Increasing Safety for Battered Women and Their Children: Creating a Privilege for Supervised Visitation Intake Records

28 Pages Posted: 17 May 2006

See all articles by Nat Stern

Nat Stern

Florida State University - College of Law

Karen Oehme

Florida State University College of Social Work, Institute for Family Violence Studies

Abstract

Orders issued in domestic violence cases frequently limit a batterer's contact with his children to supervised visitation. Staff at supervised visitation centers use intake to question a victim about the risks that exist for her and her children so that a safe visit between the batterer parent and the children can be provided. Despite the danger inherent in the accessibility of intake records, these documents currently receive scant formal protection from efforts of estranged partners to obtain them. This article proposes that state legislatures enact a statutory privilege for intake records at supervised visitation programs in domestic violence cases where a court has entered a civil order for protection. The article places the scope and rationale for the privilege within the context of existing privileges barring disclosure of sensitive information.

Suggested Citation

Stern, Nat S. and Oehme, Karen, Increasing Safety for Battered Women and Their Children: Creating a Privilege for Supervised Visitation Intake Records. University of Richmond Law Review, Forthcoming, FSU College of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 199, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=902667

Nat S. Stern (Contact Author)

Florida State University - College of Law ( email )

425 W. Jefferson Street
Tallahassee, FL 32306
United States
850.644.1801 (Phone)

Karen Oehme

Florida State University College of Social Work, Institute for Family Violence Studies ( email )

Tallahassee, FL 32306
United States

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