“I wish mother nature would send fairies and I could wish for a good daddy. I wish they would grant my wish”

That is what Jessica, nearly four, said to me two days ago. 

In May (seven months ago), a day after the contact visit with her father, Jessica said to me: “Joe put three fingers up my bottom and it pinches”. The  disclosures continued over weeks.

Our lives up until then, had been, I thought, unbearable. I now truly live the meaning of the words unbearable.

Our case is a classic example of the complete betrayal of a small girl by the Australian Legal System and its Family Laws.

Nothing has made me so angry, bitter and defeated as the sheer futility I face with the current ‘justice’ system.

I never lived with her father, when I became pregnant I realized by his behavior towards me that something was ‘wrong’ with him. I decided to have nothing more to do with him.   I love Jessica, but I would never willingly have had a child in order to be forced to allow him to be abused. To find that if I complain too much she could be taken from me to be continuously abused is hell on earth.

Joe confided to his next girlfriend  that he had broken into my home. Taken my little dog from my bed. Put her in a bucket. Then disposed of her somewhere on a country road between Brisbane and the Coast.
 
I was nine months pregnant at ther time.

My friends realized that a man who does that is a ‘psycho’. They thought, that once the court heard what he had done to my dog, Jessica would be protected.  Of course these actions mean nothing to the court. How innocent the community is to the machinations of the family court.

I moved to Sydney with my then three year old. The father had only wanted, and spent around 30 hours in total with Jessica, supervised. There were no court orders in place, but I was served with dates to attend court a few weeks before I left.

I was told by my first solicitor at Leal Aid that I would not get any funding "if you persist with raising your concerns about safety".

Despite the fact that he had never looked after her, or even been with her for more than two hours at a time, by his own choice,the court made a Recovery Order in his favour. The father claimed to the police that Jessica was in danger from me as I was emotionally unbalanced. Nothing was required from him (father) to substantiate this.

Once I heard about the Recovery Order I contacted the court and made the huge mistake of believing Jessica may get ‘a fair go’. I was ordered to return within two weeks, no mean feat when you have established a house and have little help and a now, stressed three year old.

On return, I was could only get accommodation with my parents an 3 hours outside of Brisbane. I was required to hand Jessica over, unsupervised, for four hours a fortnight. I was ordered to drive once a month to Brisbane to handover Jessica.

At the Interim Hearing  my solicitor  made the point to the Magistrate that Jessica did not know Joe, that Joe had not submitted to court ordered urinalysis in another case.

In his affidavit Joe had provided a detailed proposal of where he would take Jessica unsupervised that was demonstrably false. The Magistrate couldn’t care less.

That I was poor, that Jessica was too young to have to travel 6 hours (at least) in one day for a 4 hour contact. This was all disregarded by the Magistrate. The Magistrate would not even allow a few contacts to be supervised to allow Jessica to feel comfortable with Joe.

A few days later I woke at 5.30 am at my parents  house as I still had nowhere to live. I gave Jessica a photo of her father and we drove in the dark, to an isolated road on the south coast. Jessica was so excited she stayed awake in anticipation - I told her she would have a good time with the man in the photo.

On her return to me from her father, Jessica said absolutely nothing; her hair was brushed to the side of her forehead. I thought it was funny because the rest of her hair was messy.  

I drove back to my parent’s house . Jessica cried with tiredness and distress. When we got to my parent’s house my father said, “why is her hair brushed funny and lifted it up”, underneath Jessica’s hair was a small lump and bruise on her temple.

The following night Jessica said to me, “Joe hit me on the head”.

My blood ran cold, I couldn’t believe it. Jessica repeated what she had said and demonstrated to me how she had been hit several times around the head, hard enough to have a lump and bruise.

I took Jessica to the Hospital Emergency department and waited four horrible hours in order for the bruise to be documented.

I received a phone call the next morning from a woman at QLD child protection. I was told that Joe must be returned to supervised contact. I phoned my solicitor who angrily told me that I would do no such thing and that, “it is most likely that the court will perceive that you are deliberately blocking the contact”.

And so the horror began….

Two full family reports, one short family report, Two psychological reports (of me, to assist my case) – I am now depressed. Counseling for me every three weeks –  no counseling for Jessica – abuse not confirmed. Two scheduled hearings adjourned and one and a half years later.

In May Jessica made her disclosures of sexual abuse. My compassionate and experienced solicitor (a different one) told me “it is likely you will never find out what happened”. The solicitor advised me not to question Jessica and if she made any further disclosures to ignore them and change the subject.

The Joint Investigation Team attempted to interview Jessica – I was required to leave the room. Their approach was not suited to a child of Jessica’s age . Jessica screamed and screamed in fear.  I have been told the police interview has only ever been successful with one child under five.

A reputable child abuse clinic in Brisbane with kind and knowledgeable staff told me that they could not help. If they did, the court would portray me as a mother ‘fishing for disclosures’. Having seen many cases like mine over the years they advised me  that there was nothing I could do. They suggested that the best thing I could do was to create a kind and loving home. 

DOC’s of course have never investigated, despite the number of reports and despite the efforts of some concerned people.

I know about unacceptable risk, I knew about how mothers are castigated and treated in the courts – I had read various judgments on the Internet. I know that Jessica’s disclosures were the worst thing, the worst thing possible to happen to us on all levels.

No justice for Jessica, despite a great solicitor, despite an independent child lawyer, despite the court subpoenaing NSW police records. Its all just a circuit of futility, good people doing nothing so that bad things can happen. Despite a lovely intelligent child who trusted me enough to tell me of her betrayal. Despite Jessica being the circuit breaker. Jessica’s words mean nothing. Nothing. It is not hard to know who is speaking the truth. It is clear the Court, hiding behind academic abstractions, deliberately makes the protection of children almost impossible.

Jessica has a right to be heard, a right to be believed and a right to be protected.

The Court and its staff will see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. They turn their collective backs on Jessica and choose to  favour a  malicious, lying, nasty, coward of a man who is her biological father.  The Court is aligned with a paedophile.

I stay awake late at night scared to go to sleep because of my dreams, no fairies for us……

“I wish Joe would change into a good daddy forever, why do some people have mean daddies? Why?"