Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a webinar (watch a webinar? … you know what I’m getting at) offered by the Battered Women’s Justice Project entitled the “The Child Custody/Child Protective Service Sandwich”.  The timing of such an offering was pretty amazing given that this issue has been on my mind a bit as of late (go figure). A couple of weeks ago, at my job, I received a call from a man stating that his sister was in an abusive relationship. This sister wanted to begin seeking services from a prominent domestic violence agency in the city but had some concerns. The caller’s friend, who is a social worker, had informed his sister about a licensed social worker’s mandated reporter status. The caller lamented that his sister was considering not seeking services (that ultimately might save her life…cough cough) because her children had witnessed one incident of abuse and, therefore, in speaking about this incident, she might trigger a mandated report. This is essentially the sandwich de jour; a sandwich, I must admit, I find incredibly hard to swallow. Its not an uncommon place for domestic violence victims to find themselves – sandwiched there in between Child Protective Services (CPS) and Family or Civil Court.

Domestic violence is a beast of a thing; its a dyad that only a survivor can understand. The decision to leave an abusive relationship is not an easy one. That decision, and research will back me up, increases the risk of death or serious injury exponentially; leaving is the most dangerous time for a victim and their children. Its not a decision to be entered in lightly.  Let’s just assume, for the sake of time, that a victim safely leaves their abuser and relocates to a shelter with the children. A clever abuser then heads to the family court and files for custody, or visitation, for an order of protection or to the civil court to file for divorce. Now the victim finds themself in a battle for the children, a battle they may not win without alleging that their abuser is, in fact, an abuser. The courts are inclined to believe that it is in the best interest of a child to have “parenting time” with both parents. If its not safe for a victim’s children and they believe that “parenting time” needs to be supervised, its their burden to prove why. As soon as one does that, they open themselves up to becoming pastrami, honey roasted turkey, the meat in an CPS and Court sandwich. The same thing would occur if their therapist at the shelter is mandated to make a report about your children witnessing abuse.

An investigation may be launched by CPS (or ACS in NYC… acronyms, ughh) and a victim may find themselves with an “indicated” report for neglect in failing to protect their children from witnessing abuse by leaving their abuser. This becomes much more complicated if victims end up reconciling with their abuser; on average it takes seven to nine attempts to leave an abusive relationship. As an advocate for domestic violence victims, I’ve seen this occur numerous times and, frankly, I find it troublesome.  To me, its a MASSIVE barrier to service for victims and services are what victims need as they exit an abusive relationship. This occurrence bothered advocates in West Virginia as well, I learned from my webinar. So much so, in fact, that they advocated for change; working together, lawyers, social workers and other interested parties were able to create CPS policy change in their state. Now CPS workers are no longer obligated to make an “indicated” report if they note that the non-abusive parent took reasonable steps to protect their children. This allows them to take into account plans and preparations made by the victim in assessing safety concerns. For a victim about to find themselves salami-ed, I think that’s a huge change. As social workers, it shows what we can do when we hear our clients and collaborate with other organizations and professions to advocate on their behalf.