Media
These articles are included because they focus on not only the atrocities that are perpetrated against children but reflect on the 'systems' that both cause and allow it to happen
Hague Convention Ruling
A New Zealand mother whose two children have been ordered to return to Australia, under the Hague Convention, where their father lives, has lost an appeal against the ruling, even though the father has protection order issued against him. The Court of Appeal judgement released yesterday upheld rulings made by the Family Court and the High Court that the two young children must be returned to Australia pending a custody battle.
Mum jailed in custody battle
A MOTHER of two is behind bars for defying court orders in a tug of love fight with her ex partner.In what family law experts said was a rare case, the woman, 31, was given a heartbreaking choice by the Federal Magistrates' Court let the father to see his children or go to jail.
A brother's plea for help.
I am writing to you regarding the imprisonment of my sister. She was imprisoned for four months. The reason for her imprisonment: She refused to be the one who would make the decision to allow her ex partner to hurt her children, and told the judge he would have to make that decision. Because she stood against the judge and told him she would not be the one to allow him unsupervised access to the children, as she was certain it would result in their abuse, the Federal Magistrate angrily sentenced her to prison, and gave full custody of the two children to her ex partner. She has never been convicted of any crime (unlike her ex partner) and is a fine hardworking mother, who wants only the very best for her children. She had been giving them a solid wholesome life with her current husband. How is it possible this person, told only a year or so earlier he was only allowed supervised visitation, now has full custody of the children? Who knows what is happening to them. (Other details not able to be published)
Rougher-than-usual justice
Rape victims can throw up or be brought to tears by the tactics of opposing lawyers, writes Edmund Tadros. Katy's stepfather had sexually abused her from the age of nine until she left home at 21. He was initially found guilty of indecent assault and rape, but the conviction was overturned on appeal and a retrial ordered.
"The defence barrister's style was deplorable," Katy says of the retrial. "He intimidated me the whole time. He would yell at me and come up really close to question me. I was surprised at his level of animosity. He called me every name under the sun. I was just a piece of shit to him."
Katy describes the trials flatly, without emotion. She says she is describing incidents from a past life: the "younger Katy" who was repeatedly sexually assaulted and had to go through the trauma of multiple court cases.
'Adversarial game or access to justice
Recent complaints about the family law system by two expert witnesses involved in a Queensland case resulted in the court's decision to publish the original reasons for judgment. Donna Cooper* discusses the implications of publication and the questions raised about the adversarial nature of family law.
`Never again
Pediatrician David Wood and psychologist Susan Aydon, in Brisbane yesterday, discuss problems with the Family Court. I know a number of medical experts who have adopted this approach -- that they are not prepared to be part of an adversarial game that seeks just to discredit them so the parent with the most aggressive and expensive lawyer wins,'' said Dr Wood, who is also director of paediatric health services at Brisbane's Mater Hospital.
This is a Family Court that should be looking at the best things for children. This is not about the parents. It is about children, and I do not believe the current system cares about, or seeks, that outcome. Dr Wood also questioned lawyers' aggression and tactics in the court.
Court's injustices 'fail kids'
In a suburban Brisbane home, a Christmas tree stands over an array of unopened presents. They bear the names of two children who were supposed to be there at Christmas to share the joy with their mother. But their father refused to obey a Family Court order and has kept the children for three months - and there is nothing the mother can do about it. He knows she cannot afford the cost of lawyers to go back to the court, so he thumbs his nose at it and its orders. Leading child abuse campaigner David Wood cited the case yesterday as one of "dozens" in which he said the Family Court was unwilling or unable to enforce its orders.
Consider the child before the stripper
JUDGES in the Family Court need the wisdom of Solomon. Judge Tim Carmody recently had to choose between leaving an eight-year-old boy with his paternal grandparents, or transferring him to his mother. No one argues that she has been a poor mother. The case had arisen because the grandparents were worried about the mother's partner. He has recently come out of jail where he was serving three years for possessing child pornography…. The judge considered he posed no danger to the boy, but to make doubly sure the mother was not to live with him and when they were together the boy was never to be left alone with him…. At first sight this seems an ultra-careful judgment until you learn that the Family Court has no agency to monitor and enforce its rulings…… If the mother… leaves the boy with her partner, no one will know.
POST SCRIPT: 07.06.2007 The boy from Tasmania, whom the FCA sent to live with mum who works as a stripper and her boyfriend a convicted child porn viewer has been ordered to return to live with his grandparents with mum having contact.
Tighter bail for Aboriginal abusers
ABORIGINAL men accused of sexually molesting children will face tough bail restrictions to prevent them bullying their victims into silence under measures to curtail "endemic and intergenerational" child abuse in NSW indigenous communities.
Every parent's worst nightmare is discovering that their child has been abused.
The statistics suggest that over 90% of child abuse happens in the home and the abuser is often a family member or a friend known to the child victim. The nightmare only gets worse if the abuser is the other parent. The Australian Family Law Council in their 2002Report: ‘Family Law and Child Protection’ identified that if parents are separated then child protection is seen by State child protection agencies as a private matter which must be pursued by a parent through the Family Court with little or no support or involvement from the agencies themselves. This was identified by the Council as a key problem for child protection in Australia as it was recognised that many private litigants in the Family Court lack the financial and legal capabilities to effectively fight to protect their child from abuse through private legal channels.
Fathers may get justice at last
Last year, federal Liberal Party backbenchers responded by setting up a "child access" committee, which has been consistently lobbying the Prime Minister at party meetings. Howard has now spoken out, expressing interest in a proposal known as the "rebuttable presumption of joint custody", which means assuming divorcing parents share equal care of children, unless there are strong reasons against it.
THE SINS OF THE FATHERS
Young children dragged kicking and screaming to visit their abusive fathers and mothers threatened with prison if they don't comply ... It's a world away from the image of wronged dads that the campaign group Fathers4Justice implanted in the public mind. Yet, as Decca Aitkenhead discovers, it's the harrowing reality for many families riven by violence or sexual abuse
Jailed mother unrepresented at her hearing
A single mother, jailed for refusing to allow her daughter's father to have contact as ordered by the Family Court, was unrepresented at her trial. The mother, who has been freed and had 18 days of her jail sentence suspended, is now complying with the contact orders. She said yesterday she had asked for her daughter to be psychiatrically assessed to have the question of abuse reviewed.
Goward joins 'blame dad' brigade on custody
Unlike many of her predecessors, Sex Discrimination Commissioner Prue Goward has resisted the temptation to use her position to beat up on men. But recently there are signs the anti-male culture at the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission may have got to her. In the past few weeks, Goward has been weighing into the debate on joint custody with remarks uncharacteristically hostile to men.
Murder does not solve the problem.
A couple of days ago, a man was shot in an alley behind his office. He was an attorney, David Robinson. The stories in the news are very quiet about his specialty: family law.
Why he was killed is not completely clear. Another man has been arrested. But I can tell anyone the real reason: the attorney, probably not a bad man -- at least the papers say a great deal about what a good man he was and that he was a family man -- was killed because he ruined someone's family. He probably did nothing illegal. He just did his job. His job was to do anything he could to win for his client. Whatever he had to do, or could think of, he did.
Mother fights to get custody of Son
A desperate Perth mother has turned to the Supreme Court in a bid to regain custody of her seven year old son.
Children's Interests Vs Vested Interests.
Should kids be allowed equal access to their dads after divorce?
The federal government proposed "Shared Parenting Bill", being debated in parliament this week, is supposed to make it easier for children to enjoy the love, care and influence of both their parents and end the trauma and damage of the profitable business of excluding one parent by application to the Family Court.
Clearly conflict is against the best interests of children yet the Family Court and its ancillary practitioners promote conflict as an alternative to equal time parenting.
The hidden horror of child sex abuse
It was not a news flash or a phone call from police that propelled "Emily" into the jagged world of child sex abuse. Like most parents who have to face their worst fears, the source was closer to home."What does your father do to you?" she asked. The boy dropped his pants and fondled his penis. Emily felt physically sick. What followed was a marathon of claims and court appearances. But when it was over, Nathan's father would not be charged. His son, however, would, as a teenager, become suicidal. For more than four years, despite claims of sex abuse, Nathan was handed to his father for access visits.