While most child custody cases should end in appropriate, agreed upon co-parenting arrangements, cases which involve domestic violence, sexual abuse, and physical abuse require courts to consider the protection of victims as their first priority. Custody orders, which work well in ordinary cases, are often disastrous when domestic violence and/or child abuse threaten the protective parent or children.
It is well-documented that family courts throughout the United States place children in the custody of abusive parents simply because protective parents seek protection for themselves and their children. Incompetent or untrained mental health professionals who serve as custody evaluators and misguided guardians ad litem are often responsible for these tragic decisions. Bogus theories such as “parental alienation syndrome” and “Munchausen by proxy syndrome” are often used by abusers and their supporters to discredit real evidence of abuse.