Source: http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/422/422mass590.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 12:53:49+00:00

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judgment and remand for further findings consistent with this opinion.
continued after Vaughn's birth. There was testimony that the police were called on approximately one dozen occasions. Ross's anger and violence, however, did not cease, and he sought psychiatric help. A psychiatrist prescribed Lithium, and there was testimony that when Ross discontinued taking it (on his own) his moods and behavior 'worsened. Leslie testified that on several occasions she left the house with her children to escape Ross's behavior, that many times Ross also took Vaughn from the house in the course of arguments, and that Ross used the threat of taking Vaughn from his mother as a way of keeping the mother in the relationship. Vaughn was present at many of the episodes of abuse. [Note 2] There was testimony that the father's disposition to use physical force was played out on the boy as well, with cuffing, pushing, knocking, and poking; he also yelled and lost his temper at the boy, as he did at every other member of the household. [Note 3] Laura, who is now a graduate student, further testified that, when she was a teenager, Ross kissed her on the mouth in an inappropriate manner and touched her body in an inappropriate, sexual manner.
into a new home. The parties also agreed that Dr. Michael D. Abruzzese, a clinical psychologist whom they had previously consulted along with the child, should be appointed guardian ad litera to make an evaluation and report regarding custody of the child. On February 21, 1993, Dr. Abruzzese delivered his report, recommending that joint custody be continued but that the boy's primary home during the week be with his father with weekends to be spent with his mother. [Note 7] Thereupon the Probate Court entered a new temporary order maintaining the joint legal custody but giving the father primary physical custody and visitation rights to the mother, substantially in accord with Dr. Abruzzese's recommendations.
that, for those who are its victims, force within the family and in intimate relationships is not less but more of a threat to this basic condition of civilized security, for it destroys the security that all should enjoy in the very place and context which is supposed to be the refuge against the harshness encountered in a world of strangers. Particularly for children the sense that the place which is supposed to be the place of security is the place of greatest danger is the ultimate denial that this is a world of justice and restraint, where people have rights and are entitled to respect. The recent literature also exposes the sham and hypocrisy that condemns violence among strangers and turns a blind eye to it where its manifestations are most corrosive.
The Appeals Court was critical of the Probate Court in a number of related respects. First, the Probate Court judge "fail[ed] to make detailed and comprehensive findings of fact on the issues of domestic violence and its effect upon the child as well as upon the father's parenting ability." R.H. v. B.F., 39 Mass. App. Ct. 29, 40 (1995). Second, "because [the judge] found the mother and the father to have equally flawed parenting abilities, the relationship between the father and the child and the child's preferences weighed the scales [excessively] in the father's favor." Id. at 41. And third, the Appeals Court ruled that the Probate Court failed to consider the special risks to the child in awarding custody to a father who had committed acts of violence against the mother. Id. at 40. An important theme of all these statements was that the Probate Court.had failed to give sufficient weight to the effects of domestic violence on women and their children. Id. at 36-39.
The trial before the Probate Court lasted three days and produced a transcript of over 400 pages. Every aspect of the case that the two contesting parties argue to us now was thoroughly canvassed by numerous witnesses. The record leaves no room for doubt that Ross is a man with a poorly controlled temper, who at times threatened and inflicted violence on the mother. He has been a batterer. The Probate Court's findings clearly acknowledge that fact. The judge's findings also acknowledge the intimidation Ross imposed on John and Laura, the two older children in the household who were not Ross's children, and credit the testimony of Leslie's daughter that Ross engaged in conduct to her that can only be described as sexually abusive. These findings by the Probate Court are consistent with and indeed in some respects go beyond Leslie's proposed findings of fact and draw on the testimony at trial.
The mother's expert, Dr. Peter G. Jaffe, who is a specialist in matters relating to family violence and battered women's syndrome, casts all the incidents unfavorable to Leslie as manifestations of that syndrome. Leslie had been abused as a child and in the two marriages that preceded her relationship with Ross. The judge summarized Dr. Jaffe's judgments in his findings of fact,"including Dr. Jaffe's statement that children who grow up in abusive households tend to repeat that pattern in their own relationships: "Dr. Jaffe feels that children who are witnesses to violence are also victims of violence. He expressed a concern that if [Vaughn] remained in his father's physical custody, it would reinforce the acceptability of the father's behavior to [Vaughn] which has the potential to make [Vaughn] a batterer himself in the future." The judge did not, however, make any findings of fact based on Dr.
Jaffe's testimony and did not say whether he considered Dr. Jaffe's testimony credible.
propriate role reversal and one that is encountered in families with a history of violence. Be that as it may, both the affection and the preference were clearly stated. [Note 11] The judge was also moved by the fact that the boy appeared to be doing very well in his school work and that the father takes a great interest in his activities, meeting regularly with the boy's teachers. Finally, the probate Court judge noted that the father, who had been a heavy drinker, had not used alcohol since 1985 and attends weekly sessions of Alcoholics Anonymous. The court also mandated that both parents should remain in therapy.
We agree with the Appeals Court that the judge below "fail[ed] to make detailed and comprehensive findings of fact on the issues of domestic violence and its effect upon the child as well as upon the father's parenting ability." R.H. v. B.F., 39 Mass. App. Ct. 29, 40 (1995). The Probate Court failed to consider the special risks to the child in awarding custody to a father who had committed acts of violence against the mother. Id. at 40. It is well documented that witnessing domestic violence, as well as being one of its victims, has a profound impact on children. See Note, Domestic Violence and Custody Litigation: The Need for Statutory Reform, 13 Hofstra L. Rev. 407, 417-422 (1985). There are significant reported psychological problems in children who witness domestic violence, especially during important developmental stages. See Cahn, Civil Images of Battered Women: The Impact of Domestic Violence on Child Custody Decisions, 44 Vand. L. Rev. 1041 (1991).
plicit findings about the effect of the violence on the child and the appropriateness of the custody award in light of that effect will serve to keep these matters well in the foreground of the judges' thinking.
The Legislature reached a similar conclusion in respect to shared legal or physical custody. General Laws c. 208, s. 31, provides that "[i]f, despite the prior or current issuance of a restraining order against one parent pursuant to chapter two hundred and nine A, the court orders shared legal or physical custody the court shall provide written findings to support such shared custody order." A G.L.c. 209A order was outstanding in this case, and the judge made no explicit findings regarding the effect of shared custody on the child. We agree with the Appeals Court that such written findings should also be made attending specifically to the effects of domestic violence on the child and the appropriateness of the joint custody award in light of those effects. R.H. v. B.F., 39 Mass. App. Ct. 29, 41 (1995).
[Note 11] Although the boy was described in testimony as "a really bright student," we note that the preference of an eleven year old is not given decisive weight, although it is a factor to be considered. See Custody of a Minor, 383 Mass. 595, 602 (1981); Baird v. Attorney Gen., 371 Mass. 741, 753. (1977), cert. denied sub nom. Bellotti v. Baird, 443 U.S. 622 (1979); Stone v. Duffy, 219 Mass. 178, 182 (1914); Bak v. Bak, 24 Mass. App. Ct. 608, 617 (1987).

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