Safe Child Act section Retraining Judges and other Court Professionals

by Barry Goldstein

Last month my article was about legislation needed to stop custody courts from routinely sending children into the custody of dangerous abusers. My meeting with a state legislator led to her request that I prepare a proposal that would be the basis of legislation to reform the broken system. I would like to thank Toby Kleinman for her assistance in drafting this proposal. Immediately below will be my proposal for a Safe Child Act and I will then discuss why I think this would make a difference. You are most welcome to post or otherwise use this proposal and this article in support of efforts to reform the system. In fact I hope many people will take the proposal for a Safe Child Act and ask their legislators to sponsor it. 

Safe Child Act 

Purpose: Improve the Safety of Children involved in Child Custody Cases  



Retraining Judges and other Court Professionals 

Contrary to appearances, judges receive training about domestic violence and other related issues. The problem is that some of the trainings are provided by unqualified professionals and when a good training is presented some judges, believing they already know everything, do not pay much attention. Most legal professionals have heard the often unqualified evaluators providing misinformation throughout their careers and so the wrong information can be so deeply ingrained they are not open to evidence based upon current scientific research that disputes what they have heard most of their careers. 

I believe that by making substantial changes in the way domestic violence custody cases are considered it will encourage court professionals to hear the new information because that is what will be required to respond to cases from now on. The law also requires that the information be presented by genuine experts in domestic violence and be based on current scientific research. As discussed earlier, the law would require courts to consider specific types of information that are needed to assess the safety of children. Judges and other court professionals are unfamiliar with this information because they have been relying on mental health professionals who do not have the needed domestic violence expertise. Indeed this was the finding of the new U. S. Department of Justice study. 

The language in the proposal refers not just to training but retraining. It says that the present practices and beliefs have not worked to protect children’s safety. In order to avoid being reversed, judges will have to have an understanding of the new safety practices and avoid the old flawed practices. Without active participation in the retraining programs, the judges’ mistakes would become obvious. This would create some accountability that has been sorely missing. In fairness, I do not believe most judges want to hurt children or even risk their safety. They just do not understand the enormous harm they have been causing.