NOW - NEW YORK STATE SUPPORT MEMO
A0326 (Wright)
- Prohibits Unnecessary Removal of Children from a
Custodial Parent Who is the Victim of Domestic Violence
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The National Organization for Women – New York State,
Inc. strongly supports bill A0326, legislation which seeks
to prevent the unnecessary removal of children from the custody
of a parent who has suffered from domestic violence. Women,
most commonly the victims of domestic abuse, deserve to have
custody of their children, regardless of the abuses which
they have suffered at the hands of their partners.
According to the American Institute on Domestic Violence,
roughly 95% of all victims of domestic violence are women,
and domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women
between the ages of fifteen and forty-four. Thus, women are
primarily at risk of losing custody of their children when
victims of domestic violence are denied custodial rights.
In a study conducted by the California National Organization
for Women in 2002, it was found that 76 percent of respondents’ cases
involved allegations of some kind of abuse by the father
and that in 69 percent of those cases, the offender was given
unsupervised contact with or custody of the children. Awarding
this kind of custody to abusive parents, most often fathers,
is no way to protect New York State’s women, children,
and families.
In an article by Lundy Bancroft entitled, “Making
a Mothers’ Movement,” it was noted that the relationship
between a child and his/her mother is a very profound and
important one. “Mothers have an additional bond from
having carried their children… and mothers are, in
the great majority of cases, their children’s primary
caretakers, especially during their early years…. That
life-giving and sustaining connection deserves the full support
and admiration of communities and nations.” Women should
be rewarded for their endurance of brutal mistreatment and
their close connections to their children, not punished with
the taking of custody.
Bancroft also notes the existence of a mixed message for
battered mothers from modern society: “First it says
to mothers, ‘If your children’s father is violent
or abusive to you… you should leave him in order to
keep your children from being exposed to his behavior.’ But
then, if the mother does leave, the society many times appears
to do an abrupt about-face, and say, ‘Now that you
are split up from your abusive partner, you must expose your
children to him.’…The sad result of this double-bind
is that many mothers who take entirely appropriate steps
to protect their children from exposure to abuse are being
insulted by court personnel, harshly and unethically criticized
and ridiculed in custody evaluations and psychological assessments,
and required to send their children into unsupervised contact
or even custody with their abusive fathers. And sometimes
these rulings are coming in the face of overwhelming evidence
that the children have …witnessed abuse.”
Clearly, New York State’s courts are creating very
negative living situations for children by discriminating
against battered mothers in custody cases. Women who have
suffered at the hands of their partners should not be subject
to worries that they will lose their offspring to that abusive
partner, or that they will be punished legally for having
been victims of domestic violence. The National Organization
for Women – New York State, Inc. thus strongly urges
the passage of bill A0326 which seeks to prevent the unnecessary
removal of children from a custodial parent who is the victim
of domestic violence. The protection of mothers and children
in New York State depends upon its passage.
Marcia A. Pappas, President, NOW-NYS, Inc.
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