By: Veronica York, Certified High Conflict Divorce Coach
April is child abuse awareness month. I believe we are all aware that child abuse is real, and it happens way too often-but are you aware that the legal professionals who are required to protect these children are quite frankly failing at the very profession they have chosen? Awareness of child abuse includes knowing what you can do to help. You can help stop child abuse by understanding these four key areas: Screening for Abuse, Assessing the Risk of Abuse,Effects of the Abuse, and How to Respond to theAbuse. You do not have to be a mental health professional to learn these key areas and be an advocate in your community. I recently had a conversation with Barry Goldstein, a leading expert on Domestic Violence(DV)in child custody cases. We spoke of the desperate need for training and education for family court professionals such as judges, lawyers, Guardian Ad Litems (GALS), evaluators, therapists, and others. The fact of the matter is that there are far too many cases of children being ignored, dismissed, and ultimately harmed as a result of poor judgement and lack of knowledge from the very people who vowed to protect their “best interests”. The research has been done and training is readily available, such as theAdverse ChildhoodExperience (ACEs) training by the Centers of Disease Control (CDC), The SAFeR Approach training by the Battered Women’s Justice Project, The Saunders Study, funded by the U.S.Department of Justice, and the Family Court Outcome (FCO) Study by Joan Meier, funded by the National Institute of Justice. So, why aren’t the ones who have the most impact on the lives of these children, involved in high conflict custody cases, not aware of or knowledgeable about these studies? The problem lies in the way things have “always been done,” but these ways are failing our children and they need to be changed. Parental rights are trumping children’s rights and this needs to stop. There are 50/50 parenting bills, such as HB803 in Texas, being introduced right now in states across the country that aim to make matters worse for children’s voices. Can children be coerced to lie or make up false allegations? Research shows that this is rarely the case. Children deserve to be heard, believed and protected by the family court system. The research shows that the current trend of courts is not believing the child’s allegations of abuse, whether it be physical, sexual, or psychological, causing horrific outcomes including custody going in favor of their abuser, and in some cases, the murder of that child. This is why we need to support foundations such as Kyra’s Law and the Stop Abuse Campaign, which puts child safety first. April is a month designated to be aware of child abuse, but these issues need year-long attention. This is a global trend, and it will take our voices as parents, advocates, and communities to give a voice to those who need it most-our children. https://vetoviolence.cdc.gov/apps/aces-training/?utm_source=search&utm_medium=adwords&utm_campaign=aces-training#/Saunders Study, by Daniel G. Saunders, Ph.D, Kathleen C. Faller, Ph.D., and Richard M. Tolman,Ph.D.:https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/2
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