FCR 06: Disorder in the Courts
odds are against moms in Family Court, national study of >2,000 cases shows
Family Courts are supposed to protect children.
However, gender-based stereotypes that paint moms as manipulators, and dads as alienated victims, appear to be biasing the system. The result? Custody rulings that endanger children in cases that involve not just alleged abuse, but official court findings of domestic violence too.
One groundbreaking study led by George Washington University Law School professor Joan S. Meier, points to staggeringly grim evidence that our justice system is silencing women and failing children, sometimes with deadly results.
The 2019 study, Child Custody Outcomes in Cases Involving Parental Alienation and Abuse Allegations, is fully available for free online. It is based on analysis of over 2,000 court rulings on child custody cases involving domestic violence across a 10-year period (Jan 2005 - Dec 2014).
As this study sought to understand any apparent gender-bias in Court practices and rulings, it only analyzed cases with heterosexual parents that included electronically available published opinions in child custody cases. The study was funded by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Here are a few standout findings.
Courts don’t believe mothers.
Of 2189 cases analyzed, 795 included abuse claims by mothers against fathers. Of these, Courts credited less than half of the abuse claims—only 36%.
Mothers are losing child custody to abusive fathers.
In 14% of cases (63/468), Family Courts switched child custody from the mother to the father even though the Court had confirmed the mother’s allegations of abuse by the father. In contrast, in cases where the mother was proven to be abusive, fathers retained custody 100% of the time.
While mothers did not lose custody in any of the cases (0/23) where a father had been found to have sexually abused his child, fathers were awarded custody in 1.4 out of every 10 cases despite that he had been found to have engaged in other kinds of abuse such as domestic violence and child physical abuse.
Claiming “alienation” is an effective strategy for abusive parents.
While the controversial theory of “Parental Alienation Syndrome” has been widely discredited and rejected by organizations such as the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association, parents accused of abuse continue to use it as a effective defense in Family Court.
In this study, there were 669 cases where one parent made an “alienation” claim against the other. In 222 of these cases, mothers accused fathers of abuse, and then fathers claimed that the mother’s abuse claims were an attempt to alienate him from their child.
In these cases of fathers cross-claiming alienation, courts were almost 4 times (3.9) more likely to dismiss mothers’ claims of child abuse compared to cases where no alienation claim was made.
In 44% of cases where fathers alleged alienation (166/380), mothers lost custody of their children. In contrast, only 28% of fathers lost custody (19/67) in cases where mothers alleged alienation.
“Guardians” favor fathers.
In custody cases, a guardian ad litem (GAL) is a court-appointed evaluator who is meant to represent the best interests of the child.
GALs have been criticized for lack of diversity and cultural competency; fraud; and, for at least one Colorado evaluator, for being a domestic abuser himself. Overall, the main criticism is that GALs lack sufficient training in domestic violence, and routinely discredit legitimate claims of abuse.
Of the 2,189 cases analyzed, in 703 instances, children were assigned a GAL by the Court. In cases where mothers alleged abuse and there was no GAL assigned, her allegations were deemed credible 38% of the time. When a GAL was assigned to her child, that credibility rate dropped to 30%. In contrast, fathers’ rates of credibility were not significantly impacted by the presence of a GAL.
Most glaring of all, when a mother alleged child sexual abuse, she was HALF as likely to be credited if a GAL had been assigned—only 12% of sexual abuse claims were deemed credible in cases with a GAL, compared to 23% when a GAL was not present. The study notes that “custody evaluators lack expertise in child sexual abuse, indicating that their skepticism is not a product of greater knowledge.”
Explore the study in full here, and learn more about Professor Meier’s work through George Washington University’s National Family Violence Law Center. ⬛
Study citation: Meier, Joan S. and Dickson, Sean and O'Sullivan, Chris and Rosen, Leora and Hayes, Jeffrey, Child Custody Outcomes in Cases Involving Parental Alienation and Abuse Allegations (2019). GWU Law School Public Law Research Paper No. 2019-56; GWU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2019-56. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3448062 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3448062
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Everyone deserves to be safe. If you or someone you care about is experiencing domestic violence, you can find free and confidential help and resources through The National Domestic Violence Hotline. Call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or text “START” to 88788.