Abusive fathers often get custody of children in international custodydisputes

[caption id="attachment_4476" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="NYC family court"][/caption]


Carol Forsloff - Abusive fathers get the upper hand in international court cases, according to a
recent study done by the University of Washington, creating serious
problems for the mothers, when U.S. courts decide to do this.

The new survey finds that when women living outside the United States leave their abusive

husbands and partners and go back to the United States, the courts 50%
of the time return those children back to their fathers.

This results from the fact one-third of the fathers filed kidnapping charges against the mothers.

Human
Rights organizations today object to this and maintain domestic
violence should be one of the factors in determining the disposition of
children.

Human Rights Day is today Dec. 10, and the
research authors hope that the release of their study will provide the
impetus for changes to be made.

The children’s return
goes along with certain treaties, specifically the Hague Convention on
the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.  It affects
thousands of children worldwide but does not use the criteria of
domestic violence.  Many of these same children have witnessed domestic
violence and are therefore at risk for problems as adults.

This
is what social scientists say about this:  "The law is not paying
attention to the effects domestic violence have on women and their
children,” said Taryn Lindhorst, co-author of the report and a UW
associate professor of social work at the University of Washington.
“This is like a tip of an iceberg: we’ve only seen some of the cases.”
Lindhorst's expertise is in domestic abuse.

The
404-page report evaluated cases involving 22 mothers and 23 lawyers who
had been involved in some of these Hague cases.  Many of the mothers had
been living with partners in Europe, the Middle East or Latin America
and many had lived with life-threatening abuse including beatings, ice
picks and weapons used to control them.  When they left with their
children, they often lost custody of the children, given the charges
that husbands filed and the law that does not consider domestic abuse in
making decisions regarding custody.

“In many
cases, filing a Hague petition is an attempt by the abusive father to
use the court to extend control over mother and child,” said Jeffrey
Edleson, co-author and professor of social work at the University of
Minnesota, who is also a specialist in domestic violence.

What
the research has also found, is that when children are returned to the
father, those same children are often subjected to violence themselves.

More information is available here.