Sec. 1502. FINDINGS
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/statute-compilations/comps-16906/sec-1502A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
## SEC. 1502 FINDINGS **[**[34 U.S.C. 10446 note](/us/usc/t34/s10446)**]** Congress finds the following: ####
(1)Approximately 1 in 15 children is exposed to domestic violence each year. ####
(2)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 between 30 and 60 percent. A child’s risk of abuse increases after a perpetrator of intimate partner violence separates from a domestic partner, even when the perpetrator has not previously directly abused the child. Children who have witnessed intimate partner violence are approximately 4 times more likely to experience direct child maltreatment than children who have not witnessed intimate partner violence. ####
(3)More than 75 percent of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by a family member or a person known to the child. Data of the Department of Justice shows that family members are 49 percent, or almost half, of the perpetrators of crimes against child sex assault victims younger than 6 years of age. ####
(4)Research suggests a child’s exposure to a batterer is among the strongest indicators of risk of incest victimization. One study found that female children with fathers who are batterers of their mothers were 6.5 times more likely to experience father-daughter incest than female children who do not have abusive fathers. ####
(5)Child abuse is a major public health issue in the United States. Total lifetime financial costs associated with just 1 year of confirmed cases of child maltreatment, including child physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, and neglect, result in $124,000,000,000 in annual costs to the economy of the United States, or approximately 1 percent of the gross domestic product of the United States. ####
(6)Empirical research indicates that courts regularly discount allegations of child physical and sexual abuse when those allegations are raised in child custody cases. Courts believed less than ¼ of claims that a father has committed child physical or sexual abuse. With respect to cases in which an allegedly abusive parent claimed the mother “alienated” the child, courts believed only 1 out of 51 claims of sexual molestation by a father. Independent research indicates that child sexual abuse allegations are credible between 50 and 70 percent of the time. ####
(7)Empirical research shows that alleged or known abusive parents are often granted custody or unprotected parenting time by courts. Approximately ⅓ of parents alleged to have committed child abuse took primary custody from the protective parent reporting the abuse, placing children at ongoing risk. ####
(8)Researchers have documented nearly 800 child murders in the United States since 2008 committed by a divorcing or separating parent. More than 100 of these child murders are known to have occurred after a court ordered the child to have contact with the dangerous parent over the objection of a safe parent or caregiver. ####
(9)Scientifically unsound theories that treat abuse allegations of mothers as likely false attempts to undermine fathers are frequently applied in family court to minimize or deny reports of abuse of parents and children. Many experts who testify against abuse allegations lack expertise in the relevant type of alleged abuse, relying instead on unsound and unproven theories. ####
(10)Judges presiding over custody cases involving allegations of child abuse, child sexual abuse, and domestic violence are rarely required to receive training on these subjects, and most States have not established standards for such training.
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U.S. Code