Written evidence from Carla James (CFA0021)
HOUSE OF LORDS CHILDREN AND FAMILIES ACT 2014 SELECT COMMITTEE INQURY
A submission of evidence by Carla James, MSc Psychology of Coercive Control, Current PhD Candidate - Research Interest Family Court and Domestic Violence.
Point 1 - How well have the limitations on expert evidence served children in the family justice system?
In relation to cases of domestic abuse, ascertaining the best interests of the child, safeguarding her or him, and child arrangement orders, it is imperative that the expert witnesses are highly trained, suitably qualified, and experienced in working with domestic violence victims and survivors. Sadly, at the time of writing this may not be the case as coercive and controlling behaviour is still not well understood in criminal or civil contexts according to relatively recent research (Barlow et al., 2019; Barlow & Walklate, 2021). While domestic abuse can happen to anyone, there is a significant amount of academic research indicating that coercive and controlling behaviour tends to have more female victims and male perpetrators (Stark, 2007; Swan et al., 2008; Tanha et al., 2010), (although this is currently not reflected in the laws relating to this crime in England and Wales) and that misogyny from those who work as professionals in family court may be influencing judicial decisions (Death et al., 2019; Milchman, 2017; Priolo-Filho et al., 2019). Furthermore, protective parents (especially mothers subjected to a father’s violence) are increasingly subjected to a counter-allegation of parental alienation in family court (Lapierre & Côté, 2016; Miller & Manzer, 2021), this increases the likelihood of them suffering a custody reversal to a perpetrator (father) especially in cases of disclosures of sexual abuse (by a father) (Death et al., 2019; Lapierre & Côté, 2016; Miller & Manzer, 2021) with the associated perpetuation of trauma in those children forced by court order to visit or live with a parent who harms them and their protective parent after family separation (Babcock et al., 2008; Clements et al., 2021; Coy et al., 2015; Graham-Bermann et al., 2012; Jones et al., 2001).
Although there is no agreed definition of parental alienation and parental alienation syndrome (Gardner, 1999) which may be synonymous with parental alienation and has been largely discredited by the academic community (Meier, 2009; Milchman et al., 2020) due to being based on a sole caseload without research or peer review, it still has significant impacts on survivors of domestic abuse (especially mothers). The reason for the impacts on mothers in particular who are navigating family court may be due to some of the author’s views on women, and also his views on the acceptability of sexual relations with children (Gardner, 1992b; Gardner, 2001). Before appointing an expert in parental alienation, the court should carefully consider the origins of the original ideas and reflect on whether appointing an expert from this field could further harm survivors including child survivors. It should also give due consideration as to whether an expert specifically trained and suitably qualified in coercive and controlling behaviour / domestic violence may be more suitable.
While it can be argued that there are systems in place that have the aim of properly assessing cases of domestic abuse (Practise Directions 12J), research indicates that this is inconsistently applied (Hunter et al., 2018), and that where it is, the strong presumption of ongoing contact with a perpetrator of domestic violence is still the court’s preference with adverse effects on the victim survivor and the child victim survivor in terms of post-separation abuse and coercive control (Choudhry, 2019; Gutowski & Goodman, 2019; Hamel et al., 2009; Harrison, 2008; Hester, 2011; Heward-Belle, 2017; Humphreys & Thiara, 2003).
Point 2 - How has the presumption of the involvement of both parents in the life of a child after family separation affected proceedings?
With the introduction of the Domestic Abuse Act in April 2021 ("Domestic Abuse Act 2021: Chapter 17: PGA CH 17 2021," 2021) and inclusion of the offence of post-separation coercive control that also recognises children as victims in their own right, it is important that the courts reflect on their practises to ensure that victims are protected from perpetrators after a couple have separated. Extensive research indicates that this may not be the case and there are a variety of ways in which a perpetrator employs tactics through the misuse of courts to achieve this. Such tactics include but are not limited to, using the children to continue to abuse the protective parent (Clements et al., 2021; Coy et al., 2015), misusing the courts with protracted and repeat applications (Douglas, 2018) referred to as ‘custody stalking’ (Clements et al., 2021), deliberately seeking to undermine mothering (Craven, 2008; Heward-Belle, 2017), misusing the courts to cause emotional or financial harm to a victim (Crossman et al., 2016; Humphreys & Thiara, 2003; Katz, 2019; Katz et al., 2020; Laing, 2017; Radford et al., 1997), and sadly, that the courts may be working in the best interests of the abuser rather than the child as a result (Jeffries, 2016).
In the documentary ‘Family Courts Uncovered’ aired on Channel 4 Dispatches in 2021 (Doherty, 2021), video footage of children being forcibly removed from their homes late at night by police to be taken to a parent who they appear afraid of and distressed about seeing was shown. How this can be deemed in the child’s best interests is unclear and it is these overarching considerations that the courts should consider. The presumption of contact with both parents must be given due consideration in the light of the ways in which court orders affect all survivors of one parent’s abuse. Of particular importance is that the assessment of the presence of coercive and controlling behaviour should be central in deciding child contact cases (Meier et al., 2019; Meier, 2009, 2020, 2021), and for that to occur in order to safeguard adult and child victims and survivors, the experts must be experts appointed from a place of genuine understanding of domestic violence.
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April 2022