Why are Family Courts NOT Considering the ACE Study When Rendering Custody?

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study

Batterers have been gaining custody at a rate of 70-85% of the time in contested cases (American Judges' Foundation). The cost of society IGNORING abuse exceeds $333 BILLION annually just in healthcare alone not taking into the account of the cost to the prison system, welfare, Medicaid, housing etc. (CDC, 2013) The cost may be as high as $750 BILLION, because even in a medical setting, patients routinely deny their partner’s abuse for safety and other reasons. (Academy on Violence and Abuse, 2009) "The economic burden rivals the cost of other high profile public health problems, such as stroke and Type2 diabetes." (CDC, 2014) The United States spends over one trillion dollars on health care, crime and economic loss annually as a result of domestic violence.  This is in effect an abuser subsidy.  Best practices based on the Quincy Model would quickly save $500 billion annually of this expense.  (Goldstein)

Want to know why the cost of healthcare so high? The failure of family court to properly conduct early intervention, medical professionals improperly coding domestic violence, and protect the victim of abuse is one reason and based on our research the number reported by the CDC is grossly under-reported.  The medical community is beginning to recognize the seriousness of screening for interpersonal violence, but still fails to address the proper coding. (Skolink & Clouse, 2014)

Why do I say that? I attended a conference at Harvard University sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in 2009 where the Department of Public Health said that it was costing the state of Massachusetts taxpayer $15 million a year to treat victims of domestic violence.  I asked where the Department of Public Health got that statistic and their reply was based on what's called a CPT billing code for domestic violence and mostly due to emergency room visits.

We looked at our data with the cases that we have to see if any of our cases were reflected in that data.  We had over 20+ cases the time just families involved in domestic violence related custody cases in family court. When you add the children involved, that number increases to 80 cases and not one of those cases were factored into the numbers being reported to the Department of Public Health despite medical reports documenting abuse.

The ongoing ACE study is the longest study that start in 1997 with over 17,000 participants (Kaiser Permanente, 1998-2006). The study focuses on childhood abuse, neglect, and exposure to other traumatic stressors which is termed adverse childhood experiences (ACE).  The short- and long-term outcomes of these childhood exposures revealed a multitude of health and social problems. Those who adversely affected are at higher risk for the following health problems:

·         Alcoholism and alcohol abuse

·         Cancer

·         Aids

·         Diabetes

·         Eating disorders

·         Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

·         Depression

·         Fetal death

·         Health-related quality of life

·         Illicit drug use

·         Ischemic heart disease (IHD)

·         Liver disease

·         Risk for intimate partner violence

·         Multiple sexual partners

·         Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)

·         Smoking

·         Suicide attempts

·         Unintended pregnancies

·         Early initiation of smoking

·         Early initiation of sexual activity

·         Adolescent pregnancy

Furthermore, as a result of systemic failures of early intervention, researchers found that high levels of symptoms of mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD to be directly linked to domestic abuse after reviewing 67 relevant studies. (King's College London and University of Bristol, 2013) Those with diagnosed with anxiety disorders were more than 3.5 times more likely to have suffered domestic abuse. For those diagnosed with PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder were even seven times more at risk.

“In one long-term study, as many as 80 percent of young adults who had been abused met the diagnostic criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder at age 21. These young adults exhibited many problems, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and suicide attempts” (Silverman et al., 1996). (CDC, 2014)

 

Are fathers getting their fair share in family court? My answer is abusers in general have the upper hand in court. Good parents and children are losing to the racket of family courts. Victims of abuse are routinely being harmed with staggering statistics for long term damage and cost to the tax payer for the family courts failures. The statistical information, data and numbers can not be ignored.

We think we have a health care and economic problem now? Unless something is done about how family courts render custody to abusers, the economic toll to the tax payer will be devastating. It is time to stop ignoring the issues victims of abuse face every day and start becoming a part of the solution. Whether we realize it or not, by ignoring the problem directly impact our children, our families, our communities and our wallets.

To read more about the over 24 year compilation of research on Massachusetts Family Courts and Abuse, please visit my sister blog in a Letter To Jeff Kuhner on whether or not Fathers Are Getting Their Fair Stake in Family Courts