Also known as: maltreat · maltreats · maltreated · maltreating · mistreatment
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Bad treatment of a child or family member that includes physical harm or credible threats of harm. The conduct creates an emergency when it subjects the child or a parent to mistreatment or abuse while the child is present in the forum state.
Meredith Maxwell fled with her six-year-old son to State H after the boy reported being shoved by his father's partner and threatened with confinement in a hot warehouse. The child was physically present in State H when Meredith petitioned for temporary custody. The reports of past physical contact and explicit future threats satisfied the emergency standard, allowing the State H court to issue a protective order.
Professor Laura Green drove her son to State Z and immediately sought emergency custody after alleging that the father had choked the boy during homework sessions and locked him outside overnight in freezing weather. The child was present in State Z at filing. The repeated physical mistreatment created the emergency needed for the court to enter a temporary protective order despite the home state being elsewhere.
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Madison Meyers challenged her capital sentence by arguing that the state's method of execution constituted maltreatment rising to cruel and unusual punishment. The court examined whether the procedure inflicted unnecessary suffering on the condemned. The claim failed because the protocol did not meet the threshold for unconstitutional maltreatment.
Mohan Malhotra testified against his father in a sexual abuse prosecution. The state arranged a screen to shield the boy from direct eye contact with the defendant during testimony. The arrangement addressed the trauma of recounting the maltreatment while preserving the defendant's confrontation rights.
Ming Ma sued a state facility alleging that inadequate staffing and restraints amounted to maltreatment of residents with disabilities. The court held that the Eleventh Amendment barred the federal claim for injunctive relief against the state officials. The ruling limited the remedy available for the alleged institutional mistreatment.
Mina Mehta sued county social services after her son suffered repeated beatings by his father despite multiple reports to caseworkers. The court held that the Due Process Clause did not impose an affirmative duty on the state to protect the child from private maltreatment. The absence of state custody meant no constitutional claim arose from the agency's inaction.
The child must be physically present in the state and either abandoned or subjected to or threatened with mistreatment or abuse. Credible reports of past physical contact plus explicit threats of future harm meet the standard even without prior official documentation or ongoing harm in the forum state.
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No. The statute requires only the child's presence plus past mistreatment or a credible threat creating the need for protection. Courts have held that child reports of shoving and confinement threats suffice without prior investigations or protective orders.
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The prior order does not bar the emergency jurisdiction. A court may still enter a temporary protective order when the child is present and faces mistreatment or abuse, though the order remains limited in duration and subject to coordination with the home state court.
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…to many legislative actions, strict scrutiny was not appropriate. But in light of the history of "unfair and often grotesque mistreatment" of the retarded, discrimination against them was "likely to reflect deep-seated prejudice." Id. , at 197. In addition, the mentally retarded lacked political power, and their condition…