Barry Goldstein, co-author of DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, ABUSE, and CHILD CUSTODY: Legal Strategies and Policy Issues

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BARRY GOLDSTEIN, is an attorney, teacher, author and advocate for women abused by their partner (and too often the courts). Goldstein practiced law in New York State for 30 years.  He served on the board of directors of the local battered women’s shelter for 14 years including four years as chairperson.  An ever larger part of his law practice involved representing victims of domestic violence as many dv agencies and women’s advocates recommended him to their clients.  Few other attorneys had the experience with domestic violence or the willingness to handle cases on a pro bono or reduced fee basis.  For the past ten years, Goldstein has worked with the Community Change Project of the Volunteer Counseling Service teaching domestic violence classes for men convicted of abusing their partners.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, ABUSE, and CHILD CUSTODY:

Legal Strategies and Policy Issues

              Co-edited by Mo Therese Hannah and Barry Goldstein©2010

            DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, ABUSE and CHILD CUSTODY brings together experts from the US and Canada for a multi-disciplinary review of the most up-to-date research and recommendations for handling, domestic violence custody cases. The book’s 25 chapters are written by those in the know:  judges, lawyers, psychiatrists, psychologists, sociologists, journalists, domestic violence advocates, and others intimately familiar with the details of these cases.  These diverse experts approach the issue through the lens of different disciplines and professional experiences.  Although they may not agree on every point, they do agree on at least one thing: that the family court system in this country is broken.

For more than two decades, protective mothers from every state in the country (as well as overseas) have been ordered to turn their children over into the care, and even the custody, of the children’s abusive fathers.  This occurs even when there is adequate evidence of child abuse, domestic violence, and other harmful behaviors on the part of the father.  Courts claim to be doing this to ensure that both parents remain involved in their children’s lives after divorce or separation, but in fact, in most of these cases, precisely the opposite happens:  mothers are denied any meaningful relationship, or even contact, with their children.  In the meantime, male supremacist groups claim unfair treatment in the family courts, seeking shared or total custody in order to avoid paying child support and to maintain men’s traditional control over their partner and their children.

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