10-21-2005 20:36

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/03/1059849276499.html Report card plan for child cases August 4 2003 By Murray Mottram Family Court judges would be subject to a public "report card" of their decisions on child custody under a plan proposed by backers of joint parenting after divorce. In its submission to the federal parliamentary inquiry into Family Court decisions on children, the Joint Parenting Association says a file on each judge´s rulings relating to children, paternity or adoption should be publicly available to ensure judicial accountability. Names of the people in the cases would not be made public. The association is one of several groups that successfully lobbied Government MPs for an inquiry into a new system of dealing with divorce. The association´s 200-page submission, obtained by The Age, backs "rebuttable presumption of joint residence" - equal access and rights for both parents, unless there are proven reasons, such as abuse for one parent to have primary care The association cites studies showing children were more likely to suffer sexual abuse in the care of a single mother than under two natural parents. The submission says: ". . . The relative risk of child sex abuse in a female single parent household is over seven times the risk in a two natural parent family. "The relative risk of any type of abuse in a single-parent household is eight times that of a two natural parent family." The submission calls for divorcing couples with children to have mandatory mediation, overseen by a professional mediator to work out child-care arrangements The mediation would start with the presumption of joint care, but parents could agree to other arrangements. Equal parenting arrangements could be flexible; alternating care of the child either a few days a week or one year with one parent, the next year with the other. A spokeswoman for the Chief Justice of the Family Court, Alastair Nicholson, said he could not comment because of confidentiality. The court will make its own submission to the inquiry. Submissions close on Friday. The chairman of the Victorian Law Institute´s panel on children and youth issues, Tim Mulvany, said his institute had not finalised a submission. But Mr Mulvany, who is regularly appointed to represent children in Family Court cases, said the association´s submission on mediation had merit. Mr Mulvany said he would like to see a lawyer automatically appointed to represent the child as an intermediary between the parents in mediation. Although this would increase the cost of the initial process, there would be savings through fewer cases proceeding to contested hearings. In a letter to the Victorian Law Institute Journal, Mr Mulvany says: "It is now time for legislative alteration from the adversarial to the investigative and professionally assisted conflict resolution approaches . . . "For too long (lawyers´ discharge of responsibility to clients by focusing on past conduct, intruding into the circumstances of relationship breakdown and cross-examination on human weaknesses have not fully served the children." Mr Mulvany said legislation acknowledging primary care of children must be determined regardless of gender would be a valuable directive. But he disagreed with annual public reporting of judges´ decisions, saying the Law Reform Commission already had access to them for research and that proper peer review should identify any irregularities. A supporting article can be found here. - Outcry http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/04/1059849316863.html Be more caring, Vanstone tells businesses "I don't know that Australia's really moved ahead in the family-friendly workplace, in the way that some other countries have," Senator Vanstone told the John Laws radio program. " ... I think it's fair to say, that in the United States in particular, there's a lot more family-friendly solutions. "Years ago, people were horrified at the prospect of someone working from home. " Earlier this year, Chief Justice Nicholson recommended an examination of the adversarial system in family litigation. He said the evidence suggested that where courts adopted a more active and inquisitorial approach, more satisfactory results were achieved.