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Divorce in Relation to Child Abuse

For many child welfare professionals, the connection of child abuse and divorce brings to mind false allegations. A recent study in Australia examined the “myth of abuse in divorce” and found that there is reason to believe that allegations made from families experiencing marital breakup may actually have a high incident of truth. Much depends on the child welfare system's process of investigating, as well as the knowledge and understanding of professionals involved with the family.

The Myth

The classic child abuse allegation coming from a parent in a divorce action involves children spending time with one parent, and when returned to the other parent, an allegation of abuse being made. In a study of child abuse reports involving emergency room staff, the participants were asked what reports they considered false. Eighty percent believed that if a divorce was involved and the allegation was against the “other” parent, then the information should be considered suspect. Many times this was reinforced by the reporting parent asking for a record of the medical visit. Child welfare systems tend to abrogate these reports by insisting that a follow-up be done with either a medical doctor or a therapist. Basically these systems are looking for a second professional opinion on the validity of the allegation.

Current Research

The Australian study examined close to 200 divorce actions with child abuse allegations. The study found that only 9% were actually false allegations. A larger percentage were allegations that were not able to be proved to the extent of the legal standard; however, there was shared opinion among professionals that the abuse did happen. Further findings from the study showed that the separation of courts involved in marriage dissolution and the child welfare courts presented a problem in communicating issues relating to children's welfare. What research has been done in this area has not linked the underlying reasons for divorce and the incidents of child abuse. Anecdotal evidence shows that if family violence is part of the reason for marriage dissolution, the incidents of child abuse may be very high. Family violence research has a history of segmenting the violence into categories, thus not showing overlaps or correlations. One study did find evidence that child abuse may persist even after the parents physically separated. This may be due to underlying violence in the family system.

The Children as Victims

Children who experience marital dissolution often become much more vulnerable. They struggle with security and abandonment issues following the breakdown of their family structure. This may lead to their being vulnerable to abuse. These children often seek security and acceptance from their parents, and if they are victims of parental child abuse they may be very reluctant to disclose. Furthermore, disclosure that leads to the child welfare system's intervention can result in blame being put on the reporting child. Thus the child ends up being even more alienated from the abusing parent.

Timothy BrettZuel
http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412963923.n127
See also

Further Readings

BrownT.FredericoM.HewittL.SheehanR.The child abuse and divorce

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