Introduction
Domestic violence is a recurrent issue in family court proceedings (Jaffe et al. 2003; Morrill et al. 2005), even though violence is often misinterpreted as ‘high conflict’ (Archer-Kuhn 2018; Haselschwerdt et al. 2011; Lapierre et al. 2020). In Canada, decisions regarding parenting and contact arrangements should always be based on the children’s best interest and, according to the most recent version of the Divorce Act, this requires judges to consider family violence and its impacts( Dalphond and Nag 2019; Lux and Gill 2021; Martinson and Jackson 2021; Neilson and Boyd 2020). According to Martinson and Jackson (2021),
There has also been, over the last few years, a willingness to encourage children’s participation in family court proceedings, in accordance with the children’s rights recognized in the United Nations International Convention on the Rights of the Child(Martinson and Raven 2020; Martinson and Tempesta 2018).This is also reflected in the most recent version of the Divorce Act (Martinson and Jackson 2021). According to Martinson and Jackson (2021), ‘In keeping with children’s status as full rights bearers, the court must consider the child’s views and preferences, giving due weight to the child’s age and maturity’ (p. 14). This article investigates children’s participation in family courts proceedings, in cases where they have experienced domestic violence. Drawing on findings from a study conducted in Quebec(Canada), it focuses on children’s participation in custody evaluations, which are frequently used to inform judges on children’s best interest. This article is divided into four sections, starting with a review of the literature on family court, custody evaluations and domestic violence, and children’s participation and children’s rights. The following section exposes the research methodology. The third section presents the main findings, followed by the discussion and some recommendations.
Family Court, Custody Evaluations and Domestic Violence Several studies have demonstrated, over the last four de-cades, the negative impacts of domestic violence on children’s safety and well-being (Holt et al. 2008; Mullender et al. 2002;Øverlien 2010). In this regard, recent scholarships have high-lighted the need to move beyond an incident-based understanding, which focuses on children’s exposure to violent incidents perpetrated towards their mothers, and to acknowledge a wider range of coercive and controlling behaviors’ that affect both women and children (Callaghan et al. 2018; Katz 2022; Øverlien 2013). Moreover, while research in this area has primarily focused on abused women’s ability to protect and care for their children (Lapierre 2008; Radford and Hester 2006),research evidence shows that men’s recourse to violence to-wards their partners is also a parenting choice and raises serious concerns regarding these men’s parenting abilities (Bancroft et al. 2011; Jeffries et al. 2016; Lapierre et al. 2022). According to Jeffries et al. (2016), these fathers tend to lack empathy and respect, to have rigid, authoritarian and coercive parenting attitudes, to use manipulation and psychological abuse, to be possessive and to have a strong sense of entitlement. They are also poor role models for their children. It should also be noted that perpetrators can use father-child relationships and family court proceedings to maintain their control over their ex-partner(Bancroft et al. 2011; Jeffries et al. 2016).