 When a custody evaluation is conducted by a psychologist, the revised version of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) is often used as part of the evaluation process. The MMPI-2, like other traditional psychological tests, was not designed to be used in custody evaluations and arguably should not be used for such purpose except…

 Dragiewicz, M. (2010). Gender bias in the courts: Implications for battered mothers and their children. In M. Hannah & B. Goldstein (Eds.), Domestic violence, abuse, and child custody: Legal strategies and policy issues (§ 5.1–5.18). Kingston, NJ: Civic Research Institute. Dragiewicz provides a comprehensive summary of gender bias reports pertaining to custody decisions. In…

 Johnson, N. E., Saccuzzo, D. P., & Koen, W. J. (2005). Child custody mediation in cases of domestic violence: Empirical evidence of a failure to protect. Violence Against Women, 11(8), 1022-1053. “This study shows that victims of domestic violence (DV) are greatly disadvantaged when states require mediation of child custody disputes. The investigators empirically…

 A study of 300 cases over a 10-year period in which the mother sought to protect the child from sexual abuse, found that 70% resulted in unsupervised visitation or shared custody; in 20% of the cases the mothers completely lost custody, and many of these lost all visitation rights. Neustein & Goetting (1999), “Judicial Responses…

http://www.law.seattleu.edu/Documents/sjsj/2011spring/Przekop.pdf One More Battleground: Domestic Violence, Child Custody, and the Batterers’ Relentless Pursuit of their Victims Through the Court “… The high rate of continued physical violence after separation is only one problem a woman may face after escaping an abusive partner. Even if survivors of abuse succeed in leaving their abusers, there is another…

CUSTODY STUDIES http://www.vawnet.org/applied-research-papers/print-document.php?doc_id=371By Daniel Saunders Daniel G. Saunders, Ph.D.University of MichiganSchool of Social Work “…This document describes some of the legal and cultural trends surrounding custody and visitation decisions and the social science evidence supporting a need to consider domestic violence in these decisions….” Highlights: “Social science evidence can help to establish which parent is…

http://www.lundybancroft.com/articles/understanding-the-batterer-in-custody-and-visitation-disputes

http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publishing/cdv_enewsletter/custodymythsandcounter.authcheckdam.pdf Ten Myths About Domestic Violence and Custody –  ABA Commission on Domestic Violence Visit www.cavnet.org

About the Custody Project ?BWJP is working to improve the family court response to domestic violence through a grant from the Office of Violence Against Women.  The goal of the project is to enhance safety for battered women and their children by ensuring that family court decision-making accounts for the nature and effects of domestic…