Web resource:	http://www.unisa.edu.au/hawkeinstitute/cpcm/documents/Amanda%20Shea%20Hart%20Thesis.pdf
Type:	Thesis
Title:	Children exposed to domestic violence : whose 'best interests' in the Family Court
Authors:	Hart, Amanda Shea
Keywords:	Family law;Impact on children and young people
Year:	2006
Publisher:	Amanda Shea Hart
Notes:	General Overview:This doctoral thesis examines judgments of the Family Court concerning contact disputes where domestic violence was an issue. The author finds that judges rely on generalisations about fatherhood and children’s needs rather than listening to children’s voices and examining the specific realities of children’s lives. Methods: The author examined twenty judgments from the Adelaide registry of the Family Court concerning contact disputes where domestic violence was an issue. The judgments were randomly selected from judgments delivered after the June 1996 amendments to the Family Law Act, and before 31 December 2001. Results: In the judgments, children were constructed as unable to reliably express their wishes or give accurate reports of their experiences and vulnerable to the influence of parents (usually mothers) who negatively influence them against fathers. Once children’s expressed wishes were discounted, the void was filled by an assumption that the child wanted and needed contact with the father. Children who persisted in resisting contact with fathers were described as hostile, resistant and difficult, unless a high status professional, such as a psychologist, endorsed the child as competent and mature. The effects of domestic violence on children were downplayed by describing violence as “conflict between the parents”, describing violence as prior to separation and not a current concern and describing children’s reactions as short term and transient. Judgments did not demonstrate an awareness that exposure to domestic violence increases the likelihood of long term problems, including clinical disorders. Father-child relationships were described as “unique” and “critical”, even where the father had convictions for violence and the child had expressed fear of the father. There was a presumption that lack of contact between father and children would cause harm. There was little discussion of fathers’ parenting skills. Some judgments revealed a fathers’ rights discourse, contradicting the best interests of the child principle. Men were simultaneously described as violent husbands and loving fathers and their commitments to behavioural change were given significant weight. The author recommends that the Family Court needs to accept and incorporate new knowledge about children’s exposure to domestic violence. Professionals need not only training and education but insight into their own beliefs and values. The Court needs to name domestic violence as violence, not “conflict”.
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/17834
Physical description:	269 p.
Appears in Collections:	Miscellaneous

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