"Bandage Parade" for family law casualties
Parents with bloodstained bandages, crutches, slings and dolls in prams with broken arms and bruised faces will walk to Parliament House to bring home the reality of Australia’s shared parenting laws for many traumatised families.
The street theatre "Bandage Parade" will highlight the frequency of Australian children having contact with abusive parents after separation.
According to National Council for Children Post-Separation (NCCPS) spokesperson Barbara Biggs, "We have a systemic failure when more than 15,000 Australian children have been forced into ongoing contact with parents the court itself has deemed violent and abusive. This has happened because of hastily written shared parenting laws and the Family Court turning a blind eye to abuse when it comes to its duty of care for Australian children."
"Sometimes the abusive partner has greater resources to fund a case, making it extremely difficult for the protective parent to be properly listened to," she said. Heavy caseloads, uninformed judges and unqualified mediators evaluating families in a single short interview, sometimes over the phone, can result in decisions that permanently devastate families.
As one grandmother said: "My grandchildren told the court psychologist how they had to watch their father bash their mother, spit on her, drag her around by the hair and kick her with steel-toed boots - and then the court said go sit at the court-appointed contact office and have a meaningful access visit."
"Why are such perpetrators of domestic violence not ordered to address their behavioural issues before being allowed access to their kids?" said Biggs. Teachers and childcare staff must pass police checks to work with children, yet known offenders - including paedophiles - are regularly handed their own children by court order, she said. Researchers are noting that frequent changeover times are leaving battered and abused ex-partners vulnerable to further attack. Recent studies suggest 50/50 arrangements can leave children unsettled and do not always work.
Australia's shared parenting laws, rushed through under the Howard Government, mean parents raising abuse allegations are punished both through the law's ability to award full court costs (including an ex-partner's litigation) against them, potentially bankrupting them, and also because they then risk losing custody completely. As a result many legal representatives today advise clients not to mention bodily and mental damage inflicted on them or their children - thereby nullifying the potentially protective elements of the law. Chief Justice Diana Bryant said urgent changes were needed for this reason, yet not even interim measures have been instigated so far.
A mother ordered to stop breastfeeding so her baby can shuttle three hours to visit dad; a child given to his mother and child porn addicted boyfriend; a child ordered to visit her father in jail after he attempted to murder her mother. Stories like these pour in to the NCCPS every day. Enough is enough. The system needs to be fixed before it becomes our national shame.
Marchers can join the Bandage Parade at 11a.m, Monday 22 June at Parliament
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