“Catastrophic”: A qualitative exploration of survivors experiences of expert instruction in private law child arrangements proceedings

Abstract

This article explores the lived experiences of female survivors of domestic abuse when an expert had been instructed in private law family court proceedings in England and Wales. It considered survivors’ lived experiences from the moment that an expert was suggested to the expert report outcome. The study found that when the family court has made no findings of domestic abuse the court’s focus shifts from the perpetrator to a survivors’ behaviour. Survivors described that, despite their reservations, they considered the expert assessment to be the last opportunity for a professional to recognise the domestic abuse and change the court’s opinion. Survivors found that their natural brain’s response to trauma, due to abuse, was repackaged and (mis)diagnosed as disordered behaviour. Expert reports recommended psychological treatments that were often conditional to any future changes to child arrangements in their favour. Further, survivors’ lived experiences described how perpetrators were able to harness the legal mechanism of child removal and use it as a form of post-separation coercive control, often supported by the expert. Overall, survivors’ lived experiences raised serious professional and safeguarding concerns, as well as ethical issues about the role and impact of the expert in private law child arrangements proceedings.