9 May 2007
Benchmark report: Allegations in Family Law Proceedings
The Australian Institute of Family Studies released a major new research report today. It was commissioned by the Australian Government's Attorney-General's Department as part of its Family Law Violence Strategy. The report is a benchmark study based on data relating to a period prior to the 2006 reforms to the family law system and will be used to assist in evaluating aspects of the reforms. It provides some challenging findings about the frequency of allegations of violence and abuse and the amount of supporting material around those allegations.
The report was based on data from two random samples of court files from 2003 from the Melbourne, Dandenong and Adelaide Registries of the Family Court of Australia and the Federal Magistrates Court. The tenor of the allegations frequently suggested significant abuse or injury.
When making parenting orders, the court appeared to be more likely to take allegations of spousal violence or parental child abuse into account when these allegations were accompanied by strong evidence. Without such evidence, allegations did not appear to have much effect on outcomes.
More than half the cases examined contained allegations of family violence or child abuse.
However, in many cases little detail was provided and there was little supporting material to substantiate the allegations.
Allegations of spousal violence were more common than allegations of child abuse. Allegations of child abuse were almost always accompanied by allegations of adult family violence.
Most alleging parties, especially fathers, did not provide any material in support of their allegations. Mothers' allegations of child abuse by fathers were less likely to be accompanied by evidence than was the case of mothers' allegations of spousal violence.
Cases that progressed to a defended hearing were most likely to contain allegations, and these often involved allegations from both sides.
Allegations that children witnessed spousal violence were considerably less common than allegations of actual violence between parents.
While the data show that it was unusual for children's contact with a parent to be denied, if evidence of violence or abuse was provided, there was less likelihood of courts agreeing to overnight contact.
Allegations of family violence and child abuse in family law children's proceedings: a pre-reform exploratory study, by Lawrie Moloney, Bruce Smyth, Ruth Weston, Nicholas Richardson, Lixia Qu and Matthew Gray. (AIFS Research Report no.15 2007)
Contacts:
Associate Professor Lawrie Moloney
(03) 9214 7865
0448 383 003
Ruth Weston
General Manager, Research
(03) 9214 7843
0419 551 091