en(gender)ed features stories that explore the systems, practices, and policies that enable gender-based violence and oppression and the solutions to end it. We teach feminism and decolonize hearts and minds, one story at a time.
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episode 7: Nancy S. Erickson on Court-Appointed Evaluators and Mental Health Assessments
On this episode, our guest is Nancy S. Erickson, (J.D. Brooklyn Law School, LL.M. Yale Law School, M.A. Forensic Psychology John Jay College of Criminal Justice), a consultant on issues relating to law and psychology, particularly child custody evaluations and domestic violence. Nancy’s career spans over a decade of teaching law at top law schools in the country, eight years at Legal Services, and decades in private practice representing survivors of domestic violence. Nancy has written books and articles on family law, including domestic violence, child support, custody, marital property, attorneys for children, custody evaluations, and adoption.
She is currently researching and writing on custody issues, especially custody evaluations, laws regarding custody in cases where there has been domestic violence, and the use of parental alienation theories against parents who are attempting to protect their children or themselves from abuse. We will be speaking with Nancy about her work and research on child custody evaluations, due process challenges the evaluations pose, and its impact on shaping safety outcomes for women and children in court. We will also be speaking with Nancy about a recent case she contributed to that, on its surface, has positive implications for both same-sex parents and for domestic violence victims.
Here are some of the links to the articles we discussed on our show, including the same-sex custody case Nancy contributed to:
- Gender Bias in the Family Courts and the epidemic of courts giving custody of at least 58,000 children a year to abusers
- ProPublica article on the Lack of Oversight of Child Custody Evaluators
- ProPublica article on how NY parents fight lack of right to see 'expert' custody reports
- The Brooke SB v Elizabeth CC case
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