Safe Child Act section The Importance of Findings

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  



The Importance of Findings 

The proposed legislation includes extensive findings and I believe this is important because it essentially says that the present practices are working poorly for children. Lawyers representing protective mothers will be able to cite the findings in case abusers or judges seek to undermine the purpose of the reforms. The findings make it clear that the intent of the legislature is for courts to stop using practices that have proven so harmful to children. 

The findings specifically challenge the widespread assumption by court professionals that contested custody are “high conflict” cases. Instead the law makes findings based on current research that most contested custody are really domestic violence cases in which an abuser is seeking custody to maintain control after his partner left him. This different understanding is critical because it encourages the use of accountability against abusers and to make him stop instead of pressuring his victim to cooperate with him. An attorney should have an easy time challenging the uses of flawed “high conflict” approaches because the legislature is telling the courts those approaches are harmful to children. 

One of the big problems in domestic violence custody cases is that courts, using flawed practices and unqualified professionals fail to recognize valid complaints about domestic violence. This frequently results in punishment of the mother for trying to protect her children. The findings state specifically that the courts are frequently failing to recognize domestic violence because of the outdated and discredited practices they use. Attorneys should be able to challenge these practices more effectively by citing the findings by the legislature. The legislation also finds that unqualified professionals often rely on the myth that women frequently make false allegations of abuse. This leads to the rejection of many valid complaints without a fair hearing. The law also confirms the problem of widespread gender bias against women litigants and requires appellate courts to reverse decisions based on these biased approaches. 

The legislation also finds that the courts’ response to sexual abuse allegations has been a disaster for children. Many of the common mistakes are discussed in the findings. The courts will have to change its practices as a result of the legislation and if the changes do not result in significant changes in the pattern of outcomes it would be clear the courts are not implementing the intent of the legislature. The child sexual abuse scandals at the Catholic Church, Penn State and Syracuse were allowed to continue longer because of the widespread assumption that men who are successful in other parts of their lives could not have committed such vile actions. This is the same mistake the custody courts keep making and the findings should force the courts to change this practice.