‘It's like going through the abuse again’: domestic violence and women and children's (un)safety in private law contact proceedings

Abstract

Domestic violence is the most common welfare issue raised in private law contact proceedings. A wide range of studies has shown that judicial decisions about contact which fail to take safety into account endanger women and children physically and emotionally. Yet a presumption that contact is in the best interests of the child, combined with an increasing focus on fathers' rights, casts long shadows over legal judgments, policy frameworks and individual cases. This article presents research which examined child contact proceedings as a legal process to identify if, how and when domestic violence was factored into judicial decision making. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 34 women who had recently completed, or were currently undergoing, proceedings, the article highlights how two aspects of private law Children Act proceedings diminished women's safety: the absence of special facilities in family courts and gaps in legal representation for both victim-survivors and perpetrators.

Keywords::

• child contact
• domestic violence
• family justice

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all organisations and individuals who supported this research and assisted in signposting women to the project to be interviewed, and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on an earlier draft. Most of all we thank the women who shared their stories with us.

This work was supported by Trust for London. There are no conflicts of interest associated with this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

^1. At the time of the research (2012), this was the applicable framework, but it was superseded in April 2014 by Practice Direction 12J – Child Arrangements & Contact Order: Domestic Violence and Harm.

^2. Special measures are available for vulnerable and intimidated witnesses in criminal proceedings under Part II of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999.

^3. Following an initial distribution to county court managers in 2004. The text of the poster reads: ‘Special facilities are available at this court for people who feel unsafe or are intimidated by anyone connected with their work. If you or your client would like to make use of these facilities, please contact the relevant court staff’. A box is provided for each court to enter a staff contact for this purpose. The poster can be viewed online: Retrieved from http://www.family-justice-council.org.uk/docs/AppendixB_HMCS_special_facilities-poster%281%29.pdf.