Child Protection and the Family Court – What You Need to Know

Abstract High Conflict Divorce as a Complex Family Problem: Why Domestic Violence Screening is EssentialHigh Conflict Divorce form 20% of separations that involve children. These parents continue to litigate child custody and parenting arrangements, and accuse each other of child abuse, intimate partner violence, and mental health problems. The children suffer because of longstanding animosity. In this contribution, we report on a pilot study among 102 parents in a high conflict divorce, assessed at the Child Protection Council, Safe Home, or a child welfare service. The MASIC, a structured screening interview for intimate partner violence (IPV), was administered to each parent separately. Results revealed that the prevalence of different types of IPV was extremely high in our sample, and the violence kept occurring after the divorce, albeit somewhat less frequently. Our findings largely concur with international research in this area. In particular, the presence of coercive controlling violence perpetrated by one of the ex-partners, should prompt the professional to conduct further evaluation of parental and child safety. The type of IPV that emerges from the MASIC screening has implications for the advice to the parents and the family court.

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Engaging parents in Family Court: Lessons from an observational study of child protection cases

Journal of Social Work ◽

10.1177/1468017316637589 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 129-146 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Vicki Lens

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Decision Making ◽

Child Protection ◽

Participatory Approach ◽

The Other ◽

Family Court ◽

Court Cases ◽

Court System ◽

Northeastern United States ◽

The Family

Summary This study explores the courtroom interactions between judges, attorneys, and parents charged with child abuse or neglect. Drawing on ethnographic observations of court cases in a Family Court located in the northeastern United States, this study seeks to understand how judges encourage or inhibit parents’ participation and the strategies and tactics used to influence parental behaviors and obtain cooperation with court orders. Findings On one end of the spectrum are judges who engage little, or not at all with parents, preferring to speak only to the professional court actors. On the other end of the spectrum is a more participatory approach, with judges weaving parents into court room exchanges and engaging them in informational and decision-making dialogs. A similar divergence appears when soliciting cooperation from parents, with some judges relying on shaming rituals and others using a softer approach that incorporates praise and support. Applications Strategic interventions are identified that will increase parents’ cooperation and satisfaction with the Family Court system. These include vigorously engaging in both informational and decision-making dialogs with parents and using rituals of praise and support, rather than shaming.

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Family, Courts and Media Discourses: The Contested Spaces of Time, and the Politics of the Protection of Children

Children Australia ◽

10.1017/cha.2012.35 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 37 (4) ◽

pp. 142-150 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Pamela D. Schulz

Keyword(s):

Child Protection ◽

Family Court ◽

Contested Spaces ◽

Family Courts ◽

The Family ◽

The Media ◽

The Subject ◽

Media Discourse Analysis ◽

Media Discourses ◽

Insight Into

This article, which is built on media discourse analysis, provides an insight into how public opinion on the work of courts has developed into a discourse of disapproval. The discourse of time is often used to evaluate the work of courts and tends to meet with disapproval when related to sentencing and when the Family Court fails to deliver equal parental access to children. The Family Court is also the subject of discourses of fear within the media, with stories often focusing on child abuse and horror stories of neglect designed to attract and recruit an audience to media outlets. In addition, the discourses facing the Family Court are now firmly tied to time as a major aspect of decision-making. Because of this contested view, child protection may be reduced to a secondary perspective. This paper recommends a change to discourses surrounding courts by all parties in order to facilitate better understanding.

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Born into Care: characterising newborn babies and infants in care proceedings in England and Wales

International Journal for Population Data Science ◽

10.23889/ijpds.v4i3.1285 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Bachar Alrouh ◽

Karen Broadhurst ◽

Lucy Griffiths ◽

Rhodri Johnson ◽

Linda Cusworth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Child Protection ◽

Local Authority ◽

Support Service ◽

Incidence Rates ◽

Outcome Data ◽

Legal Order ◽

Family Court ◽

England And Wales ◽

The Family ◽

Court Intervention

Background/rationaleNations with advanced child protection systems place considerable emphasis on the developmental salience of infancy. However, this emphasis is not matched by any differentiated analysis of the timing of family court intervention in the lives of infants or the final legal order outcomes of these cases. This presentation shares findings from the first ever population profiling study of infants subject to care proceedings within the family justice system in England and Wales. AimTo estimate the proportion of all infant care proceedings cases issued within 7 days and 4 weeks of birth and describe case and infant characteristics; to calculate incidence rates over time and by local authority and family court region; to describe and compare legal order outcomes according to age. Methods/approachData was extracted from case management records produced by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) England and Wales. Records were first restructured to link infants to legal order outcome data and birth mother records. Incidence rates were calculated using ONS mid-year population estimates and annual live births. Within the SAIL Databank, Welsh infant records were linked to birth registration and community child health data to produce a fuller picture of infant characteristics in Wales. ResultsThe cohort we created comprised all infants recorded as subjects within care proceedings in England (2007/08-2016/17) and Wales (2011/12-2018/19). The study captured the high proportion of infant cases that are issued at/close to birth, but also marked regional and local authority variation in incidence rates. ConclusionHigh rates of adoption, particularly for babies born to mothers without a previous family court history, have prompted calls for new preventative solutions. The President of the Family (Court) Division in England has initiated a review of legal proceedings at birth.

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Assessing allegations of child sex abuse in custody disputes

Children Australia ◽

10.1017/cha.2018.50 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 44 (01) ◽

pp. 5-12 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Emily Schindeler

Keyword(s):

Child Protection ◽

Emotional Abuse ◽

Critical Role ◽

Best Interests ◽

Risk Assessments ◽

Family Court ◽

Sex Abuse ◽

The Family ◽

Custody Disputes ◽

Child Sex Abuse

AbstractRisk assessments by expert witnesses appointed by the Family Court of Australia (FCA), and as informed by findings of any investigations by police and child protection agencies, play a critical role in the adjudication of custody disputes involving allegations of child sex abuse. This study focuses on the contribution made by these independent advisors as documented in the FCA trial transcripts of a sample of 62 such cases in the period 2012–2016. Analysis reveals that those responsible for assessing risk shared a concern for an emerging pattern of applicant responsibility for systems abuse, in conjunction with emotional abuse, as a significant child protection issue. It also raises issues for the Court when there are multiple risk assessments coming from experts who bring different disciplinary and organisational perspectives. As an exploratory study, the implications of these findings need to be viewed through the lens of protecting the best interests of the child.

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