\n<\/p>\n
Nearly 90% of cases before the family courts in England and Wales show evidence of domestic abuse, a watchdog has disclosed.<\/p>\n
Physical, psychological or sexual abuse of a member of the family or household was uncovered in 87% of cases, according to a review ordered by the domestic abuse commissioner, Nicole Jacobs.<\/p>\n
The abuse was frequently not recognised as an \u201cactive issue\u201d or taken seriously with regard to the type of contact children would go on to have with the abusive parent, she said. In more than half of the cases reviewed, unsupervised overnight contact was ordered.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo child should be forced to spend time with an abusive parent or caregiver if the circumstances aren\u2019t safe for them to do so,\u201d Jacobs said. \u201cBut time and time again we see how the pro-contact culture and antiquated views on domestic abuse are contributing to decisions that put children in harm\u2019s way.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s clear that domestic abuse can no longer be considered a side issue within the family justice system, but instead its everyday business that demands a rigorous response.\u201d<\/p>\n
Academics from Loughborough University examined 298 files from three courts and observed nearly 100 court hearings. As well as discovering evidence of abuse in case files, the team also heard claims of abuse in 73% of observed hearings, the report said.<\/p>\n
Survivors repeatedly described how they were dissuaded from raising allegations of domestic abuse due to the suggestion that it would have \u201cno impact\u201d on whether the abusive parent would be granted contact. Others said they felt that pressure had been put on them to accept potentially unsafe child arrangement orders out of fear that, if they contested, an even worse outcome would be granted.<\/p>\n
Jacobs said survivors were being forced to navigate the complex system without representation. She urged the Ministry of Justice to commit to a rollout of the multi-service Pathfinder courts to resolve problems between parents sooner, and place more emphasis on hearing children\u2019s voices.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government must also provide the necessary investment to extend the pilot study, conducted by my office, to allow for rigorous oversight on the changes being made and ensure accountability from within the family court,\u201d she added. \u201cTinkering around the edges will no longer suffice.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report highlights how outdated views on domestic abuse among some legal professionals saw physical violence taken more seriously, while coercive and controlling behaviour \u2013 which often underpins physical abuse and is an offence in itself \u2013 was frequently dismissed.<\/p>\n
A report by Women\u2019s Aid this summer detailed how 19 children had been killed over nine years by adults who had been allowed contact with them despite a history of violence.<\/p>\n
In March, MPs discussed the presumption of parental involvement, and heard from Claire Throssell, whose two sons, Jack and Paul, were murdered by their abusive father in during court-ordered unsupervised contact.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday Catherine Roper, the chief constable of Wiltshire police, apologised after a staff member\u2019s failure to properly undertake applications under Clare\u2019s law \u2013 which allows people to find out whether a partner has a history of violence or domestic abuse \u2013 left women at risk of violence, including one who was the victim of attempted murder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nearly 90% of cases before the family courts in England and Wales show evidence of domestic abuse, a watchdog has disclosed. Physical, psychological or sexual abuse of a member of the family or household was uncovered in 87% of cases, according to a review ordered by the domestic abuse commissioner, Nicole Jacobs. The abuse was<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[682,3767,160,1386,311,2906,1245,1604,1388,123,2019],"class_list":{"0":"post-27079","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-social-issues","8":"tag-abuse","9":"tag-cases","10":"tag-court","11":"tag-domestic","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-family","14":"tag-feature","15":"tag-majority","16":"tag-violence","17":"tag-wales","18":"tag-watchdog"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}