Post-Separation Abuse of Women and their Children: Boundary-Setting and Family Court Utilization among Victimized Mothers

Abstract

Continued abuse of themselves and their children is a concern for many mothers leaving intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrating husbands. This research examines women’s responses to abuse committed by ex-husbands with whom they had undergone custody disputes. In-depth, qualitative interviews were conducted with 19 mothers who had divorced IPV-perpetrating husbands between one and three years prior. Participants were located through publicly available family court divorce records and interviews were examined using analytic induction. Women’s strategies to protect themselves and their children from abuse involved setting boundaries to govern their interactions with ex-husbands. Mothers often turned to family court for assistance in setting boundaries to keep children safe, but found that family court did not respond in ways they believed protected their children. Conversely, when women turned to the justice system for restraining orders or called the police for help against IPV, they generally found the justice system responsive.

‘Ordinary decent domestic violence’: A discursive analysis of family law judges’ interviews

“…Furthermore, Johnston and Steegh (2013) identified a tendency for courts to penalise mothers who do not encourage child-father contact. In line with this, Zeoli (2013) found that mothers feared that advocating for their children's safety within the court system could backfire and place the children at greater risk. This points to the extent to which values and discourses of wider society are sexist, paternalistic, and misogynistic, as they may act to influence values of those operating within the system at an implicit level.…”

‘All Over Now?’ The Ongoing Relational Consequences of Domestic Abuse through Children's Contact Arrangements

“…It also risks marginalising non‐abusing mothers as competent parents, which in turn may jeopardise any assessment or management of risk. Similar findings are reported in an Irish study (see Holt, ) and in a US study about custody mediation in the context of domestic violence (see Rivera et al ., ; Zeoli et al ., ).…”

Predicting family health and well‐being after separation from an abusive partner: role of coercive control, mother's depression and social support

“…Studies have documented continuing abuse and harassment in the postseparation period (Zeoli et al . ). Women's risk of being murdered by an abusive partner actually increases in the first year postseparation (Campbell et al .…”