A two-year investigation by Laurie Udesky published by 100Reporters, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit investigative journalism group, shines a light on the impact of a broken family court system.
Through interviews with parents and survivors from various states, the stories compiled as part of the explosive Custody in Crisis project examines the dangerous impact family court rulings have had on thousands of children who find themselves placed in the custody of abusive parents—and the ways in which parents who fight to protect them face dismissal and hefty legal fees. According to the release, at least 58 children were killed in the last eight years by custodial parents after family courts dismissed abuse allegations—typically from mothers.
Udesky reported and produced the story with the G.W. Williams Center, supported by a grant from the nonprofit Fund for Investigative Journalism, by poring through thousands of pages of court records and federal, state and local documents obtained through public records requests.
You can read the full investigation here.
