Domestic Violence In Australia Essay

1378 Words3 Pages

Due to rapidly changing societal standards surrounding what constitutes a family, it’s paramount that the law remains updated with society’s values in order to best protect the community. Family law, in relation to Domestic Violence, Marriage, Divorce with Children and Parental responsibility, has varying levels of effectiveness when responding to changing societal values due to issues regarding the law reform. The law, regarding domestic violence, is mostly effective in responding to changing societal values due to increased awareness. Reporting’s de-stigmatization provokes the responsiveness of the law to enforce protections for victims. Domestic Violence is personal violence committed against someone with whom the offender has, or has had, …show more content…

The Conventions of a Child (CROC) 1990 caused a value shift, which amended previous ‘parental rights’ to ‘parental responsibility’, better addressing the ‘best interests of a child’. This notion is achieved through adequate parenting and protection of children from physical and psychological neglect. The parental responsibility to not engage in neglect refers to the parents role in providing a child with basic needs like food and medical aid. The social stance against the neglect of children within Australia criminalised neglect. This is protected via the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW), with the enforceable penalties of $22,000 fines or 2 years imprisonment acting as a deterrent and effectively responding to societal views. Furthermore, due to values regarding neglect the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) provides protections for victims of neglect, ensuring a child's best interests are met. Additionally, FACS (Family and Community Services) is a government department which is accessible in providing practical help and counselling to various parents. However, resource efficiency negatively impacts FACS ability to respond and protect all children from neglect, meaning it cannot effectively uphold societal values. This is evidenced within Ebony (2007) where parents starved a 7 year old daughter over a 20 month period, with this neglect resulting in her death. The media outcry regarding the unresponsive nature of FACS’ inability to intervene resulted in the Wood Inquiry 2009. This responded to the ineffective nature of FACS in enforcing protective measures, due to resource inefficiency. Although this prompted the responsive reform Children Legislation Amendment (Wood Inquiry Recommendations) Act 2009, which better addressed issues of neglect, parents are still not complying with

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