Family Courts: The Next Frontier for Veteran-Informed Services

Abstract

Since the end of the military draft, and as a result of greater professionalization of the armed forces, military members’ demographics have dramatically changed. A substantial portion of recent war veterans are married and have children. The consequences of combat trauma have largely been inherited by family members through inadvertent exposure to symptoms, transformed family roles in the face of deployments and redeployments, child maltreatment, and domestic and interpersonal violence. While the criminal justice system has transformed in recognition that justice involvement for veterans is often a signal of unmet mental health needs and missed connections to VA benefits, a similar awakening is overdue in the nation’s family courts. Involvement of veterans in such courts, including divorce and child custody proceedings, civil protective orders, and juvenile delinquency hearings may be a predicate to criminal involvement and may offer as meaningful an opportunity for intervention as criminal diversion. This chapter explores the myriad ways that justice involved veterans intersect with family courts. The chapter also explores risk assessment tools that have recently been used to differentiate between symptoms of combat trauma and tactics of interpersonal violence.

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910), Anna Karenina (Chapter 1, first line)

Appendix

Screening, Assessment, and Intervention Model for Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration and Co-Occurring Combat-Related Conditions

Tinney and Gerlock (2018)

• Military Service Screening Tool—1 page inquiry about branch of service, deployment into war zone or combat

• Intimate Partner Violence Assessment Tool—15 pages, demographics of both adults, court/law enforcement involvement, protective orders, past experiences and abusive relationships, medical and mental health history, effects of violence on children in household, types of abuse/violence experienced

• IPV Perpetration Screening Tool—1 page, offender questions

• Abusive Behavior Inventory (ABI —Offender Form)—2 pages, offender questions

• Abusive Behavior Inventory (ABI—Partner Form)—2 pages, adult victim form, listing of abusive/coercive behavior

• Dangerousness/Risk Assessment Protocol (Perpetrator)—4 pages, inquiries about physical harm to others, risk of suicide, homicidal ideation

• Dangerousness/Risk Assessment Protocol (Adult Victim)—4 pages, same inquiries as prior assessment above, for adult victim

• PTSD Screening Tool—1 page, 5 questions, developed for primary care medical care

• TBI Screening Tool—2 pages screening, answers indicate referral for further testing

• Alcohol Abuse Screening Tool—2 pages screening from AUDIT-C.

• Drug Abuse Screening Tool—1 pages, DAST-10, (shortened version)

• Depression Screening Tool—1 pages, shortened version of Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)