Family Values Republican Bill O’Reilly Loses Custody Of His Kids

[umsami]

15 hours ago, JesusCampSongs said:

Most states default to joint legal custody and shared physical custody these days. While it's an improvement in some ways, it's had a really negative impact on families that split up due to abuse/violence. Batterers are known for using shared custody arrangements to control and punish their former partners for leaving, and the kids involved often become proxies for the abuse. 

I see this a lot in my line of work (clinical social work). 

Yup.  If the parents had a healthy relationship to begin with, usually they can decide custody without a judge.  It's often the abusers who fight for custody, and sadly they often win.  Recent article by one of the first people to work with batterers.

"One study found that in many cases evidence about domestic violence is excluded from child custody evaluation reports. More troubling, is that even when domestic violence by the father is validated by custody evaluators, in many cases it does not hinder the father's chances of gaining joint legal and/or physical custody. A mega analysis of various surveys of custody evaluators found that approximately 40% say that they typically recommend sole legal and physical custody to mothers who are victims of domestic violence, while 47% typically recommend joint legal and physical custody to both parents."

[Cactus]

16 hours ago, JesusCampSongs said:

Most states default to joint legal custody and shared physical custody these days. While it's an improvement in some ways, it's had a really negative impact on families that split up due to abuse/violence. Batterers are known for using shared custody arrangements to control and punish their former partners for leaving, and the kids involved often become proxies for the abuse. 

I see this a lot in my line of work (clinical social work). 

This exact thing happened to me. I wanted nothing to do with my mother's abusive ex, and the only reasons I was listened to at all were because 1) I was already 14 when they split and 2) I made a lot of noise. Had I been much younger (or quieter), the courts would have ignored my strong wishes and forced me to spend time with each one of them.

Any custody arrangement that is not explicitly what the children want once they're old enough to form an opinion (which IMO is once they start school) is bullshit and should be freely ignored.

I was absolutely livid when I found out that the starting point here is for joint custody, and only then is it altered for family violence - parents should have to prove their fitness to be parents, not prove the other one is abusive towards them.

I will always have a biased view on this topic. I wouldn't know Bill O'Reilly from a bar of soap, but boy does he sound familiar.