with their fathers even when their fathers have been abusive to them in the past? In my case I never made any derogatory comments or allegations about the mother of my child, despite her taking the child to the High Court (to testify against me) without her having a solicitor (her right as a child, and free). Another recent study in Canada made strikingly similar findings. Specifically, the court wants to see that you actively support your child’s relationship with his father, and you encourage that relationship to develop. If so, what does that relationship look like?” -Eric Holder, Attorney General of the United States of America, to the National Summit on the Intersection of Domestic Violence and Child Maltreatment, June 2009. Social services are a par excellence example of power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The US Family Courts and State Legislatures have always been far in advance of the UK’s Jurassic judges in acknowledging the value of shared parenting and are clearly ensuring that the best interests of the children are protected. My son and I never spent a day apart in three years. In child custody cases involving allegations of child abuse or domestic violence, the common misperception is that the mother is favored over the father. This doesn’t come across as superficial research. Worse – the wicked father may make a counter-allegation of alienation which will have the effect of further increasing the likelihood that she will lose her children. They may be fearful of damage to their reputation, family name, or livelihood if the abuser is a relative. Mothers losing custody to abusers Human Rights Violations of Mothers and Children Worldwide Documented for UN On August 2, The Women’s Coalition PAC submitted a claim to the UN documenting the human rights violations of mothers and children worldwide, calling on the UN to take action. And are ignored or disbelieved by social workers or other professionals. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. And, if the victim is married with children, her abuser will nearly always petition for sole custody, and he’ll win 70% of the time. From this point on I shall simply assume the data that Meier quotes is valid (as I have no way of checking it). Thousands of Mothers Lose Their Children to Abusive Fathers Representing only women in divorce and custody cases, Diane and Charlie began my education with one grisly case. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. There is nothing within the paper to support this conclusion. The research incorporated published court opinions available online between 2005 and 2014, and used those judgments to create a data set of 4,388 custody (child contact) cases. When I was accused of being insane by the father it was much easier to solve the case this way. And we need a CPS prepared to take cases forward when police officers investigating any such allegations believe the child is telling the truth. The point in highlighting this research is to invite UK researchers to look into this issue, which we know is alive here. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline or visit their, If you’re planning to divorce your abuser, educate yourself on the. I haven’t added it with the sole purpose of assisting court goers. I reported abuse of my son. Subsequently and probably as a result of this activity the situation was reversed and now any mother complaining of sex abuse of children by the father is very likely to lose custody to the alleged abuser and denied all contact with the childen indefinitely . The paper in question is “U.S. Sadly, family members and friends often turn their backs on victims of abuse. My guess is that most people inquiring into the topic would want to know those things, but not Meier. However, let’s press on, ignoring that flaw, fatal though it actually is. Can Joan Meier truly be unaware that this is simply sample bias? Changing what happens in FC, starts with changing what happens the very first time social service involvement commences. Whilst the paper tells us that mothers reporting a father’s abuse lost custody in 26% of cases, we are not told what percentage of mothers lost custody when no allegations of abuse were made, so the conclusion in the Abstract appears from nowhere. Perhaps if I’d made allegations of abuse I would have done better! If you start from a gender-biased perspective you will inevitably reach a gender-biased conclusion. Family courts have made it easy for batterers to abuse their families, and in this manner the abuse is legal. And if it’s this hard for heterosexual abuse victims how much harder is it for those in the LGBT community where silence may still govern their lifestyle? The fourth reason fathers may lose custody of their children has to do with what is called the “right … I presume the fear of making false allegations of abuse is beginning to reasonate within the ‘remove fathers at any cost’ mindset! This faithfully reflects the tenor of the paper itself. the leftover comments on relevance and academic integrity, to borrow your words, are insular “white noise.”, I agree COMPLETELY about body cameras on SWs. Professor Meier’s allegations and position on this topic has been answered by Harman and Lorandos, 2020. Necessarily, then, virtually all allegations of abuse which the court does not believe will be allegations by mothers against fathers. What astounds me is the profound disregard for my son’s mental health. Second, and notably, virtual parity is apparent in the non-abuse alienation cases, where win rates are 58% (fathers) and 56% (mothers).”. Mothers who report sexual abuse nearly always lose custody. The blame for this failure to uphold academic standards lies not only with the author but also with the peer reviewer(s), and the journal itself. It might be that Meier’s dataset does support the conclusion, but the text of the paper does not support the statement in the Abstract and so is another failure of the peer reviewers to do their job. Some proportion of these the court of appeal will conclude to be false. Victims of abuse may be silenced by their religious communities who fear the negative attention or legal repercussions the scandal of abuse would cause if it were discovered that a member of their organization committed the abuse. III.  No child should be separated from a good mother nor should they have their rights taken from them while others profit from their abuse. This is the further skew in the data sample which renders Meier’s findings unsurprising. In the cases she studied, it’s entirely possible that judges’ decisions were completely sound and well-founded. For more information visit:Â, If you’re a victim of domestic violence, I urge you to get help. These allegations are likely to have played a part in the decision to place the child with the mother (in 85% of cases). Relocation Restrictions: An Opportunity for Custody Abuse, p.4), Some abusers use the courts to continue their control over their ex-wives and children by taking advantage of the current trend of courts favoring joint custody or granting sole custody to fathers. Change ). Research shows children are placed in full or partial custody of their identified sexual abusers 90%of the time. In FOURTY YEARS nothing has changed for the better in FC despite the 1989 Children’s Act. Worse, Meier nowhere attempts to ascertain whether mothers’ claims of abuse or fathers’ claims of alienation were justified or not. Here we have another crucial skew in the data. A very true and balanced assessment, I think. Each case is litigated and tried on its own merits. Many wonder why victims of family violence choose to remain in abusive relationships. While it’s always important to appreciate the military for their service to the country, … Meier studied 4,338 cases in all. When fathers alleged mothers were engaged in alienation, regardless of any abuse claims, they took contact rights away from her 44% of the time; When the genders were reversed, and fathers started out with custody of the children, courts removed children from fathers and placed them with mothers  only 28% of the time; Even when the father’s abuse was proven in court, mothers who had alleged that abuse still lost custody in 13 % of the cases; By contrast, fathers lost custody only 4% of the time when a mother’s abuse was proved in court; Overall, fathers were much more likely than mothers to win contact disputes when claiming alienation. Then there’s the fact that Meier’s study is hamstrung by its own methodology that’s doomed by selection bias. 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