A History of Domestic Abuse Has Little Influence on Child Custody Proceedings

By Christina Rentz

Published on August 12, 2005

The Seattle-based study, which was performed by the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center, is of special interest because children exposed to domestic abuse are much more likely to be victims or perpetrators of domestic abuse later in life. They are also at greater risk for psychological problems.

The study found that mothers were granted custody of the children more frequently than fathers. However, mothers who had been victims of domestic abuse were just as likely to be awarded custody as mothers with no history of domestic abuse.

The study also revealed that a history of perpetrating domestic violence had little bearing on a father's visitation rights. The percentage of fathers with a history of domestic abuse who were only allowed court-supervised visitations was roughly equal to the percentage of fathers without such a history who were only allowed supervised visits. Furthermore, only 17 percent of abusive fathers were refused visitation rights.

Finally, out of all the divorce and child custody cases in which the father had a known history of domestic violence, only half of the cases made reference to the abuse in the divorce files.

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