Equal shared parental responsibility will no longer automatically be considered to be in a child’s best interest. That’s a good thing, particularly in domestic violence situations.
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Feminism helped power the tide of change carrying Gough Whitlam to power in 1972. What were his government’s historic achievements for women? And what do Australian women need to fight for next?
Domestic violence and coercive controlling behaviours are occurring in shared parenting arrangements more than was previously thought.
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There’s a need to better understand coercive control as an important component of domestic violence when it comes to making decisions around co-parenting.
The Australian Law Reform Commission handed down it’s report on changes to the family law system on April 10.
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The Australian Law Reform Commission’s report makes a radical new suggestion that federal family courts be abolished. It also recommends changes to laws concerning parenting and property division.
We need a new legal definition of ‘parent’ to reflect the diversity of Australian families.
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Who is a child’s legal parent? The question is at the heart of a case due before the High Court this year. It may have implications for children born via IVF or surrogacy, and the people who raise them.
The nation’s family law system has long been in need of reform and greater resources.
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The proposed merger of the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court is intended to address delays and inefficiencies in the system. Experts question, however, how effective the reforms will be.
We already have a great deal of high-quality information about what works, and what doesn’t, in our family law system.
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Rae Kaspiew, Australian Institute of Family Studies
Separating couples who use the family law system generally have a positive experience - but for a troubled minority, there is still much work to be done.
The “right to parent” according to one’s own values and proclivities isn’t actually unfettered.
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A Family Court “order” for parents of a child to not smoke around him and to limit their alcohol consumption while caring for him have invited the same old accusations about the “nanny state”.
Australia has been ahead of the pack in recognising equal rights for parents.
Kayla Sawyer
Social issues involving young children and warring interest groups make good media fodder. So researchers involved in these areas have to decide very carefully how to promote their findings to stop their…