Ex-Partner Stalking and Child Custody and Visitation Disputes.

The paper addresses the very current topic of ex-partner stalking in the context of family disputes, especially the consequences that such stalking may have on future custody and visitation rights over children. Most empirical studies concentrate on the problem of stalking itself and the potential effects on the victim. Therefore my research project focuses on the effect on the children in the case one parent stalks the other. The problem in these cases is that stalking generally requires a total breakdown in the communication, but this is almost impossible as long as minor children are involved. One question of the research is how the legal professionals and other experts from various disciplines deal with this problem, what special aspects have to be taken into consideration of the child's best interest, what kind of support to the child can be offered, and how elements of the legal disputes, custody arrangements and visitation rights interact. The aim is to find criteria which would enable the professionals involved better to regard the particular dynamics of stalking, when delivering opinions for the protection of the child and the stalked parent. The paper will present preliminary results from interviews with seventeen experts dealing with stalking cases (family lawyers, family court judges, psychological experts). ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]