How women make custody decisions and manage co-parenting with abusive former husbands

Abstract

This grounded theory study examined the processes by which women make custody decisions and manage co-parenting after divorce with abusive former husbands. Nineteen women who left abusive husbands were interviewed. Fears, pragmatic concerns, and family ideology pushed them toward custody agreements that continued their involvement with former husbands after divorce. Men who were controlling during marriage were very involved with children postdivorce and continued to exert control over mothers. As a result, women managed conflict, set boundaries, and resisted control in the context of ongoing fear. Postdivorce abuse, positive changes in fathers, and children's recognition of abuse influenced how women co-parented over time. Fears, pragmatic concerns, and family ideology continued to influence their decisions as they planned for the future.KEY WORDS: co-parenting • custody • divorce • grounded theory • intimate partner violence (IPV) Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

Women's Perception of the Divorce Experience: A Qualitative Study

“…It can have devastating effects on individuals, families, and society. Divorce creates changes in traditional family compositions, living arrangements, and economic circumstances (Benussi, 2006;Hardesty & Ganong, 2006;Kurdek & Kennedy, 2001;Sweeney & Horwitz, 2001;Watkins, 2006). The change in family configuration from a two-parent household to the single-parent role can present physical, emotional, and financial challenges to the custodial parent (Lowenstein, 2005;Montenegro & Fisher 2004;Robboy, 2002;Rokach, Cohen, & Dreman, 2004).…”

Domestic Violence and Family Law: Criminological Concerns

“…In addition to frequent engagement with criminal law and civil orders for protection, family law is a central system of concern for abused women (Cuthbert et al 2002;Hardesty 2002;Hardesty and Ganong 2006;Lemon 2000;Miller and Smolter 2011;Schneider 1994;Schneider 2000;Slote et al 2005). Family law systems are located at the intersection of contradictory gendered expectations.…”

“…This type of harassment is the latest variation on the victim blaming and discrediting tactics that have cropped up in response to public acknowledgement of abuse by family members and intimates stretching back to the early twentieth century (Olafson, Cordwin and Summit 1993;Salter 2012;Smart 2000). While research in family studies, social work, public health, and law have begun to document abuse that occurs in the context of family law proceedings (Hardesty 2002;Hardesty and Chung 2006;Hardesty and Ganong 2006;Haselschwerdt, Hardesty and Hans 2010;McMurray 1997;McMurray et al 2000), criminology stands to make a much greater contribution to this conversation. Such inquiries fit well within the remit of critical and feminist criminologies.…”

“…Such facially neutral income support policies penalize all lower income parents, but are especially damaging for survivors of abuse who face increased pressure to promote easy access to fathers even when they are abusive. Often custody arrangements are made via ostensibly restorative and non-adversarial practices like mediation which many abused women experience as coercive and unsafe (Hardesty 2002;Hardesty and Chung 2006;Hardesty and Ganong 2006;Haselschwerdt, Hardesty and Hans 2010;McMurray 1997;McMurray et al 2000;Miller and Smolter 2011).…”

A left realist approach to antifeminist fathers’ rights groups

“…Jennifer Hardesty and Grace Chung's review of the literature noted that although joint custody and "cooperative coparenting" are frequently dangerous for abused mothers, histories of violence are often marginalized by the family courts [46]. Jennifer Hardesty and Lawrence Ganong found that abusive men continued abusive and controlling behavior in the context of custody and visitation post-divorce [47]. Survivors noted that abusers used popular ideas about "broken homes" causing juvenile delinquency to manipulate the mothers, and that survivors were influenced by popular ideologies about "fatherlessness" to continue ongoing contact between their abusers and their children, despite the fact that "...continued father involvement meant continued fear" [47, p. 553].…”