Are battered mothers treated so badly by family courts that their basic human rights are being violated? In many cases, the answer is "yes" according to a new report from the Battered Mothers' Testimony Project (BMTP) at the Wellesley Centers for Women. Battered Mothers Speak Out looks in-depth at the experiences of 40 battered mothers who sought help from family courts in Massachusetts, applying a human rights standard to their experiences. The report's conclusion is stark: Courts are regularly violating the human rights of battered mothers. Systemic flaws in the state's family court system cause and perpetuate serious human rights violations that jeopardize the safety and well being of battered women and their children.

"Family courts in Massachusetts are endangering battered women and their children," said Carrie Cuthbert, Co-Director of the BMTP. "The courts' actions and inactions amount to nothing less than human rights violations. Many people are aware of these problems and have been sitting on them for a long time. We hope this report will be a catalyst for change."

Although the BMTP has only explored the situation in Massachusetts, Cuthbert says the problems identified in the report are widespread and occur in courts throughout the nation. Advocates and court officers around the country are already expressing interest in the report and its recommendations.

Findings

Over the course of four years, the BMTP documented and analyzed instances where the Massachusetts family courts were violating internationally accepted human rights laws and standards in dealing with cases involving child custody and visitation issues where there was a history of partner abuse. The project took in-depth testimonies from battered mothers who experienced family court litigation throughout Massachusetts. It surveyed advocates working at programs serving battered women, conducted focus groups with advocates and survivors, and interviewed family court judges, other court officers and other judicial personnel. The BMTP also sponsored a Human Rights Tribunal on Domestic Violence & Child Custody at the Massachusetts State House last summer.

Human rights, the reports states, constitute a universal value system and vision of principles that form the foundation of global freedom, justice and peace. These rights are based on the fundamental principle that all people possess an inherent human dignity and are equally entitled to enjoy their human rights and are equally responsible for respecting the human rights of others. Governments throughout the world, including in the United States, have clear and specific responsibilities to protect and promote the human rights of people within their jurisdictions.

With regard to battered mothers who seek help in the Massachusetts courts, the United States is failing to meet those responsibilities, the study concludes. It finds strikingly similar experiences reported by battered women who sought help from the courts, despite their diversity and the complexity of their individual circumstances. Battered Mothers Speak Out identifies six types of human rights violations committed by family courts in Massachusetts:

Failure to protect battered women and children from abuse.
Examples: Granting custody of children to batterers and/or child abusers; granting unsafe visitation with batterers and/or child abusers.

Discrimination and bias against battered women.
Examples: Holding battered mothers to higher behavioral and parenting standards than fathers; unfairly or baselessly favoring fathers over mothers.

Degrading treatment of battered women.
Example: Treating battered mothers with condescension, scorn and disrespect.

Denial of due process to battered women.
Examples: Failing to provide battered mothers with an adequate opportunity to be heard in court; pressuring battered mothers to engage in face-to-face mediation with their batterers.

Allowing the batterer to continue the abuse through the family courts.
Example: Allowing batterers to file multiple harassing, baseless or retaliatory motions against their victims in court.

Failure to respect the economic rights of battered women and children.
Examples: Reducing child support orders to compensate for the cost of abuse-related services such as supervised visitation; failure to hold batterers accountable for nonpayment of child support.

"A woman or child fleeing domestic violence or child abuse in the U.S. has the exact same human right to freedom from violence as a woman fleeing violence in wartime in Bosnia," Cuthbert said. "We all have a responsibility to stand up and claim our human rights. It's time to do that in the U.S."

The report notes that family courts can play a substantial role in the prevention of partner and child abuse once a woman leaves her abuser. But systemic flaws in the family court system prevent that from happening. Those flaws rest with state actors (court or other government officials) who: lack an understanding of domestic violence, child abuse, child development and trauma; ignore, minimize or refuse to examine evidence or allegations of domestic violence or child abuse; exhibit bias against battered women and in favor of their abusive ex-partners; allow batterers to use the court system to harass and financially drain battered women and children; and fail to apply the law.

As a result of these flaws, family courts regularly grant custody or visitation to batterers when doing so may jeopardize the child's safety, ignore or minimize women's reports of abuse, fail to investigate partner or child abuse, and fail to examine or credit documented evidence of partner or child sexual abuse. Battered Mothers Speak Out also identifies specific problems with guardians ad litem.

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