Why are mothers who are the victims of domestic violence losing custody of their children to the courts and to the child protection system?

Attorney General Eric Holder
to the National Summit on the Intersection of Domestic Violence
and Child Maltreatment
Tuesday, June 2, 2009

As a judge at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia I saw first hand the suffering and long-term trauma experienced by children exposed to violence.

-Why are mothers who are the victims of domestic violence losing custody of their children to the courts and to the child protection system?

-Why are children of color over-represented in the child protection system?

-Do children need a relationship with their fathers even when their fathers have been abusive to them and their mothers in the past? If so, what does that relationship look like?

I ask that you explore all of these things while always remembering that the needs of children who are exposed to violence are inextricably linked to the needs of mothers who are the victims of domestic violence.