Asking for a friend (genuinely! 
) A bit of background and then a few questions... My friend (the father) is married with 2 kids - the mother is sometimes nice to kids but often verbally abusive and screams awful, hurtful things at them which definitely come under the category of emotional/psychological abuse. It is clear that she is mentally ill but she has no diagnosis (long story). Social Services were involved a year or so ago but badly let the family down - they just put the mother on some meds, monitored her for a few weeks and then left. It was a disaster, full of nonsense red tape eg. the father not being allowed to show doctors a video of the mother's abuse, because the mother didn't give her permission for the video to be seen! Fast forwartd to now - things are getting worse and worse and the father is seriously worried about the children. He is really stuck though as there seems no way out :(
Now a few questions:
His ideal is that he leaves her and has sole custody of the children - but he feels that is extremely unlikely and if she spends any time alone with the children this could be even worse for them as he won't be there to protect them. Do courts ever grant sole custody in these cases?
I suggested he talk to a family lawyer but he is worried that a lawyer would have to report the abuse - does anyone know if this is true?
And last question. He has audio files of her screaming at the children (taped without her knowledge) - is this sort of thing ever admissible as evidence?
Very grateful for any thoughts!