Scientific Report: Battered Women ARE Losing Custody of Their Children

Child Custody and Visitation Decisions in Domestic Violence Cases:
Legal Trends, Risk Factors, and Safety Concerns (Revised 2007)

by Daniel G. Saunders, Ph.D.

It may be hard to believe that an abusive partner can ever make good on his threat to gain custody of the children from his victim. After all, he has a history of violent behavior and she almost never does. Unfortunately, a surprising number of battered women lose custody of their children (e.g., Saccuzzo & Johnson, 2004). This document describes how this can happen through uninformed and biased courts, court staff, evaluators, and attorneys and how the very act of protecting ones’ children can lead to their loss. It also describes the major legal and social trends surrounding custody and visitation decisions and the social science evidence supporting the need to consider domestic violence in these decisions. It ends with some recommendations for custody and visitation in domestic violence cases.

Please find the document for download here.

Hey Indiana Judges and Lawyers, Look Here at This

A lot of you have a problem with ethics and ethical decisions. Well, on the Indiana Bar Association, I found this that may help you all:

Ethics counseling for lawyers & judges available by phone

The telephone advisory panel of the ISBA Legal Ethics Committee has fielded hundreds of calls from attorneys since establishment of the panel more than 10 years ago. This little-known service was made available to lawyers and judges by the Association to provide a "hotline" for obtaining ethical counseling for members who have, or believe they have, an ethical dilemma, and who typically do not have the time to await a formal opinion by the full committee. Or, more often, the caller has preliminarily decided upon a course of conduct that is thought to conform to the Rules of Professional Conduct, but needs to discuss that course with a committee member for reassurance.

The dedicated members of the advisory panel welcome such calls, provided the caller first has carefully reviewed the seemingly implicated rule or rules and any cases that appear in the annotations to such rule, and has been unable to arrive at a comfortable solution to the dilemma.To obtain counseling on a matter of legal ethics, click here for a roster of the telephone advisory panel. (The panel will not respond to inquiries by nonmembers of the Association.)

In responding to a call, the advisory panel member likely will not provide an opinion, authority for which is reserved to the committee as a whole. Rather, the advisor will discuss with the inquirer the effect of particular rules upon the proposed conduct, and perhaps make a recommendation as to how to avoid a particular ethical pitfall.

SO, PLEASE USE THIS SERVICE BEFORE DESTROYING ANYMORE FAMILIES IN INDIANA