Guest editors' introduction to the 2024 special issue on family violence and parenting

• Published date: 01 January 2024
• Author: Robin M. Deutsch,Michael A. Saini,Leslie M. Drozd
• Date: 01 January 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12761

INTRODUCTION

Guest editors' introduction to the 2024 special

issue on family violence and parenting

Robin M. Deutsch

1

| Michael A. Saini

2

| Leslie M. Drozd

3

1

Independent Practice, Newton, Massachusetts, USA

2

University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

3

Seattle, Washington, USA

Welcome to the special issue of the Family Court Review, focusing on family violence and its effects on parenting

and coparenting. The Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) has been at the forefront of considering

the impact of family violence on families engaged in the family courts for the past four decades. In 2007, after much

discussion, the AFCC and National Council of Juvenile and Family Courts (NCJFCJ) brought together an interdisci-

plinary group of professionals at Wingspread (USA) to explore the tensions that existed among different communi-

ties and to find common ground on how to meet the needs of families experiencing family violence most effectively

(Ver Steegh & Dalton, 2008). Since then, many presentations have been given at AFCC conferences, articles publi-

shed in the Family Court Review, and collaborative efforts among AFCC, NCJFCJ, and other organizations to develop

best practices to screen, assess, and evaluate families about the risk of violence. The focus has been to

develop guidelines based on the best available social science research to assist those at risk of family violence.

The Guidelines for Examining Intimate Partner Violence: A Supplement to the AFCC Model Standards of Prac-

tice for Child Custody Evaluation (AFCC, 2016), for example, was a joint project between AFCC and NCJFCJ that

directed practitioners how to screen for, assess, and make appropriate recommendations in cases that identified the

risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) to the children and parents involved in a family law case. These Guidelines pro-

vide factors to consider when parenting plan evaluators make parenting and coparenting recommendations that

address the paramount focus of safety.

We invited authors to write about the relationships among violence, parenting, and coparenting in this special

issue. It became clear that we needed to define violence to advance dialogue, debate, and discussions about the defi-

nitions, measurement, and interventions related to violence within family systems. To create a general framework,

we framed family violence as the hypernym of violence/abuse within families with potential hyponyms includinginti-

mate partner violence, coercive control violence, cyber abuse, legal abuse, elder abuse, domestic violence/abuse, pet

abuse, and child maltreatment (abuse/neglect) (see Figure 1).

By includinga variety of concepts relatedto family violence, not all shouldbe treated equally. Some concepts, such

as IPV, domestic violence/abuse, child maltreatment, and sexualabuse, have long and extensive histories in familylaw.

In contrast, others,such as coercive control, cyberabuse, and legal abuse, have more recentlybeen introduced.

We acknowledge the debate about including parental alienating behaviors, with some advocating (including one

of the articles included in this special issue) for inclusion, if severe, while others vehemently oppose it. Engaging in

these debates rather than avoiding them is essential. However, given the many types, forms, severity, and contexts

DOI: 10.1111/fcre.12761

© 2023 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.

Family Court Rev. 2024;62:11–14. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fcre 11