Understanding Domestic Violence Dynamics: A Prerequisite For Court Professionals To Work On DV Custody Cases

by Barry Goldstein The frequency with which judges, lawyers, evaluators, child protective caseworkers and other professionals fail to recognize true complaints of domestic violence made by mothers in child custody cases has led to extensive discussions among domestic violence experts about the need for training. In many of these cases the professionals denied valid complaints […]

Read more

Domestic Violence Cases Require Domestic Violence Experts: Duh!

By Barry Goldstein I can understand why the court system did not immediately seek to learn from and rely on domestic violence experts when domestic violence first became a public issue in the mid to late 1970s. There was no research available and few domestic violence advocates. A popular assumption and misconception was that domestic […]

Read more

What Does Safe Feel Like?

The Real Meaning of Stopping Domestic Violence: Helping Potential Victims Feel Safe By Barry Goldstein   Dara Carlin is one of the best domestic violence advocates and told Elizabeth Liu and me a story when we were working on our book to train attorneys. Dara has a friend who is literally seven feet tall and […]

Read more

The Intersection of Rape, Custody and Reproductive Coercion

By Barry Goldstein Thirty-one states permit rapists to use family courts to gain access to their victim and obtain custody or visitation of a child conceived from rape. The situation is outrageous, but it doesn’t even describe the full failure of states to protect rape victims and their children. Even in states that provide some […]

Read more

Shared Custody Issues in the Context of Domestic Violence

by Barry Goldstein In a Queens New York custody case, the court appointed a prominent psychologist to evaluate a young couple.  The psychologist was frequently used as an expert in the New York courts despite a fathers’ rights bias that included a quotation in a New York Times article supporting shared parenting.  Throughout his testimony […]

Read more

Child Custody Links and Resources

Battered Mothers Custody Conference The Conference includes presentations, round-table discussions, and question & answer sessions with nationally distinguished professionals whose work is focused on resolving the complex issues facing battered women as they strive to protect themselves and their children in and out of court during custody and visitation disputes. It is open to lay […]

Read more

Barry Goldstein, JD – Child Custody Interview

An interview with Barry Goldstein, JD. on Community Impact.

Read more

NOMAS Says Use Sandusky Conviction to Protect All Children

The National Organization for Men Against Sexism (NOMAS) is relieved that Jerry Sandusky and the children who survived his repeated assaults have received a measure of justice. Sandusky will never harm a child again, but his prior acts will continue to cause unspeakable pain and damage as long as these children are remembered by friends […]

Read more

What is Fair for Children of Abusive Men?

A presentation by Jack Straton at What About the Kids? Custody and Visitation Decisions in Families with a History of Violence, a National Training Project of the Duluth Domestic Abuse Project on Thursday, October 8, 1992, Duluth, Minnesota Introduction I will first critically examine the criterion at the base of all custody laws today, “What […]

Read more

Policy Statement on Child Custody Laws

The National Organization for Men Against Sexism1 is committed to make substantive this nation’s ideals of equality and justice. In choosing loyalties in disputes over child custody, any society that cares for its future must make its primary concern that which is truly in the best interests of children. In a society such as ours in […]

Read more