“My training on the link between trauma and animal cruelty really helped me look at the case in broad terms…. Animal cruelty does not occur in a vacuum, and the failure to fully examine its origins likely leads to… the continued cycle of abuse and violence…”
~ Honorable H. Lee Chitwood, Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, Pulaski, VA
NCJFCJ Board Resolution
| The NCJFCJ Board of Directors adopted a Resolution Regarding Animal Cruelty and Its Link to Other Forms of Violence, which notes the empirical research demonstrating a direct link between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence, including intimate partner abuse, child abuse, and elder abuse and the need to assist judges in better understanding the issues and implications for juvenile and family court cases. |  |
American Bar Association
| The American Bar Association adopted a Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section Family Law Section Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence Resolution, which urges all federal, state, local, territorial and tribal governments to enact legislation and/or support judicial processes that protect individuals by protecting their pets in family law and civil restraining order proceedings and increase access to justice for all persons. |  |
Technical Assistance Bulletin
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In partnership with the ALDF, the NCJFCJ developed a technical assistance bulletin Animal Cruelty Issues: What Juvenile and Family Court Judges Need to Know, which provides information about the link, its impact on families, and the ways in which judicial officers can respond. |
In Session Article
| The NCJFCJ featured an article in the Fall 2023 edition of In Session from Dr. Martha-Elin Blomquist and Adriana Arzola titled, Mission Accomplished and Mission Begun: Training juvenile and family court judges to be decision makers, educators, and ambassadors on the human-animal bond and the link between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence. |  |
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The NCJFCJ featured an article in Spring 2023 edition of In Session from Jaime Clemmer, Judge H. Lee Chitwood, and Judge Constance Frogale titled, Virginia Judges Have a New Tool for Addressing the Link Between Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, Elder abuse, and Animal Cruelty. |
| The NCJFCJ featured an article in the Spring 2020 edition of In Session from Dr. Martha-Elin Blomquist titled, Judges Have a Role in Addressing Animal Cruelty and Interpersonal Violence. |  |
NCJFCJ Annual Conference Sessions
ALDF joined the NCJFCJ at its Annual Conference in Reno, Nevada in 2022, and presented two sessions regarding the link, including judicial officers discussing their community-based efforts to address the nexus of animal abuse and family violence in their communities and a recent decision in the Supreme Court of the State of Washington finding that animal cruelty may be considered domestic violence.
PSA Template
NCJFCJ created A PSA Template for Promoting Awareness of the Links Between Animal Cruelty and Family Violence, which offers guidance on the development and promotion of video public service announcements by judges and communities and includes step-by-step resources, links, and information on how to create and distribute PSA videos as well as practical examples of community use of PSAs to promote awareness and action.
Judge-to-Judge Letter and Toolkit
The NCJFCJ worked with the Honorable Katherine Tennyson (Ret.) to develop a judge-to-judge letter on judicial involvement in addressing the LINK between animal abuse and family violence. In her letter, Judge Tennyson promotes judicial leadership and highlights the National LINK Coalition’s Toolkit for Starting a Link Coalition in Your Community as an example of ways in which judge-led community coalitions can affect change. Developed by NCJFCJ’s partner and member of the Judicial Response to Animal Cruelty Advisory Group Phil Arkow, the Toolkit offers practical tools for community leaders, including judges, for beginning and sustaining a community-based coalition around addressing the link and discusses ways to identify partners, build a coalition, and recommended action planning to encourage, “local solutions to meet local concerns, augmented by additional resources.
“Local Link coalitions, uniting community organizations and individuals around a common cause of preventing and responding to family violence issues, are creating systemic changes…“
~ From the Toolkit
Click here for more resources on judicial leadership and community coalition building.
State-Specific Bench Tool Project
Virginia Bench Guide for Addressing the Link between Animal Abuse and Human Abuse
Juvenile and family court judges have an important role in preventing, addressing, and intervening in interpersonal violence against household members, including pets, in juvenile or family law cases. To increase awareness of the link between animal cruelty and interpersonal harm and to provide judges with a tool to consider the link in decisions they make, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) and the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) are collaborating to create state-specific “link” bench tools. NCJFCJ Bench Tool Project staff are working with interested judicial officers in each state to develop a bench tool specific to their state that contains relevant statutes, questions to ask, and orders. The bench tool will assist judicial officers to make decisions informed by how humans and companion animals are affected by violence or threats of violence or abuse in specific cases and how their safety and wellbeing can be best protected.
The NCJFCJ has developed tools for the states of DE, FL, GA, OR, and WI and is working with judges in the states of AZ, CO, KS, NE, NV, OH, and PA to develop a tool for their states. If you would like to learn more about the NCJFCJ’s State-Specific Bench Tool Project, or be involved in assisting with the development of a tool for your states, please contact Dr. Martha Blomquist at mblomquist@ncjfcj.org or Ms. Karen Brindisi at kbrindisi@ncjfcj.org
Training and Technical Assistance
NCJFCJ and its partner ALDF have worked with judicial officers and local communities to provide training on the link in Delaware, Virginia and in other communities. Technical assistance, such as review and input on the development of Virginia’s benchcard on the dissolution of protective orders to include animal welfare, is provided upon request and remains and important part of our project. If you are interested in training or technical assistance on the links between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence and what judges need to know and can do, please contact Dr. Martha-Elin Blomquist, NCJFCJ Senior Site Manager, at mblomquist@ncjfcj.org.
Webinars
Judicial officers and experts in areas such as domestic violence, child welfare, and animal forensics have co-lead a series of webinars on the link and provided practical guidance for courts and communities on best and promising practices in addressing animal cruelty in the context of the range of cases before family courts that includes juvenile offending, elder abuse, and hoarding.
Case-Specific Resources
Child Abuse and Neglect
- National LINK Coalition’s resource page for Child Protection and the Link.
- NCJFCJ’s Enhanced Resource Guidelines: Improving Court Practice in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases, a publication aimed at improving court practice in child abuse and neglect cases.
- The Children’s Bureau resource on state mandatory reporting statutes for child abuse and neglect, including those states that include persons and agencies that work with animals.
- Virginia Bench Guide for Addressing the Link between Animal Abuse and Human Abuse.
- The NCJFCJ featured an article in Spring 2023 edition of In Session from Jaime Clemmer, Judge H. Lee Chitwood, and Judge Constance Frogale titled, Virginia Judges Have a New Tool for Addressing the Link Between Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, Elder abuse, and Animal Cruelty.
Animal Hoarding
- American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).
- Buscher, T. P., Dyson, J., & Cowdell, F. (2013). The effects of hoarding disorder on families: An integrative review. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpm.12098.
- Chabaud, S. A. (2011). The hidden lives of children of hoarders. https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/hidden-lives-children-hoarders.
- Frost, R. O., Patronek, G., & Rosenfield, E. (2011). Comparison of object and animal hoarding. Depression and Anxiety, 28, 885-891.
- Frost, R. O., Steketee, G., & Tolin, D. F. (2012). Diagnosis and assessment of hoarding disorder. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 8, 219–242.
- Garrett, C. A. (2020). The perspective of children of hoarding parents (CHOP). Children Australia, 45, 164-166. https://doi.org/10.1017/cha.2020.26.
- Hayes, V. (2010). Detailed discussion of animal hoarding. Michigan State University College of Law’s Animal Legal & Historical Center.
- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
- Rees, C. S., Valentine, S., & Anderson, R. A. (2017). The impact of parental hoarding on the lives of children: Interviews with adult offspring of parents with hoarding disorder. Clinical Psychologist, 22(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/cp.12135.
- Sampson, J. M. (2013). The lived experience of family members of persons who compulsively hoard: A qualitative study. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 39 (3), 388-402.
- Tolin, D. F., Frost, D. O., Steketee, G., & Fitch, K. E. (2008). Family burden of compulsive hoarding: Results of an internet survey. Behavior Research and Therapy, 46 (3), 334-344.
- Tompkins, M. A. (2011). Working with families of people who hoard: A harm reduction approach. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 67 (5), 497-506.
Juvenile Offending
- The Child Trust Survey on Animal-Related Experiences screening tool (Boat 2020 CTSARE Animal-Related Experiences).
- Guidance on using the Child Trust Survey. (Boat 2020 CTSARE Description).
- The NCJFCJ featured an article in Spring 2023 edition of In Session from Jaime Clemmer, Judge H. Lee Chitwood, and Judge Constance Frogale titled, Virginia Judges Have a New Tool for Addressing the Link Between Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, Elder abuse, and Animal Cruelty.
Domestic Violence
- Florida’s 2020 Domestic Violence Handbook issued by the Office of the State Courts Administrator, Office of Court Improvement, and the Florida Institute on Interpersonal Violence.
- Pulaski County, Virginia Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court’s Checklist for Motions to Dissolve Protective Orders, which includes information about domestic violence and its impact on children.
- RedRover, a non-profit organization based in California focused on bringing animals out of crisis and strengthening the bond between people and animals through emergency sheltering, disaster-relief services, financial assistance, and education.
- Safe Havens Mapping Project, a searchable website of shelters for pets of individuals experiencing domestic violence.
- Sheltering Animals and Families Together (SAF-T) Program, a global initiative helping domestic violence shelters to create on-site pet housing for families fleeing violence.
- New Jersey Legislation (219th Legislature) – Domestic Violence and Animal Cruelty.
- The NCJFCJ featured an article in Spring 2023 edition of In Session from Jaime Clemmer, Judge H. Lee Chitwood, and Judge Constance Frogale titled, Virginia Judges Have a New Tool for Addressing the Link Between Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, Elder abuse, and Animal Cruelty.
Elder Abuse
- Creating Safer Communities for Older Adults and Companion Animals a publication by the Humane Society and the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services.
- The NCJFCJ featured an article in Spring 2023 edition of In Session from Jaime Clemmer, Judge H. Lee Chitwood, and Judge Constance Frogale titled, Virginia Judges Have a New Tool for Addressing the Link Between Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, Elder abuse, and Animal Cruelty.
Other
The Denver Department of Public Health and the Environment animal protection and eviction relief program information guide (English and Spanish).