Bad laws, bad decisions, bad judges, bad experts, bad ethics, bad ideas, are BAD FOR CHILDREN.
The scandal in our own backyard
by Talia Carner
Talia Carner, a novelist and an advocate for child victims of the legal system, is the author of Puppet Child, a legal drama about a mother trying to save her daughter from the legal system’s justice. Learn more by visiting her website, http://www.taliacarner.com
Social Workers Are Bullied by District Attorneys Office
Family Court Crisis; Our Children at Risk
Silent No More
All over America battered Mothers are loosing Custody of their children to the Abusers.
False Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse is less common than most think
According to the two best and largest studies on the subject, false allegations of sexual abuse are rare -- in the range of 2 to 8 percent [1,2]. That means the other 92%-98% are meritorious, and this 92%-98% comprised the 152,400 *substantiated* cases on record for 1993 alone [3] (and, bearing in mind that child sexual abuse is a highly *underreported* crime, these are just the cases we know about).
Father's rights and false allegations groups claim that mothers frequently take advantage of the opportunity in custody disputes to maliciously and falsely accuse fathers of child sexual abuse. In fact, a splitting of households often gives the father both uninterrupted access to the child and the stress to move him beyond his reticence. Custody disputes in which the father has visitation thus provide two of Finklehor and Araji's four conditions for child sexual abuse to occur (the other two being emotional congruence to and sexual arousal to children). In addition, Everson and Boat found that 17% of the false sexual abuse allegations arose during a custody dispute leading to an age-averaged false allegation rate in custody disputes of 0.8%.(.17x4.7%). (D. Finklehor and S. Araji, J. Sex Research 22, 145 (1986)) (Finklehor, D. Araji, S., _Child sexual assault_) (J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 28, 230 (1989), Everson, M.D. Boat, B. W.)
Finally, the extensive study of 1,249 allegations by Everson and Boat found a false allegation rate of 1.6% for children under 3 years of age, 1.7% for children aged 3 to 6, 4.3% for children aged 6 to 12, and 8% for adolescents (for an age-averaged rate of 4.7%). (Everson and Boat, J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 28, 230 (1989).)
The study of 142 cases by Faller gave a 3% false allegation rate. (K. C. Faller, Childhood Abuse: An Interdisciplinary Manual for Diagnosis, Case Management and Treatment (Columbia University Press, New York, 1988).
A study by Jonathan Horowitz found a false allegation rate of 8% for 181 older children (children over 8 years of age.) (Jonathan Horowitz, professor clinical psychiatry at Boston University, unpublished manuscript, 1984.)
Jones and McGraw found that false allegations by children represented 2% of the 439 allegations they studied (false allegations by adults gave an additional 6%). (David P. H. Jones and J. Melbourne McGraw, J. of Interpersonal Violence 2, 27 (1987).)
Contrary to myth, allegations of sexual abuse in custody proceedings are relatively rare. An American Bar Association and Association of Family and Conciliation Courts study concluded that of 9,000 custody-visitation disputes, that fewer than 2% involved allegations of sexual abuse.Moreover, they found that allegations arising in post-divorce cases were even more likely to be valid. (Association of Family and Conciliation Courts Research Unit, "Allegations of Sexual Abuse in Custody & Visitation Cases: An Empirical Study from 12 States," at 15-16 (March 1988).
False Allegations of Sexual abuse in children are RARE
False allegations of sexual abuse in
divorce are a rare occurence. False allegations of sexual abuse in
general are rare. Unsubstantiated is not the same as false. Child
sexual abuse is a common experience. Child sexual abuse is grossly
under reported. There is a belief that allegations of sexual abuse is
epidemic because a number of anecdotal reports of allegations of sexual
abuse were repeatedly referenced by various authors without listing the
limitations of such reports, creating an image of "hard science" that
did not exist. Allegations of sexual abuse are more likely to occur
during divorce situations and must be taken just as seriously as
allegations that arise at any other time.
Sexually abused children behave in a manner that is hard for most of us to understand. It is extremely hard for a child to disclose sexual abuse and any child who does so must be seen as extremely brave. Children recant because of pressure or desire to get their family back. Mothers of sexually abused children experience many conflicts and difficulties in our present system.
The American Judges Association has found that approximately 70% of batters obtain sole or joint custody of their children.
Studies have found that when there is Domestic violence in the home, children have a higher risk of becoming a victim of abuse themselves.
A study of 300 cases over a 10-year period in which the mother sought to protect the child from sexual abuse, found that 70% resulted in unsupervised visitation or shared custody; in 20% of the cases the mothers completely lost custody, and many of these lost all visitation rights. -Neustein & Goetting (1999), "Judicial Responses to the Protective Parent's Complaint of Child Sexual Abuse," Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 8 (4): 103-122
(Quote from the American Prosecutors Instiute)
"An Allegation of child abuse arising out of a divorce or custody situation should be taken seriously and investigated thoroughly. It is wrong to assume that such an allegation is untrue or can't be proven. Although an allegation arising during a custody situation may create unique problems of proof, these children are no less deserving of protection."
Judges must maintain a high standard of judicial performance with particular emphasis upon conducting litigation with scrupulous fairness and impartiality. 28 USCA § 2411; Pfizer v. Lord, 456 F.2d 532; cert denied 92 S Ct 2411; US Ct App MN, (1972).
State Judges, as well as federal, have the responsibility to respect and protect persons from violations of federal constitutional rights. Gross v. State of Illinois, 312 F 2d 257; (1963).
The right of a parent not to be deprived of parental rights without a showing of fitness, abandonment or substantial neglect is so fundamental and basic as to rank among the rights contained in this Amendment (Ninth) and Utah's Constitution, Article 1 § 1. In re U.P., 648 P 2d 1364; Utah, (1982)
I will be Lobbying for the Protective Parent Act in Kansas, this act will help protect abused children rights and the rights of the non-offending parent.
Statement of Purpose:
This Act shall be known as the "Protective Parent Reform Act." The purpose of this Act is to correct the trend in child custody and visitation cases wherein abused children, and children in homes where domestic violence exists, are placed by courts in the custody of the abusive or violent parent with the protective parent's custody, visitation, and contact with the child limited.
With such enactment or court rule applicable statewide in every court having jurisdiction over child custody, parental visitation, parenting time, parenting plans, conservatorship of children, or any other issue involving the residence of a child and the contact between the child and his or her parents, incidental to or following separation or divorce, or in connection with a paternity case where the parents have were not married, to ensure that a parent who reasonably believes that his or her child is threatened by child abuse or domestic violence, perpetrated or allowed by the other parent is not punished by the court, or otherwise penalized by loss or limitation of custody, contact, or visitation with his or her child, or the child denied the custody and contact with that parent, for that parent's having such reasonable belief and for acting lawfully in accordance with such belief:
Protective Parent Reform Act
New York just passed a version of the Protective Parent Reform Act
Tennessee: HB
2848 and SB 2966, filed at the State Congress of Tennessee on 1/26/04
amends Tennessee Code, relative to the Protective Parent Reform Act,
which addresses custody of abused children.
Alaska: HB 385 passed with a unanimous vote in both the Alaska House and Senate on 5/11/04. To summarize, this bill: Elevates the weighting of domestic violence in the best interest of the child factor. Makes consideration of domestic violence a factor in temporary custody decisions, and not based just soley on equal and frequent contact.
Disallows the "friendly parent" provision where there is domestic
violence/child abuse (its difficult for a victim or protective parent
to really be "friendly" with someone that abuses you or your
children) institutes a rebuttable presumption that batterers will not
get custody of children.
Wisconsin: ACT 130, filed at the State senate and assembly of Wisconsin on
4/18/03 enacted in Feb. 04. a rebuttable presumption against awarding a parent
joint or sole legal custody if the court finds that the parent has
engaged in a pattern or serious incident of abuse, requiring a guardian
ad litem and a mediator to have training related to domestic violence,
and requiring a guardian ad litem to investigate and a mediator to
inquire whether a party in an action affecting the family engaged in
domestic violence.
Arizona: Assembly Bill HB2348 passed the Arizona Senate on 5/26/04. This bill allows disposition of community property, calculation of spousal maintenance and determination of child support to occur with consideration of criminal conviction for acts against the spouse or child. It also included the following:
1) No custody or unsupervised visitation to sex offenders or murderers.
2) Courts shall consider financial ability when ordering services, evaluations, etc.
3) Evaluator will swear and affirm on EACH evaluation that he/she is up to date with the training.
4) 6 hours initial training on child abuse.
5) 6 hours initial training on domestic violence.
6) 4 hours every other year on child abuse and domestic violence.
7) Minimum standards for training created by Domestic Relations Committee.
8) 2 more senators and 2 more House members on Domestic Relations Committee.
Illinois: HB 360 amends the section of the Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act dealing with child-custody proceedings. (Effective date: 1/1/06) Specifically, it eliminates the role of a child representative. The amendment is the result of a November ruling by the Illinois Supreme Court dealing with Norma Perez' child-custody case. Justices ruled her rights were violated because her attorney was not allowed to cross-examine the child representative assigned to her case. A DuPage County judge granted Perez's ex-husband, R. Edward Bates, sole custody of their daughter based, in part, on the representative's report. While the ruling did not directly affect her custody situation, it helped change the law. She lost custody in 2002 after a dispute in which Bates and court-appointed psychologists accused her of parental alienation syndrome. The syndrome is not recognized by the American Psychiatric Association or other medical associations.The use of PAS against mothers in child-custody cases continues to be worrisome to Perez, and she hopes to make changes regarding the use of PAS in court. But, she said she feels the bill is a major step toward making reforms in family law.
Hawaii: HB 1980-SD1, filed at the State House of Representatives of Hawaii on 4/07/04 eliminates closed hearings in Family Court Child Protective Services (CPS) matters, allows parents involved in CPS matters to bring a non-lawyer advocate to hearings, requires the Supreme Court to review Family Court judges and requires Family Court judges to enforce perjury statutes.