Wednesday, June 18, 2003

Family Law: Shared parenting arrangements

Has the Federal Government finally woken up about child access?

My children were four and two years of age and it's been fourteen years since I seen my children who are now adults. I don't know where they are because the government fragmented us by order of the Family Court of Australia, which should be called, the Anti-Family Court of Australia. Big yawn!!!


A DRAMATIC shift in family law could see divorced parents given automatic shared custody of their children. John Howard is considering the radical proposal, triggering concerns about disruption for children, who mainly live with mothers, and greater conflict between parents.

The Family Court made contact orders in my favour to get some information about my children once every year in the mail. After I disagreed with the lousy access granted by the court and got angry, the police moved them upstate taking out an AVO.

In direct contravention of the Courts orders no information has been received for 5 years and I don't have a clear understanding as a sole parent about how or where they are.

Howard told Coalition MPs yesterday he was "interested in the broad concept" of rebuttable joint custody where the court presumes a child should spend equal time living with each parent unless there are strong reasons against it.

Equal time what a concept I wonder how that came about???

But there has always been a strong reason behind it (lawyers and wives).

His spokeswoman said later that the Prime Minister was "mindful of the need for male role-models for children, and the desire for both parents to have continuing responsibility for their upbringing".

But is that because it is uneconomical to pay child maintenance for the children and dole payments for their parents? Most parents won't pay maintenance if they can't see their children. And the kids are running wild with no wisdom and some lost, causing the country massive inflation because of their anti social behaviour.

The move would be a dramatic shift from present arrangements after divorce, where the vast majority of children live predominantly with their mother, but stay at their father's home maybe every second weekend.

Only 16 per cent of divorced couples in Australia have the children living with each parent for more than 30 per cent of the time.

The Prime Minister has been lobbied heavily by members of his back bench, who have raised repeatedly family support and custody issues at party meetings in recent months. Liberal MPs, including Ken Ticehurst, Barry Haase, Jeannie Ferris and Margaret May, have led the charge.

Their group has stepped up its activities after men's rights groups set up a new lobby group, the Shared Parenting Council, last October. The council has members including the Men's Rights Agency, the Festival of Light, the Lone Fathers Association, and the Family Law Reform Association. Senator Ferris last night called for a public inquiry on the issue, which accounted for up to one-quarter of electorate work for MPs.

"This is one of the great sleeper issues," she said. "It seems to me it would be far better if both parents were given overall custody and responsibility for their children, and then negotiated living arrangements, rather than the situation now where one parent has the ability to prevent the other parent having ready access."

But Patrick Parkinson, a family law professor at the University of Sydney, opposed automatic joint residence for children after a divorce. "I have sympathy with the spirit of it, but it would stack things too heavily against a child having one primary care giver which may be in their best interests and you also need to consider that both parents may not be able to care equally well for a child," he said. "It can be a good arrangement, but for some kids it's not they don't have a permanent home. "It only really works when the parents can get along with each other."

Ed: Because of the frustration of trying to get appropriate access to my children I killed my wife 11 years ago. I was convicted of her manslaughter (diminished responsibility in a crisis situation) and served 7 years in jail due directly to the frustration of equal access to our two children during the Family Court Proceedings. Not a good result? So that can't be a good arrangement either. So if I'm amongst the few who could flip out over access to our children it is because of the predisposing factors that lay in my history including the Anti-Family Court. because they failed to decide anything reasonable.


Pre disposing factors

1) not knowing my own father

2) bashed by a stepfather

3) losing our first child prematurely

4) bad one size fits all and discriminative, Anti-Family Court policy


No excuse for a killing but in our case the children of the marriage became very precious, losing the first child. And that's why it made it so important for me to be with my children at the time.

I didn't know about predisposing factors at the time either. I was just angry. Let me tell you! When the value and principal is high (children) and the decision making process is not being fair and reasonable with access to them, then you have no respect.

You gamble with predisposing factors in an individual and that's what makes all of us unique. So without counseling (a Family Court trait because of the cost) and by making (mechanical) decisions and (standard decisions) that are or seem unfair to a parent, especially if you're not prepared to listen to one parent, then every second weekend could be your worst nightmare.

Subsequently the Community Protection Act 1994 introduced by the NSW Liberal Govt now defeated by the High Court of Australia and was born out of access to the children of the marriage by a father.

So they put up a wall that no father could break. Like trying to stop the waves rolling onto a beach. You can't. Never to be released from a prison because of child access? Now only the Universe could get around that with its mercy. And it will.

To uphold your policy you make a law for one man to prevent access by keeping him in jail forever? Good on you mum Tip Top's the one. If people have to share the workload at home and women have burnt their bras for equality then the Family Court is a hypocrite in terms of the correct social response, so very necessary for the fundamental group unit of society. The family!

Now if you add up all the costs and the deaths caused by this nonsense and decide that that doesn't have to happen any more? Then change the law for the correct social response between families, because it is worth it for the children and families..


Incidentally my wife’s parents split up and her father had custody because his wife, my late wife’s mother, was leaving the marriage, for something better. In those days common sense.

But my wife was also left with that 'predisposing factor', as well as others like a premature birth of a child and the death of that child, and of course in the 1990's woman's liberation. No way was she going to leave the marriage without taking the children with her, even if she was the one who was leaving the marriage for something better.


By Gregory Kable 18 June 03

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