Transcript Domestic Violence and Child Endangerment

Child Deprivation
Domestic Violence and
Visitation
Lauren Litton
NCJFCJ.org
Vicky O. Kimbrell
Georgia Legal Services Program
www.GLSP.org
Ways in Which Co-Occurrence May
Become Evident
1) Domestic violence was the underlying factor that brought the
family to the system’s attention and led to the abuse or neglect
of the child.
2) The children were abused or neglected in an unrelated manner
and during the course of interviews or pendency of the court
case the fact that domestic violence is occurring in the home
has come to the attention of a professional involved in the case.
3) The biological parents of the abused or neglected child are not
together but there is a history of domestic violence between
them and the court case either reestablishes contact or
provides further access for the battering parent to the child and
abused parent.
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Battering Tactics
• Telling the children that they cannot be a family because
of the victim
• Showing up unexpectedly to see the children or picking
them up without informing the other parent
• Calling the victim constantly under the guise of talking to
or about the children
• Showering the children with gifts during visits
• Undermining the victim parent’s rules for the children
• Stalking
• Keeping the children longer than agreed upon or
abducting them
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Tactics, continued
• Asking children what the victimized parent is doing
and who she is seeing
• Criticizing, assaulting, or threatening the victim’s new
partner
• Threatening to take custody away or make a false
child protection report if she does not agree to
reconcile
• Telling the children that the victimized parent is an
alcoholic, addict, or mentally ill
• Keeping court cases active by frequent filings
• Physically abusing the children and ordering them not
to tell their mother
• Changing visitation plans without notice
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When a battered parent is protected from
abuse, she then is better able to protect
her abused child.
Even if the abusive relationship dissolves,
frequently victims want their children to
have a relationship with their fathers if it
can be done in a way that does not
compromise their own safety or the
safety of their children.
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Things That Can Be Done
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Safety Planning
Separate Case Plans
Oversight
Batterer
Accountability
• Tailoring Services
• Community Resources
• Collaboration and
Coordination
• Assessment
• Confidentiality
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The design of the family time
must include procedures that
meet the safety needs of both the
child and the victimized parent.
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Considerations in Designing
Visitation/Exchanges
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Type of contact; consistency of orders
If supervised, who is ready to take on
Scheduling
Staggered arrival/departure times
Security/access to help
Confidentiality
Separate orders for each
Separate considerations for each child
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“The
battered mother has to worry that if she
leaves, the abuser will take her children, and if
she doesn’t, that the government will.”
Jill Zuccardy, attorney in Nicholson v. Williams
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Why doesn’t she just leave?
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FEAR - #1 reason
Safety
Lack of money
Threats to children
Promises
Lack of enforcement
Frequency/Severity of
abuse
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Her childhood
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Isolation
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Beliefs about
marriage and/or
men
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The Child Endangerment Statute
- Cruelty to Children
• O.C.G.A. Sec. 16-5-70
• Second Degree - Such person, who is the
primary aggressor, intentionally allows a child
under the age of 18 to witness the
commission of a . . .family violence battery
• Such person, who is the primary aggressor,
having knowledge that a child under l8 is
present and sees or hears the act, commits
family violence battery.
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The most important determinant of family
reunification is
• … Consistent and frequent Visitation
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Legal Requirements before
Removal in Georgia
• Continuation in the home contrary to the
welfare of the child
• Reasonable efforts by DFCS to prevent or
eliminate the need for the removal - 15-1158
• Such findings shall be made at every
subsequent review
• Relative Resource placement
• Child’s health and safety is paramount - 1511-58(a)(1)
• Parents have right to zealous and competent
representation. Indigent parents have right
to appointed counsel
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Principles for an Effective and
Humane CPS System - Greenbook
• Safety, well-being and stability for
children and families
• Children in care of non-offending
parent
• Community service system with
many points of entry
• Differential response to families
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Principle I: Courts, lawyers, child protective
agencies, domestic violence
agencies must intervene to create safety, enhance
well-being, and provide stability for children and
their families.
• Domestic violence perpetrators do not
victimize only adults.
• Where women are abused, their children are
also often maltreated.
• Services must be provided for the parentvictim to protect children. Erom: Effective Intervention in
Domestic Violence & Child Maltreatment Cases – National Council of Juvenile &
Family Court Judges - Greenbook
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Principle II: To ensure stability and permanency for
children, courts and communities must try to keep
children in the care of their non-offending parent.
• Historically, mothers have been held responsible for batterer’s
violence – failure to protect;
• Shortsighted to remove children from care of their battered
mothers rather than remove the batterer;
• Link the safety of the children to safety of the mother;
• Communities must develop a broad range of services and
interventions for family violence –Natl. Assn. Of Public Child
Welfare Administrators (1999) Guidelines for a Model System.
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Principle III: Responsibility for Family Violence
Must be Placed Where it Belongs – On the Abuser
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Criminal Responsibility
Civil Responsibility
Financial / Economic Responsibility
Batterer Intervention Programs
Parenting Training
Supervised Visitation
Drug/Alcohol Abuse Intervention – Not
excuses, not causes of abuse.
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DV ToolKit - Tools to Effectively Intervene in DV
Cases Where Children are at Risk
• Do’s and Don’ts
• Caseplans
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TPOs
DV Shelters
Separation from Batterers
Evaluations
Counseling
Visitation
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Separation from Batterer
• Do
– Educate Victims on
Separation resources Places, shelters
– Financial resources,
• Child Support
– Public Benefits
• TANF, Food Stamps
• Medicaid, Peachcare
• SSI/SSD
• Public/Subsidized
Hsg.
• PUP funds
• Victims
Compensation
• Don’t
– Make Victim
Responsible for
Separation
– Mandate Separation
without safety
planning
- More
women are killed
leaving than staying.
75% of homicides
during separation
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Evaluations
• Do
– Offer Services
Relevant to the
Safety Needs of the
Victim and Children
• Don’t
– Order evaluations
because “everybody”
gets them parenting classes
won’t keep anyone
safe
– Drug testing, mental
health - being
beaten is not a
mental condition
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Joint Case Plans Put Victims &
Their Children in Danger
• Make each party responsible only for the
actions they can control. “Ms. Jones will not
participate in domestic violence.” – From
CPS caseplan.
• If he knows where and when her
classes/evaluations/tests/services are
scheduled, she’s in danger - and the case
plan put her there.
• FVIPS are never appropriate for victims
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Temporary Protective
Orders
• Do
– Advise Client of
Options
– Refer Client to Legal
Services, Private
Attys,Legal Advocate,
Vic Asstc, SAAGs
– Realistically explain
benefits and risks of
TPOs
• Don’t
– Mandate TPOs
– TPOs can Anger
Batterer
– Mutual TPOs
– Uses your authority to
control victim
– Victim has more
information than you
upon which to make
decisions
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Economic Abuse
• Court cannot use lack of economic
resources as a basis for taking children
from parents.
• Court has held that “by harm, the court
means either physical harm or
significant, long-term emotional harm;
we do not mean merely social or
economic disadvantages.” Clark v.
Wade, 273 Ga. 587 (2001)
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2007 New Child Support Guidelines
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Child support as an economic weapons
New child support complexities
Best interest of the child standard
Downward deviation allowed when
parents attempting to establish safe
homeplace for the child in state custody
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What can lead to economic abuse?
• Lack of child support in TPOs
• Lack of property awards in TPOs
• Injuries requiring medical
attention
• Debts - Credit abuse
• Lack of Enforcement
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Custody and Batterers
• Batterers are twice as likely to
seek sole physical custody for
their children than are non-violent
fathers.
• When batterers do press for
custody, they are awarded it at the
same rate of non-batterers, 50% of
the time.
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Forced Joint Custody
Forcing joint physical
custody on unwilling
parents results in high
levels of parental
conflict and re-litigation,
leaving children with
two tense and angry
parents.
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Standards on Awarding Custody when FV - OCGA 19-9-1
(a)(2) – “In a proceeding awarding custody/visitation when family
violence is found:”
– Court shall consider as primary the safety and
well-being of the child and parent who is the
victim of family violence;
– Court shall consider the perpetrator’s history of
harming another;
– If one parent is absent or relocates because of
family violence such shall not be deemed
abandonment of the child;
– Court can order supervised visitation.
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Visitation - OCGA 19-9-1 (a)(2) – in a proceeding
awarding custody/visitation when family violence is
found:
– Court shall consider as primary the safety and
well-being of the child and parent who is the
victim of family violence;
– Court shall consider the perpetrator’s history
of harming another;
– If one parent is absent or relocates because
of family violence such shall not be deemed
abandonment of the child;
– Court can order supervised visitation.
– Visitation Centers
– Alternatives
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Safety Planning
• With the Adult
• With the Children
– Shelter Advocates - Experts in this area
– Are Advocates on Case Panels in your
community?
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How Can We Hold the Batterer Accountable
for the Violence - Not the Victim?
Separate Caseplans for Perpetrators
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Batterer Case Plans
• Perpetrator will:
– Commit no acts of violence;
– Commit no intimidating acts, threats or
verbal abuse
– Remove all weapons
– Comply with all court orders
– Attend and comply with all Batterer
Intervention program recommendations
– Not use physical violence against children
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Batterer case plans
• Acknowledge past abuse
• Comply with substance abuse
recommendations
• Comply with mental health
recommendations
• Pay child support as ordered
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“The total length of separations of mothers and children [that NY CPS]
has caused is measured in years. The suffering and trauma it has caused
cannot be measured.”
Judge J. Weinstein, Findings of Fact, Nicholson v. Williams
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