Violence and custody don't mix.

AuthorChristopher, Catherine

What is the relationship between domestic violence and children? Nicholas Bala, writing in 1996 on the indirect effects of spousal abuse on children, stated,

"There is a growing body of research on the effects on children of observing or hearing one parent being abused by another. Children who observe interparental abuse are often terrified by the experience, and may not understand it. Even if a child does not directly observe spousal abuse, living in a home where there is spousal abuse can have serious negative effects. In some cases witnessing even a single serious incident of abuse can produce post-traumatic stress disorder in a child. The worst outcomes for children are associated with both observing spousal abuse and being directly abused.

There is now a substantial body of research from experts in child development that children from homes where there has been spousal abuse have:

* more behavioral problems and lower social competence;

* boys tend to externalize and be more aggressive, including the commission of offences for adolescents, while girls tend more towards depression;

* lower self esteem and higher anxiety, as evidenced by sleep disturbance nightmares;

* substantially more likely to be involved in abusive situations as adults, boys as abusive partners and girls as abused women."

It may be suggested that spousal abuse in the presence of a child is a form of child abuse.

The Child Welfare Act places a positive obligation on a parent to protect a child.

Section 1(2) provides in part that "For the purposes of this Act, a child is in need of protective services if there are reasonable and probable grounds to believe that the survival, security and development of the child is endangered because:

(d) the child has been or there is substantial risk that the child will be physically injured...

(e) the guardian of the child is unable or unwilling to protect the child from physical injury..."

Further, where there are allegations of violence, which occurs in the presence of the child or which is directed at the child, it is incumbent upon the court to take reasonable steps to safeguard the child. Zahr v. Zahr (1994) involved a divorce action in which the father of the children allegedly threatened to take the children away from the mother and had assaulted the mother in the presence of the children. At trial, the father sought unsupervised access to the 13 year old son. Madam Justice Hunt, then of the Court of Queen's Bench, imposed a...

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