2.2.4 Child Custody & Visitation

Many abusive former partners use child custody litigation to continue their harassment and abuse of victims.1  Assistance with custody and visitation are the most requested legal services for survivors. Many abusers also physically, sexually or emotionally abuse their children.2  But even when domestic violence and physical abuse of a child do not co-occur, well regarded empirical studies show that many children who are exposed to domestic violence perpetrators in their home suffer social, cognitive, and psychological consequences virtually identical to those suffered by children who are themselves physically abused.3  Good lawyering in domestic violence cases can help victims obtain custody orders that protect themselves and their children from future harm and reduce the likelihood of these outcomes.

• 1Peter Jaffe, et al., Dep’t of Justice Canada, Making Appropriate Parenting Arrangements in Family Violence Cases: Applying the Literature to Identify Promising Practices 16 (2005); Joan Zorza & Leora Rosen, Guest Editor’s Introduction, 11 Violence Against Women 983, 985–86 (2005).
• 2Jaffe, et al., supra.
• 3Evan Stark, The Battered Mother’s Dilemma, in 2 Violence Against Women in Families and Relationships 95, 112 (Evan Stark & Eve Buzawa. eds., 2009); A Judicial Guide to Child Safety in Custody Cases, Nat’l Council Juvenile & Family Court Judges, 6 (2008), (citing Behind Closed Doors: The Impact of Domestic Violence on Children, UNICEF (2006).