DRAFT

Safety First for Children who Report Violence and Sexual Abuse
Whereas: Child abuse is a major public health issue in the United Statesi.

Research demonstrates that increased adverse childhood experiences such as physical and sexual abuse and witnessing domestic violence are strongly related to obesity, substance abuse, depression, suicide attempts, promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases, vocational problems, heart disease, lung disease, cancer, and other societal problems.ii The total lifetime estimated financial costs associated with just one year of confirmed cases of child maltreatment is approximately $124 billion.iii iv

Whereas: Child abuse is epidemic and increasing.

The total number of children referred to child protection agencies increased in the past 5 years from 3.2 million referrals (5.8 million children) in 2007 to 3.4 million referrals (6.2 million children) in 2011.v The number of physically and sexually abused children rose from 18.4% in 2007 to 27.7% in 2011. Physical abuse rose from 10.8% in 2007 to 17.6% in 2011. Sexual abuse rose from 7.6% in 2007 to 9.1% in 2011. Neglect rose from 59% in 2007 to 78.5% in 2011.vi Although, child protective services substantiated significantly fewer cases during that 5 year period, finding 794,000 victims in 2007 and only 681,000 victims in 2011,vii this decline does not establish a decline in actual child abuse. In the last 12 years, there was a 5% increase of serious physical abuse in children such as head injuries, burns, and fractures. This is in sharp contrast to data from child protective services agencies, which show a 55% decrease in physical abuse cases from 1997 to 2009.viii Childhood sexual abuse is significantly underreported. Although research shows that sexual abuse comprises less than 10% of child protective services cases and under 2% of custody disputes,ix one out of four adult women reports being sexually abused as a child.x There are 747,408 registered sex offenders in the United States in 2012, an increase of 7,555 offenders from 2011.xi 80% of abusers were victims parents and one quarter of victims were exposed to domestic violence. 1570 children died, four fifths of whom were under 4 years of age.xii The United States has the worst record in the industrialized nation - losing five children every day due to abuse-related deaths.xiii

Whereas: Mandated reporters of child abuse and neglect are assumed to be protected by immunity, but report that they are often harassed by accused perpetrators filing frivolous law suits and unfounded reports of misconduct to their oversight boards after a mandated report of child sexual abuse is submitted; Whereas: Violence is a serious, preventable public health problem that can result in long-term health problems. Women are disproportionately victims of domestic violence. xiv One in 4 women has been a victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner and more than 3 women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends every day.xv Nearly 1 in 5 women has been raped at some time in her life;xvi

Whereas: Approximately 15 million children are exposed to domestic violence each year.xvii Witnessing domestic violence has long term negative health and societal consequences for children.xviii There is a high overlap of domestic violence and child abuse. In an estimated 30 to 60% of families where domestic violence or child maltreatment is identified, it is likely that both forms of abuse exist.xix Whereas: Nearly half of marriages in the United States fail, often due to domestic violence, leaving children vulnerable to further abuse, particularly sexual abuse;xx Whereas: The divorce industry has generated enormous amounts of money from litigants. One study found that the average spent by a litigant in family court was $100,000 spent on private attorneys, evaluators, mediators, parenting coordinators, special masters, therapists and other court ordered professionals. xxi Whereas: Child support laws create a financial incentive for irresponsible abusers to obtain custody and avoid child support; Whereas: Federal statistics are not collected on the subset of children who report violence or sexual abuse in custody cases. The best interest standard used by family/divorce courts is vague and subject to many interpretations which may lead to a lack of protection for children. Research shows that physically and sexually abusive parents are granted custody and unsupervised custody and this pattern of judicial decision making is exposing children to serious harm.

Batterers are twice as likely to request custody as non-batterers.xxii Only 17% of fathers with a known history of domestic violence were denied child visitation.xxiii Only 10% of children who report sexual abuse are protected by family/divorce courts.xxiv It is estimated that more than 50,000 children are placed in unsupervised contact with, or full custody of, their reported abusers by family/divorce courts each year and hundreds are killed by dangerous custodial parents, most of whom are fathers.xxv

Whereas: Research suggests that system failure occurs in many, if not all, states and results in lack of protection for children. Oversight is minimal; gender bias is extensive; statistics are lacking; protocols are lacking; due process violations occur; professionals and public entities charge for unwanted services; crimes are evaluated by mental health professionals instead of law enforcement investigators; professionals are skeptical of abuse allegations by women and children; a parent seeking to protect a child may be viewed as unfriendly and uncooperative; child safety and attachment needs are minimized or disregarded; and human rights of women and children in family/divorce courts are violated in a manner that mirrors violations against people of color in Jim Crow courts;xxvi, xxvii Whereas: The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) found that the United States violated the human rights of Jessica Lenahan (formerly Gonzales) and her children and that the U.S. is failing in its legal obligation to protect women and children from domestic violence;xxviii Whereas: In 2012, 799 parents, of whom 68% were mothers, fled with their children to other countries and the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction was invoked.xxix A majority of the mothers were battered women attempting to protect their children from abusers, and many children were returned to their abusers;xxx Whereas: Americas children are not sufficiently protected from violence and sexual abuse. . Therefore: The United States Congress resolves that:

Oversight hearings on the failure of child protective services and family/divorce courts to protect children and retaliation against mandated reporters that were scheduled in 1994 shall be promptly rescheduled;

The Department of Justice Office of Violence Against Women (OVW), in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, shall establish a Federal Task Force to review child protective services and family/divorce courts, to develop methods, including effective oversight mechanisms, to ensure children who report violence or sexual abuse are fully protected by these systems, and to establish that the highest priority under the best interest of the child standard is child safety. OVW shall develop a subsidiary Violence Against Children Bureau to ensure childrens civil right to live free from violence and sexual abuse, and to collect longitudinal data on children who report violence or sexual abuse and are placed in unsupervised contact with their identified abusers.

http://vetoviolence.cdc.gov/childmaltreatment/phl/index.html# http://www.cdc.gov/ace/index.htm iii http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2012/p0201_child_abuse.html/ iv http://www.preventchildabuse.org/downloads/PCAA_Cost_Report_2012_Gelles_Perlman_final.pdf v http://archive.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/cm07/cm07.pdf; http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/cm11.pdf http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/resource/child-maltreatment-2011 vi http://archive.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/cm07/cm07.pdf http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/resource/child-maltreatment-2011 vii http://archive.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/cm07/cm07.pdf http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/resource/child-maltreatment-2011 viii http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121001084344.htm ix Thonnes and TJaden, 1988 x http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/pdf/Childhood_Stress.pdf xi http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/NewsEventServlet?PageId=4615 xii http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/cm11.pdf xiii http://www.childhelp.org/pages/statistics/ xiv http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2011/p1214_sexual_violence.html xv H.Res. 1637, Sept 2010 xvi http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2011/p1214_sexual_violence.html xvii H.Res 1637, Sept 2010 xviii http://www.domesticviolenceroundtable.org/effect-on-children.html xix https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/usermanuals/domesticviolence/domesticviolenceb.cfm xx www.leadershipcouncil.org; http://articles.cnn.com/2001-05-24/us/cdc.marriage_1_firstmarriages-divorce-remarriage?_s=PM:US xxi Personal communication with researcher Geraldine Stahly, Ph.D, California State University, San Bernardino, CA xxii Liss & Stahly, 1993 xxiii Kernic et al., 2005 xxiv Neustein and Goetting, 1999; Steubner, 2011 xxv http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/ xxvi The Legacy of Domestic Violence, Depner and Bronstone, 1994; Final Report of the Child Custody and Visitation Focus Group, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, March 1999; Has Psychiatry Gone Psycho, Insight Magazine, April 1999; Battered Mothers Speak Out: A Human Rights Report on Domestic Violence and Child Custody in the Massachusetts Family Courts, November 2002; Domestic Violence in Court-Based Child Custody Mediation Cases in California, Judicial Council of California, November 2002;Child Custody Mediation and Domestic Violence, Issue No. 251, July 2004; Domestic Violence in Court-Based Child Custody Mediation Cases in California, November 2002; Judicial Ignorance of Domestic Violence Puts Children in Harms Way, Researchers Say Massachusetts Family Courts Fail to Protect Battered Women and their Children: Study Applies Human Rights Analysis to Child Custody Cases Involving Domestic Violence, Ascribe Newswire, 2004; Custody-Visitation Scandal Cases, Barry Goldstein, 2005; Domestic Violence Court Reforms Outlined in New Report, Judicial Council of California, 2008; Justice Denied: How Family Courts in New York City Endanger Battered Women and Children, Voices of Women Organizing Project with the Human Rights Project of the Urban Justice Center, 2008; Family Court Crisis: Surviving a Broken System, 2008; When Battered Mothers Lose Custody: Dangerous Parents or System Failure, D. Saunders, 2008; Failure to Protect: The Crisis in Americas Family Courts, Cara Tabachnick, 2010; Custody Outcomes for Protective Parents in Cases with Child Sexual Abuse, Steubner, September 2011; Child Custody Evaluators Beliefs About Domestic Abuse Allegations: Their Relationship to Evaluator Demographics, Background, Domestic Violence Knowledge and Custody-Visitation Recommendations, NIJ-USDOJ, D. Saunders, 2011; A Life Sentence: U.S. Family Courts Sacrificing Mothers and Children, K. H. Snow, 2012 xxvii www.leadershipcouncil.org; www.centerforjudicialexcellence.org; www.stopfamilyviolence.org; www.batteredmotherscustodyconference.org; www.protectiveparents.com; www.mothers-of-lost-children.com xxviii http://www.aclu.org/human-rights-womens-rights/jessica-gonzales-v-usa xxix http://travel.state.gov/pdf/CY2012-Outgoing_Openstats.pdf;
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http://www.haguedv.org/reports/summary.pdf