ACLU Report: U.S. Drug Laws Harm Women

NEW YORK - America's war on drugs is inflicting deep and disproportionate harm on women - most of them mothers - who are filling prisons in ever-rising numbers despite their typically minor roles in drug rings, the American Civil Liberties Union and two other groups contend in a major new report.

The report, " Caught in the Net,'' is being released Thursday as the focus of a two-day national conference in New York, bringing together criminal justice officials, sentence-reform activists and other experts to consider its package of proposed legislative and policy changes. The report recommends expansion of treatment programs geared toward women, says incarceration should be a last resort, and urges more vigorous efforts to maintain ties between imprisoned mothers and their children.

" Drug convictions have caused the number of women behind bars to explode, leaving in the rubble displaced children and overburdened families,'' the document says.

The number of imprisoned women is increasing at a much faster rate than the number of men, mostly because of tougher drug laws. There were 101,000 women in state and federal prisons in 2003, an eight-fold increase since 1980; roughly one-third were drug offenders, compared to about one-fifth of male inmates.

" Many of the drug conspiracy and accomplice laws were created to go after the kingpins,'' said the ACLU women's rights project director, Lenora Lapidus, a lead author of the report. " But women who may simply be a girlfriend or wife are getting caught in the web as well, and sent to prison for very long times when all they may have done is answer the telephone.''

Lapidus acknowledged that legislation addressing the situation would probably need to be gender-neutral. But she and her fellow authors - from New York University Law School's Brennan Center for Justice and the advocacy group Break the Chains - make a detailed case that existing drug laws " have had specific, devastating and disparate effects on women.''

Among their contentions:

-Many women are ensnared in drug investigations despite peripheral involvement, sometimes solely because they failed to turn in their partners to police. Sentencing laws fail to consider factors such as physical abuse or economic dependence that may draw women into drug abuse or deter them from notifying authorities of a partner's drug activity.

-Treatment programs, to the extent they exist, often are tailored for men and prove relatively ineffective for women.

-Black and Hispanic women are imprisoned for drug offenses at higher rates than white women even though their rates of illegal drug use are comparable. Factors include prosecutors' decisions, policing tactics and selective testing of pregnant minority women for drug use.

-Most imprisoned women, and relatively few imprisoned men, leave behind children for whom they were the sole primary caretaker. The separation can be shattering for mothers, who may lose parental rights, and for children, thousands of whom are placed in foster care at state expense.

The report makes an economic case for change, contending that the combined annual cost of imprisoning a mother and placing a child in foster care is seven times the cost of an intensive one-year drug treatment program.

Several mothers jailed for drug offenses are attending the conference, including Dorothy Gaines, whose 19-year prison sentence for cocaine conspiracy was commuted by President Clinton in 2000 after she served six years. Gaines says her son, Phillip, now 20, was devastated by the separation.

" He was an honor roll student, but when I went to prison, he just lost it,'' Gaines said in a telephone interview from Alabama. " Even when I finally came home, he tried to kill himself. He's still bearing the scars.''

The issues raised in the report are difficult ones for criminal justice officials as their states debate building new prisons or diverting more nonviolent drug offenders into treatment.

" When there's a woman defendant with children, we generally try everything we can to put her into rehab rather than prison,'' said Michael Arcuri, district attorney in New York's Oneida County and former president of the state DA's association.

" On the other hand, we're supposed to treat everyone the same,'' he said. " You see more women in prison because you see more women selling drugs. Some of them feel that, because we were softer on women in the past, they'll get some sort of easier treatment.''

Bruce Bullington, a Florida State University criminologist, said drug-offending mothers may win sympathy from some activists but often are viewed harshly by lawmakers.

" It's not just an issue of drugs, but of embedded moral values,'' he said. " We demonize these women, and it comes back to haunt us in a variety of ways.''

Fair Laws For Families

By David Crary 18 March 05

Related:

Most women 'should not be jailed'
The number of women being sent to jail - many on short sentences - increased to 13,380 in 2002, a leap of about a third compared with just three years earlier.

War on drugs? Losing that too
THE US War on Drugs that is run from Washington DC is a "tragic failure" and should be wrested away from the feds and devolved to state level.

Children of Imprisoned Mothers
United Nations lobbying body reports on women in prison and their children. I thought that two recent publications from the Quaker group that lobbies the UN might be of interest to you.

Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO)
On-line Resources on Women in Prison

Prison System Fails Women, Study Says
State policies designed for violent men make female offenders' rehabilitation difficult, an oversight panel finds. "If we fail to intervene effectively in the lives of these women and their children now, California will pay the cost for generations to come," said Commissioner Teddie Ray, chairwoman of the subcommittee that produced the report.

People: 'Prisoners' of Drugs'
According to an Australian Medical Association report, 83% of prisoners behind bars are there as a result of drug-related offences. In a NSW study it showed the frequent amount of burglaries depended on the rate of spending money on drugs. Neil Comrie, Victorian Police estimates 70% of all criminal activity is drug related. Inadequate treatment services as well as treatment of drug addiction as a crime, rather than a health issue has criminalised a huge number of people.

Report slams 'unjust' jailing of women on remand
UK: Six out of 10 women sent to jail while they await trial are acquitted or given a non-custodial sentence, a report published today reveals. Introducing the report, Lady Kennedy QC calls for a complete review of the use of remand and bail for women saying it is "inhumane and unjust".

Parents on the inside leave children on the edge
Life in jail is an ordeal but it's a much harsher sentence for the child of a prisoner, writes Paola Totaro. 30 July 03.

2nd Renaissance -36 Let The Girls Go! [263]
During 2003 an Australian woman, Kathleen Folbigg, was sentenced to 40 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 30 years. Her crime, which she continues to deny, was to consecutively smother her four children when they were aged between 8 and 19 months. She was largely convicted on the basis of entries in her private diary, although these did not specifically refer to her having killed her two sons and two daughters; only that she was her father's daughter. Her lawyers are appealing her conviction.

Children of Imprisoned Mothers

Quakers: Women in prison and their children...!

United Nations lobbying body reports on women in prison and their children. I thought that two recent publications from the Quaker group that lobbies the UN might be of interest to you.

This one is about the problems faced by and a bill of rights for the children of imprisoned mothers.

Imprisoned mothers has been the focus of a study and I am sure that the friends will realise that these rights apply equally to the children of imprisoned fathers.

The problem is, when you read the shocking statistics, there is a huge majority of women who are imprisoned who are sole carers for their children, and this has been the focus of this study. It is only 3 pages and includes a short draft of rights for the children.

Children of Imprisoned Mothers.pdf

This next one has more research and is longer. It has quoted sources and is quite academic looking, but you don't have to even lift a rock to find the sheer human misery that it describes.

Updated:

Women in Prison & Children of Imprisoned Mothers

Maybe some of the figures might be of use some time in a campaign.

The Quaker United Nations Offices located in Geneva and New York represent Friends World Committee for Consultation (Quakers), an international non-governmental organisation with General Consultative Status at the UN. QUNO works to promote the peace and justice concerns of Friends (Quakers) from around the world at the United Nations and other global institutions. It is supported by the American Friends Service Committee, Britain Yearly Meeting, the worldwide community of Friends, other groups and individuals.

Related Updated

SHINE for Kids
What happens for a young person who has a parent in prison?

There are a lot of consequences for children or young people who have a parent in prison. During Groupwork the kids themselves have identified as being:

• Isolated – feeling lonely
• Stigmatised – feeling they aren't as good as others
• Ostracised/ignored – left out
• Missing out
  • on time with Mum or Dad
  • on activities, because there isn't enough money
• Angry – at Dad, at Mum, at the police, at themselves
• Deserted – betrayed, let down
• Frightened
  • about Mum or Dad not being OK
  • about what is going to happen to them now
• Humiliated/embarrassed – most kids wouldn't dare tell any of their friends
• Stressed – stress can trigger anger/aggression, fits of crying, even bedwetting
• Guilty – a lot of kids feel like it is their fault that mum or dad is in jail
• Confused by changes in family dynamics
• Insecure – most kids no longer feel safe and secure, they miss their parent
• Low in self esteem
• Having to become the adult

Statistics indicate that at any one time approximately 15,000 students in NSW are directly affected by the imprisonment of a parent, and that 60,000 students under the age of 16 have experienced parental incarceration at some point in their lives. The peer groups of each of these students can also be affected indirectly.

By justiceACTION posted 3 February 05

Related Links:

Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO)
On-line Resources on Women in Prison

Prison System Fails Women, Study Says
State policies designed for violent men make female offenders' rehabilitation difficult, an oversight panel finds. "If we fail to intervene effectively in the lives of these women and their children now, California will pay the cost for generations to come," said Commissioner Teddie Ray, chairwoman of the subcommittee that produced the report.

Children at risk, lack of govt support
Let's take this further: The Federal Government has detained hundreds of young children and their families in desert detention camps locked in behind razor wire enclosures for the crime of fleeing persecution.

Senate inquiry finds PM 'misled' public on children overboard
Australian navy personnel rescue asylum-seekers from a sinking boat off Christmas Island in October 2001. The government came under attack in February 2002 for suggesting that asylum seekers had thrown their children overboard in an effort to stay in Australia.

Children at Abu Ghraib prison
....broadcast an eight-minute segment reporting that the International Red Cross found at least 107 children in coaliton-administered detention centers in Iraq. The report also quotes from a yet-unpublished June 2004 UNICEF report, which (as near as I can tell through my crappy German) confirms that children were routinely arrested and "interned" in a camp in Um-Qasr. UNICEF seems particularly vexed with the "internment" status, since that means indefinite detention.

Report recommends freeing child detainees
The Human Rights Commission has found that some children held in Australia's immigration detention centres have been exposed to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.

Civilian death toll to rise in Fallujah
The attack on the Iraqi city of Fallujah has taken its toll on Iraqi civilians no doubt including children and young babies. Iraqi's have witnessed civilian casualties. Yesterday during the assault on the main hospital nurses and patients were blindfolded after the US/Iraq militia stormed the main hospital and took control.

Parents on the inside leave children on the edge
Life in jail is an ordeal but it's a much harsher sentence for the child of a prisoner, writes Paola Totaro. 30 July 03.

Child detainees 'living in a nightmare', report finds
A report being released today documents disturbing evidence about mental health for children in detention centres.The report is a joint work by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, NSW University and NSW psychiatrists.

The children's crusader
It is all about prevention. As Fiona Stanley sees it, with one in five Australian teenagers experiencing significant mental health problems, there are just not enough treatment services to cope with the demand.

2nd Renaissance -36 Let The Girls Go! [263]
During 2003 an Australian woman, Kathleen Folbigg, was sentenced to 40 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 30 years. Her crime, which she continues to deny, was to consecutively smother her four children when they were aged between 8 and 19 months. She was largely convicted on the basis of entries in her private diary, although these did not specifically refer to her having killed her two sons and two daughters; only that she was her father's daughter. Her lawyers are appealing her conviction.

Don't put mothers behind bars

If we are to arrest the soaring prison suicide rate among women, we need to look at alternative punishment.

Yesterday saw the launch of the Intermittent custody scheme in prisons, known informally as home and away. Judges henceforth have the power, in two pilot prisons, to mete out sentences that only apply on certain days of the week. Friday-to-Sunday terms are designed for offenders who want to keep their jobs. Monday to Thursday terms are for offenders who just really like weekends.

The two institutions are Kirkham, a men's prison in Lancashire, and Morton Hall, a women's prison in Lincolnshire. Broadly speaking, this is the direction in which the prison service should be headed - it's innovative, basically liberal and places more emphasis on rehabilitation than it does on punishment.

But if there is one pressing issue undermining the prison service - indeed, undermining all our claims to civilisation - it is inmate, [prisoner], suicide. And this is a crucial problem in women's prisons. Sixty per cent more women killed themselves in 2003 than did in 2002, a year which had already marked an all-time high. Women constitute 5% of the prison population and 15% of its suicides. Non-fatal self-harming, [? due to prison condition], is a problem almost exclusively for female inmates, [prisoners.]

And there are plenty of bodies and individuals prepared to comment damningly on the matter. But they all tend to concentrate on the mental condition of these prisoners, coupled with their often brutalised pasts.

Claire McCarthy, for the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: "These women were mentally unstable and traumatised before they even got to prison."

The Commission on Women and the Criminal Justice System published a report last November that controversially contended a link between female criminality and domestic and/or sexual violence, with either an abusive partner forcing the women into crime, or a history of abuse destabilising them from childhood.

Of course, these are all factors if we're looking to empathise with prisoners, but they put totally the wrong emphasis on the issue. For one, there is mental instability right across the prisoner population, regardless of gender - you could argue that cognitive disarray was the mainspring of criminality, since the rewards are so scant and the ramifications so far-reaching that you simply wouldn't do it, any of it, if you were fully tethered to a rational framework.

For two, the implication, in focusing on the damage in these women's pasts, is that they simply don't have the mental resilience to cope with incarceration, in which case, well, it's a shame, but then you should have kept your nose clean, love. And, for three, there is another, far more important, practical reason for women to suffer more from imprisonment than men - the responsibility of childcare.

Some 55% of all women in prison have at least one child under 16. Over one-third have a child under five. When they're sentenced, they must make provision for these children, or see them taken into care, which not even the most flagrantly blase authority would pretend is anything other than a developmental disaster.

So, the burden falls on family members, and is rarely taken on by one constant household for the entire sentence, but rather patchworked together from a variety of people, in whom the mother might have fluctuating amounts of trust.

Prison privileges, the crucial carrot/stick business of institutional life, mainly centre around phone calls - and while for men this is about keeping in touch with the outside world, for the majority of women it's the scant and only control they have over their children's welfare. The stress is intolerable, and the difference in atmosphere between male and female prisons is acute and astonishing.

So, rather than experiment with part-time imprisonment for both men and women, let's try something else - let's not imprison mothers at all. There's nothing, after all, that we can do about abuse in the past; there's not much anyone can do about women who've been harassed into crime by domestic pressure. But we can do something about people being driven to suicide by anxiety over their children, and that's not lock them up in the first place.

For the 14% of female inmates, [prisoners], who've been convicted of a violent crime, the case for incarceration could still be made, but for the overwhelming majority - the fraudsters, the thieves, the stolen-goods handlers, the drug-related offenders - what on Earth are they doing in prison, when the disruption of their absence is going to echo through generations?

Find another punishment; make them join a sewing circle. And, in the unlikely event that this new policy encourages feckless females to indulge in more crime, sod it. Over half the time, we're talking about theft or handling. And while it's hard to put a precise figure on how many thefts a human life is worth, it's quite a lot. It could be an infinite amount.

zoe_williams@ntlworld.com

By Zoe Williams posted 28 January 04

Children of Imprisoned Mothers.pdf

This next one has more research and is longer. It has quoted sources and is quite academic looking, but you don't have to even lift a rock to find the sheer human misery that it describes.

Women in Prison & Children of Imprisoned Mothers

Maybe some of the figures might be of use some time in a campaign.

The Quaker United Nations Offices located in Geneva and New York represent Friends World Committee for Consultation (Quakers), an international non-governmental organisation with General Consultative Status at the UN. QUNO works to promote the peace and justice concerns of Friends (Quakers) from around the world at the United Nations and other global institutions. It is supported by the American Friends Service Committee, Britain Yearly Meeting, the worldwide community of Friends, other groups and individuals.

Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO)
On-line Resources on Women in Prison

SHINE for Kids

What happens for a young person who has a parent in prison?

There are a lot of consequences for children or young people who have a parent in prison. During Groupwork the kids themselves have identified as being:

• Isolated – feeling lonely
• Stigmatised – feeling they aren't as good as others
• Ostracised/ignored – left out
• Missing out
  • on time with Mum or Dad
  • on activities, because there isn't enough money
• Angry – at Dad, at Mum, at the police, at themselves
• Deserted – betrayed, let down
• Frightened
  • about Mum or Dad not being OK
  • about what is going to happen to them now
• Humiliated/embarrassed – most kids wouldn't dare tell any of their friends
• Stressed – stress can trigger anger/aggression, fits of crying, even bedwetting
• Guilty – a lot of kids feel like it is their fault that mum or dad is in jail
• Confused by changes in family dynamics
• Insecure – most kids no longer feel safe and secure, they miss their parent
• Low in self esteem
• Having to become the adult

Statistics indicate that at any one time approximately 15,000 students in NSW are directly affected by the imprisonment of a parent, and that 60,000 students under the age of 16 have experienced parental incarceration at some point in their lives. The peer groups of each of these students can also be affected indirectly.

Parents on the inside leave children on the edge

Life in jail is an ordeal but it's a much harsher sentence for the child of a prisoner, writes Paola Totaro. 30 July 03.

Related:

UK Prison Abuse: Guards Holding Nooses
'We will kill you. We will get away with it... we've done it before' Prisoners tell of hanging threats by officers holding nooses.

K K K in the UK
In the documentary it is alleged an officer dressed in a Ku Klux Klan mask at a training centre in north-west England. An undercover reporter from the BBC also claimed to have taped racist comments by some officers.

Suicides and unrest have soared, admits Home Office
UK:The already overcrowded prison population is set to go on rising and will top 80,000 within the next three years, a senior Home Office civil servant warned yesterday.

My Sarah was smart and talented - Why did she die in jail?
LONDON: Sarah Campbell was just 18 when she killed herself [? committed suicide,] one of seven women to die in jail this year. Our correspondent asks why so many women kill themselves in prison [? commit suicide in prison.]

Updated 2009:

Most women [people] 'should not be jailed'
The Howard League for Penal Reform said jail should be reserved for women who commit serious or violent offences and remain a danger to the public.

Children of Imprisoned Mothers
United Nations lobbying body reports on women in prison and their children. I thought that two recent publications from the Quaker group that lobbies the UN might be of interest to you.

Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO)
On-line Resources on Women in Prison

Prison System Fails Women, Study Says
State policies designed for violent men make female offenders' rehabilitation difficult, an oversight panel finds. "If we fail to intervene effectively in the lives of these women and their children now, California will pay the cost for generations to come," said Commissioner Teddie Ray, chairwoman of the subcommittee that produced the report.

Prison suicides soar as jails hire 'babysitters'
UK: Prison officers are being taken off suicide watch and replaced by unqualified 'babysitters' because the system is overwhelmed by an epidemic of self-harm.

Report slams 'unjust' jailing of women on remand
UK: Six out of 10 women sent to jail while they await trial are acquitted or given a non-custodial sentence, a report published today reveals. Introducing the report, Lady Kennedy QC calls for a complete review of the use of remand and bail for women saying it is "inhumane and unjust".

Concern as UK prison suicides hit record level
UK: More prisoners took their own lives in English jails in August than in any other month since records began, prison reformers said today.

End of years of despair as Holloway closes its doors
But now Holloway prison in north London - where Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in Britain, was hanged in 1955 - has been earmarked for closure, along with several other women's prisons, which have been hit by a spate of suicides.

How detox and self-help brought suicide jail back from the brink
UK: Six suicides in 12 months made Styal jail notorious and the Prisons Ombudsman criticised the prison and its staff for serious failures. But things are changing.

Parents on the inside leave children on the edge
Life in jail is an ordeal but it's a much harsher sentence for the child of a prisoner, writes Paola Totaro. 30 July 03.

2nd Renaissance -36 Let The Girls Go! [263]
During 2003 an Australian woman, Kathleen Folbigg, was sentenced to 40 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 30 years. Her crime, which she continues to deny, was to consecutively smother her four children when they were aged between 8 and 19 months. She was largely convicted on the basis of entries in her private diary, although these did not specifically refer to her having killed her two sons and two daughters; only that she was her father's daughter. Her lawyers are appealing her conviction.

History of trauma dogs sole parents with government's discriminating against fathers

Australia's sole parents including those who were squarely divided by the [Anti-] Family Court of Australia which include tens of thousands of lone mothers on welfare [social services] benefits [or who work], [and tens of thousands of lone fathers] on [social services benefits or who work] have experienced rape, physical assault, torture, mental health disorders, [and discrimination] at some time during their life, [by a new study] a new study shows.[?]

Compared with other mothers [and not other fathers], sole mothers [and not sole fathers] on income support [and not those that work] are three times more likely to have suffered a significant psychological trauma, leading researchers to urge sensitivity in the implementation of the Federal Government welfare [social services] reforms.

[But no mention or comparison or any suffering of significant discrimination drawn here, leading researchers to urge sensitivity in the implementation of social services reforms with sole fathers.]

Under the reforms sole parents with teenage children will be required to undertake return-to-work activities, and may face financial penalties if they fail to carry out activity agreements.

But the new study, by the Centre for Mental Health Research at the Australian National University, shows a substantial minority of sole mother beneficiaries face multiple and severe personal problems, in some case stemming back to childhood in other cases back to the [Anti-]Family Court's easy resolution of their marriages.

[But no research about what a minority of sole fathers face? Why not?]

[In the past the [Anti-]Family Court has encouraged family breakdown by introducing the 'no fault law' which isolated the children from the protection of both parents, by awarding custody to one parent, even if that parent was the one who made the mistake, like jumping the back fence while the other parent was at work.]

[No fault law means no parent was at fault for the breakdown of their marriage, no matter what wrong was done to the other parent by one parent. If one parent caused the breakdown they were not at fault.

But if one parent caused a traffic accident in a motor vehicle on the road then the police would charge the person in the wrong. This no fault law led to parents leaving the marriage and claiming it was the other parents fault when the marriage broke down and then possibly being awarded custody of the children of the marriage by the Anti-Family Court.]

[It probably seemed fair and cost effective at the time for the Anti-Family Court, just to get people out of the court. However, in the long term, it also meant throwing away the art of conflict resolution, deciding who made the mistake and how that could be understood better by making one party responsible for their commitments and mistakes and was reckless.]

[The Australian government may have decided a broken family is easier to control, that is until they had to pick up the tab of the cost of raising the children themselves.]

[The government had become the breadwinners, now both parents were on social services too, to avoid paying maintenance, and probably still some ar, because they did not agree with the quick fix and some were denied access to their children. Many offended parents thought that they did not make the mistake.]

Peter Butterworth, a post-doctoral fellow at the centre, said there were two possible explanations for the link between traumatic experiences and sole parent status.

"Either these women have actually left violent relationships or their early experience of childhood and adolescent abuse has interfered with their ability to develop and maintain positive relationships," he said.

[And or these women had 'jumped the back fence' claiming that they never made a mistake and the Anti-Family Court agreed with them and granted them custody of the children.]

[So did the Anti-Family Court's influence make it easier to break- down the marriage using (no fault law) rather than helping to resolve the issues the family faced, at the time, with counseling in order for them to try and stay together. The counseling costs more?]

The study, based on the 1997 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, is the first to shed light on the deeper problems many sole parent [?mothers] beneficiaries' face. Previous studies have focused on their poorer educational qualifications, work experiences, transport and child-care problems.

Dr Butterworth said he was surprised the differences were so marked between the life experiences of a significant group of sole mothers [?] on welfare [social services] and the other mothers.

[But not sole fathers and the other fathers or mothers or the discrimination and bias.]

For example, 19 per cent of the sole mothers reported having been raped compared to 6 per cent of mothers not on welfare [social services;] and 26 per cent had been the victim of a serious physical attack compared to less than 10 per cent of other mothers. As well, 21 per cent of the sole mothers had been "threatened with a weapon or tortured" compared to 7 per cent of the other women.

[But nothing said here about sole mothers jumping the back fence for sex with another partner? Why not? If that is in fact the case? Because this article is bias. Also again, nothing for example about what sole fathers reported?]

But even these figures under-estimated the extent of trauma suffered by many sole parent beneficiaries, the study found.

Sole mothers were more likely to have experienced multiple problems, such as childhood adversity and domestic violence, or alcohol problems and depressive illness. Most of the non-welfare [non-social services] recipient mothers had experienced one or no major psychological traumas. But about 70 per cent of the sole parents had suffered two or more.

[But how many of them sole mothers jumped the back fence and claimed that they did no wrong? And what about the likely experience of sole father's and their multiple problems? Didn't they have any? I mean compared to sole mothers and non-social services recipient fathers?]

"It's not just about poverty or lack of work skills," Dr Butterworth said. "It's the personal experience of abuse, the level of violence in their lives, and the mental health problems that are fundamental barriers. If you don't do something about these issues the other sort of interventions to get these women into work will not be effective."

[And it is also about the 'personal experience' of them jumping the back fence and screwing the next door neighbour, whilst their partner was at work, and not making them responsible for their failures and commitments, and the implementation of counseling, and the 80-20 rules in the Anti-Family Court. If you don't do something about these issues the other sort of interventions to get these people into work will not be effective .]

Dr Butterworth said new welfare [social services] reform measures that required sole parents to attend Centrelink interviews were potentially helpful. "But it is important that policy makers and interviewers understand the circumstances of these women's lives and provide appropriate assistance and support," he said.

[But it is not important that policy makers and interviewers understand the circumstances of these men or Dr Butterworth's discriminatory study into these mens lives and provide appropriate assistance and support?]

By Family Breakdown 19 May 03

THE FATHERS: In the past the Anti-Family Court of Australia has encouraged family breakdown by introducing the no fault law - to make it easier for one parent to opt out - which isolated the children from the protection of both parents, opposed to one parent. - and one set of grandparents, opposed to two sets of grandparents - because one parent wanted out - usually the parent who lacked responsibility and commitment.

If governments seek the easy way out by not providing children and parents with better social skills, communication and conflict resolution and settle for short answers like encouraging family breakdown then there is a price. Social Services and broken families!

Related:

Family Law Links

Australian fathers under terrorist attack-by its Politicians
Ruthless terrorists tactics are used by the state deny devoted fathers their children, and place vulnerable children at risk when they are denied their fathers protection. Five hundred thousand Australian children are denied contact with their father usually resulting from orders of the state by the Family and other Courts.

Judicial, mental health and police corruption
Ian Kay, who blew the whistle on judicial and police corruption here in Victoria has recently been improperly incarcerated in MAP Prison, Melbourne for doing nothing more than writing a letter of complaint to his local MP.

Fatherless Society "80-20 rule Vs 50-50 rule" family law
A Federal Parliamentary inquiry has heard that more children will grow up without fathers unless changes are made to family law. The committee is considering whether separated parents should share equal custody of their children.

80-20 Family Court rule irrational: Martian
A Martian came down from Mars and he noticed that children were the products of a father and a mother. When the family split up the children were still the products of a father and a mother.

The Law According to Gregory Wayne Kable
I was sharply separated from both my children aged just 4 years and two years and sent to prison for the manslaughter of my wife. I cared for my children when my wife worked and I believe that I still had a responsibility to them even after the crisis situation and tragedy. I wanted to reassure them now and find out how they were doing.

Social Services Links

Public housing on a precipice? And privatising public housing!
THE booming housing market was squeezing thousands of low-income earners out of private rental accommodation into a public housing system on the verge of collapse, Australia's peak social body has warned.

Tax cuts wrong way to help battlers: ACOSS
The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) says the Budgets fails to deliver anything for low and middle income Australians.

Social services group says tax cuts increase rich-poor divide
Catholic [religious bondage] Welfare [Social Services] Australia says the Treasurer's modest tax cuts will disappear very quickly for anyone who has to take their child to the doctor because of an expected increase in medical costs.

Shoplifting and homelessness
Shoplifting increased by 7.5 per cent last year, making it the only major crime category to register a significant increase in 2002, crime statistics show.

Democrats approve tougher welfare penalties: But how does that pan out? There used to be an old saying in Australia" if you're hungry steal a sheep and leave the pelt on the fence. How do you plead, Peter Saunders?

Social services groups swamped
A new report has revealed higher costs and increasing demands are forcing [social services] groups to turn more people away.

Fears for poor if Social Services take a social slide?
The director of the NSW Council for Social Service, Alan Kirkland, said it was very difficult to balance the impact of problem gambling against the broader community benefits.

Social Services small change? Or wast the money on WAR!
Lone parents on [social services] average 12 years of benefits - and are often worse off if they work. But reforming the system is risky and often costly, Bettina Arndt explains.

Tough luck! Kicks the poor to death
Australia is urged to adopt a United States-style welfare system, [?] cut welfare spending [social services spending] and encourage people to help themselves in a book on poverty published today.