University of California, Hastings College of the Law UC Hastings Scholarship Repository Faculty Scholarship 2001 Protecting Children from Exposure to Domestic Violence: The seU and Abuse of Child Maltreatment Statutes Lois A. Weithorn UC Hastings College of the Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.uchastings.edu/faculty_scholarship Part of the Juvenile Law Commons Recommended Citation Lois A. Weithorn, Protecting Children from Exposure to Domestic Violence: The Use and Abuse of Child Maltreatment Statutes, 53 Hastings L.J. 1 (2001). Available at: http://repository.uchastings.edu/faculty_scholarship/787 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Faculty Publications UC Hastings College of the Law Library Weithorn Lois Author: Lois A. Weithorn Source: Hastings Law Journal Citation: 53 Hastings L.J. 1 (2001). Title: Protecting Children from Exposure to Domestic Violence: The Use and Abuse of Child Maltreatment Statutes Originally published in HASTINGS LAW JOURNAL. This article is reprinted with permission from HASTINGS LAW JOURNAL and University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Articles Protecting Children from Exposure to Domestic Violence: The Use and Abuse of Child Maltreatment Statutes by LoIs A. WEITHORN, J.D., PH.D.* Introduction..................................................................................................... 3 I. Recent Statutory Approaches to Protecting Children from Exposure to Domestic Violence ................................................................................. 12 A . Types of Statutes .............................................................................. 12 (1) Child Custody Disputes between Private Parties .................. 12 (2) Criminal Sentencing ................................................................... 16 (3) State Intervention in Child Abuse or Neglect ........................ 19 (a) Reporting statutes ............................................................ 21 (b) Statutes regulating the processing of child maltreatment cases ..................................................................................22 (c) Criminal child abuse statutes .......................................... 23 (d) Dependency court jurisdictional statutes ....................... 24 Assistant Professor of Law, Hastings College of the Law, University of California; J.D., Stanford Law School; Ph.D. (Psychology), University of Pittsburgh. I wish to acknowledge the input and assistance of many people who made essential contributions to this Article. In particular, my colleagues Kate Bloch, Lucy Salcido Carter, David Faigman, John Monahan, Mindy Rosenberg, and Kelly Weisberg provided important critical feedback at various stages of the project's development and writing. In addition, I thank the many people in the various jurisdictions discussed herein who provided information and materials critical to the analyses: Bruce Craig, Peter Jaffe, and Larry Marshall in Canada; Ann Ahlstrom, Jeffrey Edleson, Sara Klise, and Rob Sawyer in Minnesota; Myra Casey, Randy Magen, Lisa Nelson, Deidre O'Connor, Bernita Hamilton, Kari Robinson, Cindy Smith, MaryAnn VandeCastle, and Susan Wibker in Alaska; Jill Zuccardy in New York; and Leigh Goodmark at the Center for Children and the Law at the American Bar Association. I am also grateful for the superb contributions made by two exceptionally capable research assistants, Ingrid Johnson and Nicole Schilder. Finally, Carolyn Kincaid and Linda Weir, at the Hastings Law Library, provided extraordinary support throughout the life of this project; I sincerely appreciate their accessibility and assistance. HeinOnline -- 53 Hastings L.J. 1 2001-2002 HASTINGS LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 53 B. Rationales for Defining Childhood Exposure to Domestic Violence as Child Maltreatment .................................................................... 26 (1) Bringing Children Exposed to Domestic Violence to the Attention of Authorities ........................................................... 27 (2) Making Available the Resources and Interventions of the Child Protection System ..................................................................... 32 (3) Promoting Consistency in Interagency Handling of Domestic Violence Cases Involving Children ......................................... 37 (4) "Sending a Message" to Domestic Violence Perpetrators and O thers ........................................................................................ 39 H. The History and Current Status of "Child Protection" in the United States .........................................................................................................41 A. Child Maltreatment as a Social Problem ..................................... 41 B. The Development of Early Child Welfare and Child Protection Policies ............................................................................................. 45 (1) Care and Control of "Dependent" Children ......................... 45 (2) Protecting "Endangered" Children from "Cruelty" ............ 48 C. Child Labor as Child Maltreatment .............................................. 51 D. Development of the Child Protection System in the Twentieth Century ............................................................................................. 53 I. Children's Exposure to Domestic Violence as a Form of Child Maltreatment ........................................................................................... 61 A. Current Legal Responses to Child Maltreatment Cases .............. 61 B. The Juvenile Court's Dependency Jurisdiction ........................... 63 (1) Grounds for Juvenile Court Intervention: Required Elements68 (2) Juvenile Court Jurisdiction in Cases Involving Alleged Psychological Maltreatment or Harm .................................... 70 C. Children's Exposure to Domestic Violence as Child M altreatm ent .................................................................................... 81 (1) What is Meant by "Exposure" to Domestic Violence? ....... 81 (2) What Are the Effects of Children's Exposure to Domestic V iolence? ............................................... ................................. 85 (3) Is Exposure to Domestic Violence a Form of Child Maltreatment? .......................................... .............................. 92 (a) Psychological maltreatment ........................................... 92 (b) Physical harm .................................................................... 94 (c) N eglect .............................................................................. 94 (4) A Framework for Construing Certain Cases of Children's Exposure to Domestic Violence as Child Maltreatment ........... 98 IV. Mobilizing State Protective Services Systems to Respond to Childhood Exposure to Domestic Violence: The Relative Efficacy of Various Approaches .................................................................................................100 A. The "Early Returns": The Impact of Statutes Defining Children's Exposure to Domestic Violence as Child Maltreatment ................ 101 (1) Nonenforcement: The Canadian Experience ........................... 101 (2) Overloading the System: The Minnesota Experience ............. 104 HeinOnline -- 53 Hastings L.J. 2 2001-2002 November 2001] PROTECTING CHILDREN (3) A Promising Start: The Alaska Experience ............................. 109 B. Changing the System from the Inside-Out: Achieving an Effective Child Protective System Response to Domestic Violence in the Absence of Explicit Statutory Authority .......................................... 119 C. The Risks of Interpreting Existing Child Maltreatment Statutes to Incorporate Childhood Exposure to Domestic Violence ............... 123 D. Necessary and Sufficient Components of Effective Child Protective Services Responses to Domestic Violence Cases ............................ 130 V. Promoting Effective Protective System Intervention on Behalf of Children Exposed to Domestic Violence: Guidelines for Statutory R eform ......................................................................................................... 131 A. Clarify the Mandate and Craft Statutory Language Accordingly.. 132 (1) Define the Target Families .......................................................... 132 (2) Delineate the Philosophy and Principles of Intervention ........ 135 B. Develop An Institutional Capacity to Respond to Domestic V iolence Cases .....................................................................................137 (1) Adopt Protocols and Policies for Case Screening and Managem ent ................................................................................. 138 (2) Acquire Adequate Expertise ...................................................... 138 (3) Build Interagency Collaboration ................................................ 139 (4) Expand and Support Appropriate Services and/or Referral N etw orks .......................................................................................139 C. Create a Comprehensive State-Wide Response to Domestic Violence by Coordinating Changes in Child Maltreatment Statutes with O ther Policies .............................................................................