Each year, 58,500 children who seek protection from abuse through the U.S. family courts are ordered into the custody of a violent or sexually abusive parent.
A mother risks losing custody when she fights to protect her child from the child's abusive father. These cases then get turned against her. Research published in 1999 in the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse found that when a father wants custody he wins it 70 percent of the time. When a parent is accused of child abuse by the protective parent the abuser gains full or partial custody 90 percent of the time. And where there is domestic violence, the court tends to overlook the fact that these abuses were perpetrated by the same man.
This abuse of the child becomes part of the overall abuse scenario, complicating and magnifying the pain as the abuser gains control of the child while losing control of the mother in the divorce. The people who are supposed to be protecting these children (judges, custody evaluators, court appointed specialists, social workers) are failing miserably.
This piece was submitted to our 100K STORIES PROJECT by an anonymous protective mom. I have been a single parent twenty two years now. Single parenthood is filled with tears , loneliness, and holding my breath to survive on a shoe string budget. Buster our dog was colored blue,… Read More
This piece was submitted to our 100K STORIES PROJECT by an anonymous protective mom. What You Don’t Know About Who’s Involved in Your Family Law Case Can Harm You and Your Children January 2015: I remember the very first interaction with my Court appointed psychologist known as a… Read More
This piece was submitted to our 100K STORIES PROJECT by Alana K. Haase. Alana has been a nurse for 27 years and a Mom for 18, you can visit her online at ALANAKHAASE.COM Julie Sykes is disabled and wheelchair bound. She is also a single mother. It was not… Read More
The cases are too numerous to cite. Custody awards to abusive fathers. Good mothers who sought court protection for their children from their abusive parent where the preponderance of evidence was clear from confirmed hospital reports of injuries suffered from beatings and molestations only for the mothers to… Read More
This guest post was authored and provided to Moms Fight Back by Maralee McLean. In her book, Prosecuted but Not Silenced: Courtroom Reform for Sexually Abused Children, Maralee McLean shares her own legal journey to protect her daughter from her ex-husband and his alleged sexual abuse. She faced barriers at… Read More