Hellobee Boards

Wow shocked that this can happen.

Oh yeah, this has been an issue for a while. In a similar vein, when I worked for a DV unit of a prosecutor's offices we saw judges who determined in custody arrangements that DV convictions against the mother by a father wouldn't be used to limit visitation unless there was a direct connect to abuse against the children. Because seeing/hearing/knowing your mom was assaulted isn't enough of a connect.

I think it’s a no brainer that women who were raped should not be forced to co-parent with their attacker. I also think that someone convicted of a sexual assault should not have unsupervised access to children or any other vulnerable population. The power dynamics are too great.

This is a small part of the reason why I so strongly support reproductive freedom and *access* across the country. Women who choose to continue with a pregnancy after rape shouldn't worry about co-parenting with their attacker and women shouldn't be forced to choose to continue their pregnancy AND co-parent with their attacker.

I definitely don't see lawmakers moving fast on this issue; it's something thats been known for a long time.

This is a horrible situation. I would be curious to hear from the father/attacker. He wasn't found guilty of anything - he entered into a plea deal. There are lots of reasons people enter into plea deals and not all of them are because the person is guilty. Our system isn't perfect at all. Maybe the guy maintains his innocence. And I the mom/victim probably wasn't told what would happen once he was able to plea down His crime. It was the plea bargain that ultimately let him have these parental rights. If he was convicted of or plead to a felony, I think the CNN article says he wouldn't have the same parental rights.

Horrible. She had no control over the attack, but she should most definitely have control over her child and look as the attacker as just a sperm donor.

Oh hell no. Why would anyone think it's OK to let an abuser have custody of a child? That is insane and I would fight to the death to prevent my kids from being in that situation.

my immediate response is "fuck no." He can give money he gets NO rights to the child and should in no way have any part in his/her life.

That is an absolute nightmare! I hope States can make it so this cannot happen

@caterw: To the death is right, their death