I have had some wonderful wins in the past two months as an expertwitness for #coercivecontrol and #psychologicalabuse for my adult and child clients. I was incredibly impressed with a female judge who listened intently to the facts I gathered, not from the victim, but relying on a previous court order. The judge in that order gave significant clues, citing domestic violence in the home of the abusiveparent in addition to his school failures and history of antisocial behaviors.
In a separate case involving a pre-teen and the abusive parent, my evaluation results showed the clear impact of psychological abuse on intellectual functioning, oppositional behaviors of the pre-teen, and the bizarre tactics the abusive parent used to terrorize this child.
Yes, there have been losses. In one case, the abuse was introduced as involving “domestic violence”. I was not allowed to testify because the judge believed she knew “more about domestic violence” than the psychologist in the room.
I want to highlight here that my client was a black female who entered a courthouse and walked down a hall to the courtroom where the walls were adorned with mammoth portraits of previous judges. The years were strikingly overseen by white male judges and one white female judge. The absence of cultural awareness was striking, both in this courthouse and with this judge.
I sparingly share my story of my own abuse history because it no longer has emotional impact on my work. I remember the lying to cover the abuser, the planning to “escape”, hiding money, living in a women’s shelter for a month, and the dark years that followed in the healing journey. “Domestic violence” had not yet even hit the public media or news cycles. There was nowhere to turn.
Now, intimatepartnerviolence has changed overwhelmingly to coercivecontrol and psychologicalterrorism now. We now have 30+ years of research to cite in our reports to the courts. The emphasis must be on “coercive control” and psychologicalviolence and how these tactics dominate. As an expert witness, I work to lead the judge “beyond the black eye” in his or her perceptions of my clients.
I absolutely love how ACEs shows up in evaluations of my adult and child clients. It merges science and data with established peer-reviewed research. The speech delays, the expressive-receptive language disabilities, the stunted social/emotional growth, the presentation of victims in court, it’s all ACEs. It’s amazing and powerful.
I truly love my work in supporting adult and child victims. I’ll speak for you until your voice returns.
