Irish family law system causes ‘secondary victimisation’

Posted on: 04 June 2025

Groundbreaking new research into the Irish family law system has found that adult and child victim-survivors of domestic abuse are being retraumatised during guardianship, custody and access proceedings.

International evidence confirms that prevalence of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) in all family law cases is disproportionately high, but the Irish system is not sufficiently DVA informed or responsive. This includes professionals within that system from legal professionals, mediators, court accessors, barristers and judges; many of whom lack a fundamental understanding of the dynamics and impacts of domestic abuse including coercive control, and its impacts on adult and child victim-survivors. This systemic blind spot leaves victims feeling disbelieved, silenced and at risk from further abuse.

The mixed methodology research ‘Exploring how Victim-Survivors of Domestic Violence and Abuse Experience Navigating the Irish Family Law System in Guardianship, Custody and Access Cases’ was carried out by social scientists from the School of Social Work and Social Policy in Trinity College Dublin and legal experts from the School of Law, University College Cork, in collaboration with Women's Aid. 

It is the first national account if its kind and draws from court observations, surveys, interviews and focus groups with children, aged-out minors, adults, domestic violence practitioners, health, social care and legal professionals and judges, and provides an in-depth perspective of the barriers facing victim-survivors of abuse. Women’s Aid, who commissioned the research, hopes that the findings will inform and support the urgent reforms of the family justice system that are currently underway in Ireland.

Professor Stephanie Holt from the School of Social Work and Social Policy at Trinity, and Principal Investigator for the research, said: “Despite the disproportionately high prevalence of domestic violence and abuse in family law cases alongside ongoing safety and welfare concerns in these cases, there has been limited robust research evidence on how the journey through the family law system is experienced by adult and child victim-survivors of abuse.

"This groundbreaking study provides a comprehensive 360-degree understanding of that journey and shows that the current operation of family law system for victim-survivors is serving to increase risk, undermine rights and compromise safety. It provides evidence and insights into a fundamentally flawed family law system when dealing with adult and child victim-survivors of domestic abuse including coercive control.”

Stephanie Holt, Sarah Benson and Ailbhe Smyth

Professor Holt continues: “The findings paint a predominantly negative picture of that journey through the family law system for adult and child victim-survivors of domestic violence and abuse. That negative picture is highly critical of the processes, procedures and practices within the family law system. Importantly the report makes a range of recommendations to improve the family law system to make it safer for adult and child victim-survivors. Our research also found that when adult and child victim-survivors engaged with professionals whose practice reflected an understanding of domestic violence and abuse, this experience was transformative. We are indebted to the many victim-survivors and professionals who took part in this vital research.”

Sarah Benson, CEO of Women’s Aid, said: “This research is very difficult but required reading for anyone who plays any part in the family justice system. It provides a picture of the horrendous abuse and control that adult and child victim-survivors have experienced during the relationship, while trying to leave and post-separation. It captures hundreds of reports of physical, emotional, economic and sexual abuse of women, men and children.  It tells us that sadly even where there are some examples of informed and understanding practices among some key individuals, this is completely inadequate when the system itself is not attuned and responsive to the tactics and impacts of domestic abuse post-separation.  

"Participants in the research spoke of having to adhere to court ordered access to avoid being charged with violating a court order, requiring them to regularly engage with their abuser. This frequently provided court sanctioned opportunities for further abuse to occur.  The research holds a mirror up to the reality of many families lives marred by domestic abuse and challenges us to do better.”

Ms Benson adds: “What we are particularly appalled by is the finding that adult victim-survivors of domestic abuse navigating the system for matters of guardianship, custody, and access describe the experience as relentless, overwhelmingly negative and retraumatising, with some saying that it became ‘even worse than the abuse’. It is a shocking situation but sadly, not a surprising one for Women’s Aid and other specialist support organisations. Women’s Aid are in the family law courts daily with women who must navigate an unforgiving system while still being subjected to devastating abuse from their partners or ex-partners. We have witnessed how complex, disjointed and arbitrary the system is.”

Two-thirds of adult victim-survivors reported that judges fail to take their experiences of domestic violence and abuse into account when making decisions about guardianship, custody, and access involving the perpetrator. Adult survivors report being put into the impossible position of having to adhere to court ordered custody and access arrangements that placed their children in harm’s way or face penalties.

Lack of access to legal representation, time to consult and prepare for cases, huge financial burdens, and a system generally overwhelmed by volume and pressure of cases compounds a high-stakes and high-risk situation for adult and child victim survivors alike.   

Ms Benson explains: “When it comes to decision making on guardianship, custody and access the research found that a perpetrator’s history of domestic abuse was rarely considered when deciding whether they should have contact with children. We are really concerned about the lack of comprehensive training and understanding of domestic violence and the impact of abuse on victim-survivors at every level of the family law system. This was especially evident in reported experiences of court-appointed assessors. In many instances when women raised legitimate safety concerns for their children, they were often inappropriately accused of engaging in the highly contested concept of ‘parental alienation’ while the possibility of DVA as a reasonable concern was not meaningfully considered. At the same time, children and young people feel the family law system fails to listen to or respect their independent views. This leads to unsafe contact with abusive parents and a deep sense of betrayal by the professionals they had trusted.”

Dr Ruth Elliffe, Professor Stephanie Holt, Davina James-Hanman, Sarah Benson, Soma Gregory, Dr Aisling Parkes and Ailbhe Smyth

Ms Benson continues: “The children and young people who contributed to this research had engaged with a variety of professionals including court assessors, social workers, judges and members of An Garda Síochána but felt their views were not being sought meaningfully, their experiences discounted and disbelieved, and their wishes ignored. Examples given included children disclosing experiences of physical restraint and assault by their abusive parent, with that information either ignored, challenged as the truth or changed and reported instead as the acts of the victim-survivor parent. While the children stated in interview that they could not have been clearer that they did not want to spend any time with an abusive parent and gave a good rationale and evidence for that assertion, they described not feeling heard or taken seriously by professionals when contact was continued or extended.”

“The family law system is neither simple nor straightforward. It is a complex and evolving network, composed of laws, courts, judges, legal professionals, services, and, crucially, the lived experiences of families. These components do not function in isolation but interact in ways that are often unpredictable and dynamic. The outcomes for individuals seeking support are shaped by the whole system, rather than by any single decision, law, or individual actor. To truly improve the family law system, we must move beyond focusing on its individual parts and instead examine how all these elements are interconnected and influence each other. Women’s Aid urges the Government to fundamentally reform the family law system as part of the Family Justice Strategy in a consciously and carefully DVA informed manner. This includes compulsory domestic abuse training for all professionals, including judges, comprehensive screening and risk assessment protocols, radical reform of the ‘expert reports’ system, improved access to legal representation and the development of a clear mechanisms to improve coordination, communication, and cooperation across all civil family law proceedings and with the criminal courts.

Ms Benson concludes: “Funded by Women’s Aid, this research aims to inform those in positions of authority with the hope that when victim-survivors including children engage with the family law system, they will find justice, protection from abuse, and the full exercise of their human rights.”

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