Illinois Coalition for Family Court Reform

 

Working together for change

  Mother's Day Complaint Claims United States Courts Violate Children and
                           Mothers' Human Rights

    NEW YORK, May 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On May 11, just before
Mother's Day weekend, ten mothers, one victimized child, now an adult, and
leading national organizations and state organizations filed a complaint
against the United States with the Inter American Commission on Human
Rights. The case claims that U.S. courts, by frequently awarding child
custody to abusers and child molesters, has failed to protect the life,
liberties, security and other human rights of abused mothers and their
children.
    "For more than 30 years U.S. judges have given custody or unsupervised
visitation of children to abusers and molesters putting the children
directly at risk," says Dianne Post, an international attorney who authored
the petition. "These horrendous human rights violations have been brought
to the attention of family court systems, and state and federal
governments, to no avail. We turn now to international courts to protect
the rights and safety of US children."
    The complaint details several cases with documented medical evidence of
child sexual abuse, yet in each instance the abusing father was given full
custody of the children he abused. Several of the mothers were jailed by
the courts because of their persistent efforts to protect their children
from abuse, several were ordered not to speak of the abuse and not to
report abuse to authorities. Every mother was denied contact with her child
for some period of time though none was ever proven to have harmed them.
    "My life was completely shattered apart on that day and my childhood
was destroyed," said Jeff Hoverson, the adult child petitioner, about the
day a family court judge ordered sheriff deputies to deliver him into the
custody of his abuser. "It was as if I was just kidnapped. I was torn from
everything I knew... I was made into a possession rather than a child."
Hoverson endured years of trauma and fear living in his father's home
before escaping and returning to his mother at age 17. He is haunted by
years of feeling helpless to prevent his father's night-time visits to his
sisters' bedrooms.
    "The cases in this petition represent the proverbial tip of the
iceberg," says Irene Weiser, executive director of the national online
organization Stop Family Violence. "We are contacted by an average of three
protective mothers each week who have lost custody to child abusing
fathers. This is a nationwide crisis of enormous proportion."
    "The lives of thousands of children and mothers have been irreparably
harmed by family courts across our nation," says Joyanna Silberg, Ph.D.,
executive vice-president of The Leadership Council on Child Abuse and
Interpersonal Violence, another national organizations supporting the
petition. "The years of trauma and psychological abuse because of the
courts' failings result in lasting emotional damage to the children they
are supposed to protect."
    Studies of gender bias in the courts, conducted in the 1980's and 90's,
found disturbing trends of courts minimizing or excusing men's violence
against women, and favoring the abusers. In 1990 the United States Congress
passed a resolution recommending the prohibition of giving joint or sole
custody to abusers. Seventeen years later, the practice continues unabated.
Ten years ago today, leading national organizations were joined by members
of Congress in a protest in Washington D.C. to again raise awareness about
the problems in family courts. Today, petitioners say, the problem is
systemic and widespread in family law courts across the nation.
    The petition seeks a finding from the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights that the U.S. has violated the Declaration of the Rights and
Responsibilities of Man and the Charter of the Organization of American
States and a statement of the steps that the U.S. must take to comply with
its human rights obligations in regards to battered women and children in
child custody cases.
    The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights was created in 1959 and
is expressly authorized to examine allegations of human rights violations
by members of the Organization of American States, which include the United
States. It also carries out on-site visits to observe the general human
rights situations in all 35 member states of the Organization of American
States and to investigate specific allegations of violations of
Inter-American human rights treaties. Its charge is to promote the
observance and the defense of human rights in the Americas.
    Dianne Post, a 1980 graduate of the University of Wisconsin law school,
has worked on issues of gender-based violence since 1976. In addition to
private practice and legal aid, she has taught legal classes and been a
consultant working or living in Russia, Cambodia, Hungary and some dozen
other countries. She is currently in Vladivostok, Russia.
    Additional national organizations supporting the international lawsuit
include: National Organization for Women and the NOW Foundation, National
Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Justice For Children, National Family
Court Watch Project, Stop Family Violence, Legal Momentum, Family Violence
Prevention Fund, National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, Domestic
Violence Report, Sidran Traumatic Stress Institute, and the National Center
on Sexual and Domestic Violence. The petition is supported by many state
organizations as well.
    In December 2005, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a petition
against the United States with the Inter American Commission on Human
Rights for their failure to protect Jessica Gonzales' three children from
their abusive father, who murdered them. Their petition, the first of its
kind, asserted that domestic violence victims have the right to be
protected by the state from the violent acts of their abusers.
    For additional information, or to review the petition visit
http://www.StopFamilyViolence.org.

Click the Articles link at left for more coverage of the complaint against the United States
 
filed with the Inter American Commission on Human Rights.