Women's eNews (https://womensenews.org/tag/child_custody/)
Women across the country are often tested for drugs without consent and punished with government interventions when results are positive. Advocates say “test and report” is the “stop and frisk” of the curtained world of juvenile protection agencies.
My story is a case study of what is happening in many courtrooms where good mothers are having their children taken from their arms and handed over to their abusers. We must change our system so protective mothers and abused children are treated fairly.
In the world of Child Protective Services, it’s never simple when family members step in to care for relatives’ children and keep them out of foster care. Sometimes the process can make a fractured family, broken.
Dulce Guerrero lost her job and home a year ago. Now she feels abused by Milwaukee’s family court system for taking away her parental custody rights. “There is no help for poor families when they are falling apart,” says a woman close to the case.
The recent CIA scandal is now bringing to the surface a contentious child custody battle that overlooked allegations of domestic violence from Natalie Khawam, Jill Kelley’s twin sister.
It’s been 25 years since Phyllis Chesler wrote “Mothers on Trial” to help women fight their child-custody battles. In this excerpt from her revised book, she reviews what’s changed, for better and worse.