A Reasonable Battered Mother? Redefining, Reconstructing and Recreating the Battered Mother in Child Protective Proceedings

Abstract

In this article, Professor Miccio deconstructs the theory behind state power in abuse neglect proceedings in cases where the mother is charged with failure to protect for the failure to stop the abuse to herself. This article was the basis for the law suit against NYC Administration for Children Services (ACS) in Nicholson v Scoppetta. Miccio not only proposes a new legal standard but argues that the current obj/subj standards employed by the courts fails to adequately account for the violence and how such violence constructs the environment where battered women and their children live. Thus, conceptions of reasonableness are textured and require an understanding of the social situation where mother and child reside. This is a cutting edge article which moved the discourse to an all important place - in terms of public policy, legal theory and practice.