Family law in Australia has experienced profound transformations, mirroring the evolution of societal values and norms over recent decades. These changes address various aspects of familial relationships, including marriage, divorce, child custody, and domestic violence. Evaluating the effectiveness of these changes involves considering their alignment with contemporary social values, their protection of individual rights, their impact on societal attitudes, and their implementation and enforcement. This essay will explore these dimensions through a structured analysis of key legislative reforms and landmark cases, providing a comprehensive assessment of how well family law in Australia reflects changing social values. Family law serves as …show more content…
The Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act 2006 introduced significant changes to how custody arrangements are determined, emphasizing the importance of both parents' involvement in their children's lives post-separation. This reform aligns with contemporary values that prioritize children's well-being and recognize the benefits of having both parents actively involved in their upbringing. It reflects a shift away from traditional sole custody models towards a more balanced approach that considers the child's best interests. In Goode & Goode, the Family Court of Australia applied the principles introduced by the Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act 2006. The court emphasized that, except in cases of family violence or abuse, children benefit from having a meaningful relationship with both parents post-separation. This case underscored the legislative intent to promote shared parental responsibility and cooperative parenting arrangements. This decision reflects the changing social values that prioritize the well-being and rights of children. By endorsing the notion that children should have substantial involvement from both parents, the case aligns with contemporary views on parenting that recognize the importance of both parents in a child’s development. The court’s approach in Goode & Goode demonstrates a shift from traditional sole custody models to more balanced arrangements that consider the child’s best interests paramount. The legal emphasis on shared parental responsibility demonstrates an alignment with modern societal values that favor cooperative parenting and the holistic development of
Thoburn, J.; Lewis, A and Shemmings, D. (1995) Paternalism or Partnership Family Involment in the Child Protection Process, Blackwell.
In the United States today more than one-half of all marriages end in divorce. The purpose of this paper is to examine the reason why women have typically received custody of the children far more often than the fathers. In order to better understand child custody one must first examine how fathers have often times been left out of the picture, and conversely why mothers have had such hard times raising children on their own. This paper will first examine the perspective of a father who has lost custody of his children.
The merits of both the adversarial and inquisitorial system will be explored throughout this paper. The Australian rule of law best describes as all law should be applied equally and fairly. The five vital operations of the rule of law includes fairness, rationality, predictability, consistency, and impartially. The adversarial system adopts these operations by having a jury decide on the verdict and the judge being an impartial decision maker. In contrast, the inquisitorial system relies heavily on the judge. This can result in abusive power and bias of the judge when hearing evidence and delivering verdicts. The operations of the rule of law determine why the rule of law is best served by the adversarial system in Australia.
Since the dawn of time for a society to work it needs to have a level of structure that applies to everyone and is understood by everyone. Australian legal system is broad and complex. It is the nature of the encompassing laws and regulations which reflect how people, organisations and governments behave on the many different levels of operation and these are created to make sure that everyone understands their rights and obligations. There are two sources of Law in Australia: Statute Law regulated by Parliament and comprise of legislations and acts; and Judge-made Law or Common Law where decisions made by judges are based on previous cases.
There are four sources of Law in the Australian Legal System. They are Statute Law, which is made in Parliament, Common Law and the Law of E...
In this day and age there are many variations of what constitutes a couple or family in comparison to many years ago. Long ago the idea of a ‘nuclear family’ was considered the norm; it consisted of the conventional husband, wife and children . But as our society progressed through the years this definition became less conventional and criticisms were made, this definition of ‘family’ did not account for gay unions, soul parents nor did it acknowledge the prevalence of extended family. The definition of family has changed over time, as have the socially defined roles of mothers and fathers. Within these varied family units, situations occur in which divorces and separations take place and a lot of the times these tricky situations may involve children, which can make an already tricky situation even more problematic. There are pieces of legislation which are in place which aim to protect the best interests of a child during the time their parents are going through divorce but sometimes these avenues can be more problematic and ultimately destroy unions whereas other avenues of dispute resolution such as mediation, albeit with its own criticisms, helps to keep relationships afoot in that it provides an opportunity for peaceful and mutual agreements to be made in a more laid back environment.
Recent amendments to Queensland and Federal Legislation have not solved the problem of domestic violence in Queensland, let alone Australia. Domestic violence involves both physical and emotional behaviour with the patterns of this behaviour centred on power and control for the abuser. Legislation involved in protecting women and men in a domestic violence relationship has been amended to better protect victims. On the other hand, there is an escalating social and legal issues with domestic violence within Australia. Recommendations need to be done to amend Australia legislation, to add protection to victims of domestic violence. Domestic violence is growing rapidly within Queensland and Australia and needs further change to legalisation
Good morning Minister of the Families I am Juliet and I will be your consultant for today. I will be outlining the aspects of the law of Domestic and family violence that has a flaw in society. I will be analysing the current laws, evaluating the effectiveness of the law, comparing these laws, making recommendations for changes in the law and justifying how the proposed changes adequately address the needs of the Australian society. Domestic violence is a violent or aggressive behaviour within the home, typically involving the violent of a spouse or partner. Domestic violence in Australia occurs in the privacy of people’s homes and it is mostly upon women that are disadvantaged.
In retrospect, joint custody causes children to obtain the best childhood possible and also provides stability within the mental and physical aspects of a child’s family
Divorce is becoming a worldwide phenomenon, significantly affecting children’s well-being. It radically changes their future, causing detrimental effects. According to (Julio Cáceres-Delpiano and Eugenio Giolito, 2008) nearly 50% of marriages end with divorce. 90% of children who lived in the USA in the 1960s stayed with their own biological parents, whereas today it makes up only 40% (Hetherington, E. Mavis, and Margaret Stanley-Hagan, 1999). Such an unfavorable problem has been increasing, because in 1969, the California State Legislature changed the divorce laws, where spouses could leave without providing cause (Child Study Center, 2001).
The Family Law Legislation Amendment Act of 2011 and whether it has Reduced Violence and Abuse for Women and Children
Theories of the Family and Policy. Retrieved February 27, 2011, from New Zealand Treasury: http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/research-policy/wp/2004/04-02/11.htm#_toc4.1. Gabler, J. (2010). The 'Standard' of the 'Stand Sociology for the Dummies. Indianapolis, Indiana: Wiley Publishing, Inc.
Family Law (Law Express) 2th edition, by Jonathon Herring, published by Pearson Education Limited 2009
Nursing students report higher levels of anxiety than the overall population of college students, in part due to heavy course loads, rigorous exams, long hours of clinical experiences, and ongoing pressure to get good grades in a very competitive environment. The educational goals of the academic nursing program are to cultivate students’ creative and critical thinking abilities and promote continuous self-development (Song, Y., et al 2015). Thus, nursing students must not only endure burdensome theoretical learning, but also experience clinical practice. Myriad stressors exist in nursing students’ experiences, including meeting professional
Once upon a time, a traditional family structure was created by one man marrying one woman and procreating. Within the last few years, this has begun to change. Family structures are now being changed and created through divorce and remarriage, same-sex partners, and single-parents. When the leaders of these family structures can no longer co-exist, divorce or separation comes. If children are involved, a custody agreement needs to be arranged. A custody agreement never seems to be black and white especially with new family structures evolving. When it comes to same-sex parents, how are children supposed to split their time equally? The traditional belief of a child needing a mother and a father no longer applies in these relationships. This can be very hard on a child especially if the parents cannot agree, and it turns into a custody battle. Children are torn between the parents and many psychological issues evolve. Child custody battles are usually never easy on a child because they can create emotional conflict, academic stress, and other social related stress factors.