Government Reports
The Government commissions reports from various agencies to address concerns within the Family Law system. These reports are utilised in decision making and legislative changes.
Reports are also included from various statutory bodies that provide statistical analysis.
Allegations of family violence and child abuse in family law children's proceedings
REPORT RELEASED MAY 2007. The report is a benchmark study based on data relating to a period prior to the 2006 reforms to the family law system and will be used to assist in evaluating aspects of the reforms. It provides some challenging findings about the frequency of allegations of violence and abuse and the amount of supporting material around those allegations.
When making parenting orders, the court appeared to be more likely to take allegations of spousal violence or parental child abuse into account when these allegations were accompanied by strong evidence. Without such evidence, allegations did not appear to have much effect on outcomes. More than half the cases examined contained allegations of family violence or child abuse. However, in many cases little detail was provided and there was little supporting material to substantiate the allegations.
Most alleging parties, especially fathers, did not provide any material in support of their allegations. Mothers' allegations of child abuse by fathers were less likely to be accompanied by evidence than was the case of mothers' allegations of spousal violence.
While the data show that it was unusual for children's contact with a parent to be denied, if evidence of violence or abuse was provided, there was less likelihood of courts agreeing to overnight contact. Media release
Finding a better way The Australian Institute of Family Studies
"A bold departure from the traditional common law approach to the conduct of legal proceedings".
The Court, embarked on the pilot project, known as the Children's Cases in 2004. It was a major advancement in the ongoing efforts of the Court to more effectively hear disputes about children, and one that (addressed) the limitations of conventional adversarial hearings.
The earliest results of the CCP pilot evaluations confirmed that the Court could not go back. Indeed, it has now been decided to apply the less adversarial approach to all Family Court of Australia hearings and over the next year the Court will be developing its processes to make this happen.
In children's cases, Division 12A swept away restrictive rules of evidence and the control of the proceedings was placed in the hands of the judge, rather than the parties or their legal representatives. The focus is a future looking one, geared to the needs of the child. As a consequence of the new procedures, parties are no longer free to conduct litigation as a forensic war between each other at the expense of the interests of the child. At the same time the best features of the Court's highly developed system for mediation and resolution of disputes has not only been preserved but also enhanced, and the role of what is now called the family consultant has become even more significant. The unique approach retains and relies on the special assistance provided by family consultants, whilst providing a clear child focus underpinned by active judicial leadership and direction. Includes discussion on the Magellan Model.
Ombudsman's Report 2005
A report into child deaths in NSW has highlighted ongoing failures in the state's child protection systems, with previously identified problems still occurring.A report from Ombudsman Bruce Barbour, tabled in the NSW parliament, deals with 117 reviewable" child deaths in 2005. The cases include those of children who had been the subject of a report to the Department of Community Services (DOCS) or whose siblings had been the subject of such a report. The ombudsman also reviewed the deaths of children who died in suspicious circumstances, or as a result of neglect or abuse."
The Australian Law Reform Commission
This report by the Australian Law Reform Commission addresses one of the most difficult areas of family law reform - efforts to reduce the number and severity of complex contact cases in the Family Court. These are cases where separated parents are involved in protracted disputes, often involving repetitive applications, about the non custodial parent's contact with the children of the relationship.
These complex cases often have very detrimental and sometimes tragic consequences for the children involved, their parents and other family members and friends. Parental violence, chronic conflict and protracted, expensive litigation jeopardise a child's best interests. Children will generally benefit when their separated parents achieve responsible and co-operative parenting. They will be happier, better adjusted and more likely to achieve their potential and become productive members of the community. Complex cases are also a drain on the limited resources of the Family Court and the legal aid commissions which often provide representation for children and parents in these cases.
Impact of the Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act 2006 (Cth) NSW Parliamentary Enquiry. November 2006
It is clear from the evidence that there are a number of areas of concern in relation to the family dispute resolution process established by Shared Parental Responsibility Act .... Of particular concern is that family violence may go undetected if screening tools used at Family Relationship Centres (FRCs) and by accredited family dispute resolution practitioners are inadequate. A number of submissions to the Inquiry highlighted the power imbalance that may occur in dispute resolution as a result of a failure to identify family violence.
Discussion of Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders, False Allegations, Legal Aid and Parenting Orders
Inquiry into the provisions of the Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Bill 2005
Submissions received by the committee as at 14/03/2006
This link is to the web page that contains many of the submissions received by the inquiry committee. A vast range of opinions, with a large proportion highlighting concerns of excluded fathers. Well worth browsing through.
Seeking Safety, Needing Support
A report on support requirements for women experiencing domestic violence and accessing the Family Court.
It contains the voices and concerns of survivors of domestic violence and also the workers involved in a wide range of responses. It argues for assistance for women and children who have experienced domestic violence who are, often unwillingly, subjected to bewildering and difficult legal processes, frequently without any legal assistance or advocacy.
Despite the best efforts of the Family Court to provide a safe and equitable outcome for all, some women face a frightening escalation of violence. Unfortunately, their needs, and the needs of their children, have not been specifically addressed in the Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Bill 2005 other than in exemption from mandatory counselling/mediation requirements.
The Family Law Violence Strategy
The Strategy forms part of the Australian Government's significant family law reform agenda.
The Government is focused on the right of each child to grow up with love and support from both parents, but also to be kept safe from harm.
2. The Government considers that family violence of any sort is unacceptable and violence involving children is especially abhorrent. This Strategy focuses upon family violence and child abuse in the context of the family law system and on identifying ways to improve the functioning of the system for these cases. Proceedings involving allegations of family violence and child abuse frequently appear before courts exercising family
law jurisdiction. These cases are widely acknowledged as some of the most difficult and contentious family law issues to deal with.
3. The Government wants a system where allegations of family violence and child abuse are handled quickly, fairly and properly.
2006 Australian National Family Law Conference
The Hon Wayne Martin Chief Justice of Western Australia
Another fundamental difficulty with the adversarial process in civil cases is that it seems to me to be fundamentally antithetical to the overall objective of the system in which it is being utilised which is, after all, a system intended to resolve civil disputes. In that context, it seems to me to be somewhat bizarre to engage a process which is inherently likely to exacerbate dispute, polarise parties and push them further and further apart.....It has often been suggested that family law is one area of the law which is not particularly well suited to the rigorous adoption of an adversarial process. There is, I think, much to be said for that view, which could also be applied with equal force to a number of other areas of civil law.
Domestic violence:improving police practice
A special report to Parliament under s31 of the Ombudsman Act 1974 December 2006
The Advisory Board on Family Law. A report to the Lord Chancellor on the question of Parental Contact in Cases where there is domestic violence.
To summarise, we take the view that the courts should recognise that domestic violence takes many forms and should adopt a broad definition of domestic violence. Any definition which is generally applied should be gender neutral. Adoption of the New Zealand definition, combined with an alertness to the particular difficulties encountered by members of minority ethnic communities, should enable the courts to identify domestic violence in a given case, and thus enable the court to assess its impact on the residential parent and the children.
FAMILY LAW COUNCIL FAMILY LAW AND CHILD PROTECTION FINAL REPORT - SEPTEMBER 2002
A lengthy document that examines many issues, regarding the perceived failure of the current Family Law legislation and implementation to adequately protect children. The report culminates in the recommendation of a national Child Protection Service, the role of the service and the outcome that should be expected of it.
Family law and child protection
This summary sets out the background and main recommendations raised in the above report.
The ability of the Family Court of Australia and the Federal Magistrates Service to properly assess child abuse allegations is a matter of great public concern. Wrong decisions in this area can have tragic longterm consequences for children and families.
The report presents many of the difficulties resulting from the lack of a national framework in child and family services generally. It focuses on areas of family violence and child protection, where jurisdictional overlaps frequently occur, such that legal action is taken on the same matter in both the state and federal spheres.
It attributes the difficulties largely to the constitutional division of legislative and other responsibility for children between the Commonwealth and the states and territories.
Domestic violence and family law: whose best interests?
Study on how Family Court judges constructed the 'best interests of the child' in contested contact cases involving domestic violence. The analysis identified particular expectations and philosophical positions of the judges into the roles and family relationships of fathers, mothers and children. The dominant discourses promote a paradigm of the idealised post separation family that disregards the effects of domestic violence on children and fails to acknowledge distinctive needs and predicaments faced by children who have been exposed to domestic violence. Children who resist contact were often construed as problem children in need of a father figure.
Domestic violence: acknowledging the attack on mother-child relationships
Examins the challenges for child protection policy and practice in the context of domestic violence, arguing that domestic violence represents a sustained attack on the mother child relationship and the child protection system needs to work towards supporting and strengthening the relationship. In addition to the effects of witnessing domestic violence, children are affected by the undermining of mothering through a range of strategies. These include belittling and insulting the mother in front of her children, encouraging children in name calling and even violence against their mothers, undermining the mother's authority, physical and sexual violence against the mother that renders her physically incapable of caring for her children, causing depression and anxiety in the mother that affect her parenting ability. In cases of domestic violence, the adult victim is often assessed by the child protection system as being unwilling or unable to protect the child, in effect bearing the blame for the violence
OTHER SUBJECT HEADINGS:
Reports
Submissions