[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 182 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 182

 Expressing the sense of Congress with respect to child custody, child 
          abuse, and victims of domestic and family violence.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 30, 1997

  Mrs. Morella (for herself, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Davis of Virginia, Mrs. 
Johnson of Connecticut, Ms. Furse, Ms. Carson, Mr. Vento, Mr. LaFalce, 
    Mr. Stark, Mr. Frost, Mr. Payne, Mr. Hinchey, and Mr. Sanders) 
 submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to 
                     the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of Congress with respect to child custody, child 
          abuse, and victims of domestic and family violence.

Whereas domestic violence has serious detrimental effects on children, even when 
        they do not directly witness such violence;
Whereas courts still hold women to higher standards of conduct than they do men;
Whereas gender bias still exists within the courts, particularly those making 
        and affecting child custody determinations;
Whereas gender bias has long existed and still exists within the mental health 
        system;
Whereas, as a result of this gender bias, many myths are that women make false 
        allegations of domestic violence or child abuse, and most particularly 
        of child sexual abuse, during divorce and custody proceedings;
Whereas false accusations by women are in fact rare, occurring no more often 
        than do other false reports of crimes, such as bank robbery;
Whereas the myth that women make false accusations is so widely believed that 
        many child protective service agents have policies of not bothering to 
        investigate such allegations when made during the pendency of divorce or 
        custody proceedings or only superficially investigate such allegations;
Whereas there are many myths that fathers are discriminated against in custody 
        proceedings, even though studies show that fathers fighting for custody 
        actually win sole custody or joint custody in 40 to 70 percent of these 
        disputes;
Whereas the American Psychological Association's Presidential Task Force on 
        Violence and the Family has found in a 1996 Presidential Report that 
        Congress views as authoritative on questions of domestic violence, child 
        abuse, and custody determination that--

    (1) fathers who abuse their children's mothers are more likely to 
dispute custody and visitation than are fathers who are not violent;

    (2) there is no reliable data to support the phenomenon of ``parental 
alienation'' syndrome, although courts and custody evaluators frequently 
use that term and other inappropriate terms to discount the children's fear 
in hostile and psychologically abusive situations; and

    (3) psychological evaluators not trained in domestic violence ignore or 
minimize the violence and give inappropriate pathological labels to women's 
responses to chronic victimization, including ``parental alienation'' to 
blame mothers for their children's reasonable fear or anger toward their 
violent fathers.

Whereas many courts and professionals use the baseless parental alienation 
        syndrome to force mothers into joint or shared parenting arrangements or 
        to give custody to fathers, especially when mothers try to protect 
        themselves or their children from men who abuse them or their children;
Whereas almost every custody evaluator or judge recognizes how important 
        familiar routines and objects are to a child, particularly in times of 
        stress, but often fails to recognize the importance for the child of 
        maintaining its living arrangement with the child's primary caretaker 
        parent;
Whereas Congress never intended that the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act be 
        used--

    (1) to encourage forcing shared parenting arrangements when it is not 
in the child's best interest;

    (2) to prohibit an abused or protective parent from protecting 
themselves or their child;

    (3) as a tool to punish a parent, without regard for the needs of the 
child, by removing physical custody of a child from a fit abused or 
protective parent; or

    (4) as a tool to punish abused or protective parents who act to protect 
themselves or their children;

Whereas when there is domestic or family violence or major discord between the 
        parents, shared parenting arrangements, couples counseling, or mediation 
        arrangements only exacerbate the difficulties of the children and give 
        the abusive parent more tools with which to victimize the other members 
        of the family;
Whereas children who grow up not seeing abusive parents clearly held accountable 
        for their abuse are reinforced in believing that domestic and family 
        violence are socially acceptable and effective means of behavior; and
Whereas every State has legislation or judicial decisions that base its custody 
        determinations on what is in the best interests of the child: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) for purposes of determining child custody, it is in the 
        best interest of children to have a presumption that children 
        should have their main physical residence with their primary 
        caretaker parent unless that parent is unfit;
            (2) for purposes of determining child custody, it is not in 
        the best interest of children to--
                    (A) force parents to share custody over the 
                objection of one or both parents or when there is a 
                history of domestic or family violence;
                    (B) punish abused or protective parents who protect 
                themselves or their children;
                    (C) presume that allegations of domestic and family 
                violence are likely to be made falsely or for tactical 
                advantage during custody and divorce proceedings; and
                    (D) make ``friendly parent'' provisions a factor 
                when there is abuse by one parent against the other or 
                a child;
            (3) child abuse and child sexual abuse allegations should 
        be fully and impartially investigated regardless of when they 
        are raised or whether the child has recanted the allegation;
            (4) States should be far more protective of victims of 
        domestic and family violence in custody and visitation 
        determinations and not order mediation, couples counseling, 
        shared custody, mutual orders of protection, unsupervised 
        visitation, or other measures when they may endanger victims of 
        domestic and family violence; and
            (5) States should provide training in domestic violence and 
        child abuse, as they impact custody, child support and 
        visitation determinations, to all professionals who interact 
        with children and parents (including judges, attorneys, 
        guardians ad litem, therapists, mental health professionals, 
        custody evaluators, child protective services personnel, and 
        court appointed special advocates).
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