Sec. 1602. Findings
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/bill/117/hr/1620/ih/section-1602·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress finds the following: Approximately 15 million children are exposed each year to domestic violence and/or child abuse. Most child abuse is perpetrated in the family and by a parent. Intimate partner violence and child abuse overlap in the same families at rates of 30 to 60 percent. A child’s risk of abuse increases after a perpetrator of intimate partner violence separates from their domestic partner, even when the perpetrator had not previously directly abused the child.
Children who have witnessed intimate partner violence are approximately four times more likely to experience direct child maltreatment than children who have not witnessed intimate partner violence. More than 75 percent of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by a family member or a person known to the child. U.S. Department of Justice data shows that family members are almost half (49 percent) of the perpetrators of child sex assault victims under age 6. Research suggests a child’s exposure to a batterer is among the strongest indicators of risk of incest victimization.
One study found female children whose fathers were batterers of the mother were six-and-a-half times more likely to experience father-daughter incest than female children who do not have an abusive father. Child abuse is a major public health issue in the United States. Total lifetime financial costs associated with just one year of confirmed cases of child maltreatment (including child physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse and neglect) results in $124 billion in annual costs to the U.S. economy, or approximately one percent of the gross domestic product.
Empirical research indicates that allegations of child physical and sexual abuse are regularly discounted by courts when raised in child custody cases, with fewer than one-fourth of claims that a father has committed child physical or sexual abuse believed; and where the allegedly abusive parent claimed the mother was alienating the child, only 1 out of 51 claims of sexual molestation by a father were believed. Independent research indicates that child sexual abuse allegations are credible 50 to 70 percent of the time.
Empirical research shows that alleged or known abusive parents are often granted custody or unprotected parenting time by courts. Approximately one-third of parents alleged to have committed child abuse took primary custody from the protective parent reporting the abuse, placing children at ongoing risk. Researchers have documented nearly 800 children murdered in the United States since 2008 by a divorcing or separating parent. More than 100 of these child murders are known to have occurred after a court ordered the child into contact with the dangerous parent over the objection of a safe parent or caregiver.
Scientifically unsound theories that treat mothers’ abuse allegations as likely false attempts to undermine the father are frequently applied in family court to minimize or deny parents’ and children’s reports of abuse. Many experts who testify against abuse allegations lack expertise in the relevant type of alleged abuse, relying instead on unsound and unproven theories. Judges presiding over custody cases with allegations of child abuse, child sexual abuse, and domestic violence are rarely required to receive training on these subjects, nor have most states established standards for such trainings.