Fatal Custody

Hope Hooton and Kellie Elliott feared their children were not safe with their fathers. Hope sought protection after her husband threatened suicide and later experienced a psychiatric crisis. Kellie documented years of domestic violence and abuse. Yet both fathers had unsupervised time with their children, whom they later killed.

Through the stories of these two mothers, Fault Lines investigates how evidence of danger can be missed, dismissed or fail to reach family courts at all. The film examines the push for equal custody, the failure to treat violence against a parent as a risk to children and the changes advocates say could prevent other families from suffering the same losses.