News Article

Educating dads may help protect babies from abuse

USA TODAY, July 27, 2009

More than 2,400 children under 2 were murdered in the USA from 2001 to 2005, almost twice the number killed in car accidents, the study says. Children this age account for about half of all homicides of children under 14. The murder rate for babies this age — 6 per 100,000 children — is 10 times higher than the rate for children 7 to 8 years old, and even higher than the rate for 15- and 16-year-olds, the study says.  More

News Article

Man kills wife, now wants to control custody of children from jail

The Valley Independent (Pittsburgh, PA), August 12, 2009

A Fayette County man accused of running over over his wife with his car and killing her wants his parents to have legal custody of two of his children. In addition, he wants the cousins of a third adopted child to have custody of that youngster.  More

News Article

Man Accused of Shooting and Killing Wife Asks for Children to be Moved to Safer Home

KSBY 6 News, August 19, 2009

A family torn apart after a fatal shooting is now in a heated fight over where to place the victim's children.On July 9, 24-year-old Tasha Norris was fatally shot. Her husband, John Norris, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter. Despite that, his wishes for who will have custody of his children are being considered by child services.  More

Opinion

Why This Mother Was Not Heard

The Washington Post, April 13, 2008

The reluctance of custody courts and evaluators to suspend paternal access to children despite specific threats to kill those children (and their mother) should be seen as nothing short of astounding. In no other world would we expect authorities to grant unfettered access to children to someone who had threatened to kill them. Yet in family court, the obvious risk becomes obscured. Courts become blinded by the parents' battles. Thus, mothers are believed to fabricate or exaggerate dangers posed by fathers. Fathers (and mothers) are assumed to say things they don't mean in the heat of a "bitter custody dispute."   More

Report

Children Exposed to Domestic Violence Affect Everyone’s Kids in the Classroom

The New York Times, July 31, 2008

Kids exposed to domestic violence definitely do have lower reading and math scores and greater disciplinary problems. But the effects of this dysfunction are not limited to the direct victims of this violence: kids exposed to kids exposed to domestic violence also have lower test scores and more disciplinary infractions.   More

Action Alert

Governors: Don't Be Fooled by Parental Alienation

Parental alienation is a fictitious syndrome used by lawyers to get their clients off the hook when they're charged with abuse. Its use causes harm to abused children and undermines the integrity of the legal system. Tell your governor the truth about this bogus theory.  More

Action Alert

Help Holly Return Home and Find Justice!

June 15, 2008

Fourteen years ago, in a desperate action to protect her children from abuse, Holly Collins "went underground" and fled the country with her three young children after the Minneapolis Family Court ruled that they must live with their father, who had fractured Zachary's skull.  Now they want to come home - but the Minneapolis District Attorney refuses to drop the charges, and has threatened to try to put Holly in jail and deny her any contact with her now adult children the minute she sets foot on U.S. soil. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE AND TO TAKE ACTION!!   More

News Article

Full Text of IACHR Petition.

On May 11, just before Mother’s Day weekend, ten mothers, one victimized child, now an adult, and twelve leading national organizations filed a complaint against the United States with the Inter American Commission on Human Rights. Their petition claims that U.S. courts, by frequently awarding child custody to abusers and child molesters, has failed to protect the life, liberties, security and other human rights of abused mothers and their children.    More