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Good
Morning,
The Poll
below refers to strong legislation
currently being sought to
give children a better chance
at remaining a strong part
of both parents lives and
not just rewarding one parent
the "winner", as
there is no winning for the
kids when that happens.
Please
vote YES on this poll and
help Australian kids get a
better chance at a happy,
healthy and productive life
- it is very important.
For my
friends here in the US, this
Bill before the Australian
Parliament is what we all
want, like HB529 in NH (teeth
and all), and includes adjusted
Child Support amounts for
"actual" costs of
rasing a child. This
is worth paying close attention
to, and participating in -
it is a World wide War we
are fighting for our children,
and we can all help each other.
Andrew
Ryan
Success
Depends on Where Intention
Is
----- Original Message -----
Sent:
Thursday, December 08, 2005
7:03 AM
Subject:
Poll: Will the Family Law
changes benefit children?
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Custody
law hands victory to fathers
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By
Adele Horin and Nadia Jamal
December 8, 2005 |
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THE Family
Court will be required to
consider whether children
in custody disputes should
spend equal time with both
parents under the most important
changes to family law in 30
years.
A bill to be introduced into
the House of Representatives
today goes further than expected
in meeting the demands of
fathers' rights groups, which
expressed disappointment at
an earlier draft.
Under the proposed amendments
to the Family Law Act 1975,
the court will be required
to consider equal time if
it is in the child's best
interests, and where parents
already share parental responsibility
for important decisions.
Where it is not in the child's
best interest, and where it
is not practical, the court
must consider giving the non-resident
parent "substantial and
significant time" with
the child.
As well, the Government will
amend the existing definition
of family violence to make
clear that a fear or apprehension
of violence must be "reasonable".
This is a reaction to concerns
that false claims of violence
can be a way of denying access
to children.
The bill also inserts a presumption
of "equal" shared
parental responsibility in
important decisions - a significant
hardening of earlier wording
that called for "joint"
parental responsibility.
A spokeswoman for the Attorney-General,
Philip Ruddock, said: "The
Government has recognised
you can't divide a child 50/50.
But we wanted to make sure
parents could spend substantial
and significant time with
their children and they weren't
just Disneyland dads or Movieworld
mums."
Fathers' groups have fought
a three-year campaign to obtain
a presumption that children
should divide their time equally
between two households. The
Government rejected making
such a radical shift but has
moved further in this direction
than was indicated in the
early draft of the bill released
for comment in June.
This change is expected to
generate a flood of litigation,
family law experts say, with
some non-resident parents
expecting to get equal time
or significantly more time
with children than the usual
orders for weekend access
and half the school holidays
under the current law.
The national president of
the the Lone Fathers Association
of Australia, Barry Williams,
congratulated Mr Ruddock "for
his persistence in this because
he has had a lot of opposition
to it from groups who don't
want change". But Mr
Williams said the court should
only be able to stop equal
time if a parent was proven
to be a danger to a child.
"What we are saying is
that we don't just want mere
allegation … we mean being
charged and convicted,"
he said.
A convener of the National
Council for Single Mothers
and their Children, Elspeth
McInnes, feared "a children's
presumption to access to a
home will be erased and instead
they will have a timetable
of parental attendance".
"If they have to be required
to spend the maximum time
possible with each parent,
then a child's right to expect
any claim to a continuity
of residence and primary care
is not available under these
provisions," Dr McInnes
said.
In other amendments that will
be interpreted as "father
friendly", the bill will
strengthen the existing enforcement
rules by giving courts a wider
range of powers to deal with
parents who breach contact
orders.
Mr Ruddock's spokeswoman said
the amendments would help
change a culture of litigation,
and put children's interests
at the centre. Children's
right to know both parents
and their right to be protected
from harm would be the main
factors in the court determining
what is in their best interests.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/custody-law-hands-victory-to-fathers/2005/12/07/1133829664169.html
==========
Ash Patil
fathers4equality - australia
http://www.fathers4equality-australia.org
email: president@fathers4equality-australia.org
Please help the cause and
submit your demand for Equal
Parent Time to every politician
via the Parliamentary Megaphone!
Have Your Say Now!
http://www.fathers4equality-australia.org/mailsend/parliamentmegaphone.nsf/frmsendmai |
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