Local and national media stations report daily on news stories that concern child maltreatment, which serves to remind us of the horrors that children of abuse are subjected to every day. These stories tell of children who have been imprisoned, beaten, starved, burned, and sexually or emotionally abused. There are shopping carts, milk cartons, newspapers and billboards carrying the message that all a child has to do is tell someone or call the hotline, that help is on the way and this will stop child abuse against them.

However, even when a suspected child abuse incident has been reported, this does not always end up safeguarding the child from further abuse. Many times some of the worst cases are those that the authorities had been notified of, and further determined that the child was indeed at risk, yet the child was left in the care of the abuser. In other incidents, such as when an abused partner flees from domestic violence, the children are often the innocent witnesses to the battering. In too many cases the abuser not only takes it out on their spouse, but harms the children as well.

There is a part of family violence that not everyone is aware of and that is granting sole custody or unsupervised access to the abuser. Unfortunately, for children of abuse, the American Judges Foundation says that the most common reason for someone to go back into an abusive relationship is because they are afraid that the abuser may carry through on the threat of taking their children away from them. Unbelievably, studies have shown that in 70% of the challenged custody cases the abusers convinced everyone that the victim was undeserving or unfit to have sole custody. It is no wonder that there are so many child protection issues.

The mere idea that child abusers actually do get awarded custody even when there has been a domestic violence conviction or reliable evidence of child abuse is absolutely bizarre. Even those who have experienced it would not have thought it possible until it happened to them.

In cases of domestic abuse and violence, it is assumed that a judge will look at the history, verify and weigh any medical facts, listen to the words of the abused children and then, naturally, they will protect the children is there is a need. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Sometimes children of abuse decide to be brave and tell of the abuse because they believe they will receive help, yet sometimes justice doesn’t prevail. Then what happens to these children?

Jeremy Larson is a foremost expert in finding acid reflux remedies field. His work has been extensively published in various online publications in the areas of medications for acid reflux. For more information on the treatment, visit remedyforacidreflux.com.

Share This