children witness abuse

[slughead10]

how do you show abuse in court if it was only witnessed by children? Spouse claims abuse but children saw what happened how does this play out in court?

[today]

How do you feel the abuse allegations will help you?

[slughead10]

i have the children and am worried about losing them over false allegations. children saw what happened no police involvement or anything does it matter or is it best to let spouse make allegations and not answer them?

[Boomstrike]

"I have the children" means what?? Full custody, shared? WTF are you doing abusing or being abused by your ex in front of your children anyway.

Protect your children at all costs from this type of behavior. Do not involve them about who did what to whom.

It seems like you want to have your children rat the other parent out about abuse. If so, shame on you.

[slughead10]

i have temporary custody after removing them from the abuse now its time for court but dont have a clue how it works but sounds like this is not the place to get it .

[kelly]

You can get some great advice here..you just have to be the strong one. As for showing abuse seen by children, you get them, you can get a Childrens lawyer involved. Do the right thing

[billiechic]

You cannot ask your children to be a witness. That will only traumatize them further.

Many women's shelters have programs for children who have witnessed abuse. You can contact them for advice, but beware that CAS will likely be involved. If you have nothing to hide, then it's a good way to get your kids help.

From my own experience, not getting the police involved meant that nobody believed me. at least nobody at court. Doesn't mean that will be the case for your spouse though. Take precautions when dealing with such a person, carry a recording device and make sure you record EVERY conversation. If you are innocent it takes a LOT more evidence to prove it. This is NOT criminal court

[kelly]

Oh no,,that is not what I am saying. Maybe I misunderstood you. If the children have seen something, and I have been through this before, the children can be spoken to by CS, etc very casually to find out what they saw. They are NEVER in a courtroom. And that is very true..this is not criminal court, but you need to document everything

[billiechic]

my post was directed to the OP, not you Kelly

[kelly]

Ohhh,,okay!! Sorry about that..I just noted that because I have a friend who went through this, her kids were 5 and 7 at the time and they had a CS rep come to the house and speak with the children...this is a mess, a sad mess