Essay On Family Law

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Family law is the body of law pertaining to marriage and matrimonial issues. Its main aim is to protect each member of a family, whether that family is nuclear, de-facto, single parent, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander or blended in nature, as family is the foundation of society.It can be said that as community standards and expectations change and evolve in regards to the changing nature of parental responsibility, care and protection of children, the recognition of same-sex relationships and surrogacy and birth technologies the law has been reformed to reflect these emerging values and thus improve the rights of parents and children. Although this argument is not true in all circumstances, it is a prominent issue which legislators face, …show more content…

CROC has four core principles; non-discrimination, devotion to the best interests of the child, the right to life, survival and development and to respect the views of the child. This ratification led to the “best interests of the child” becoming the guiding principle in all family law matters in Australia, whereas previously children were regarded as the fathers property, human chattels over which parents had an absolute right. This concept was reflected in the Family Law Reform Act [1995] (Cwth)stating that both parents are responsible for the short and long term care of their children, except in cases of domestic violence. This led to the semantic word changes in which parental rights became parental responsibility and custody became contact, in an attempt to refocus attitudes away from the notion of the ownership of a child towards greater emphasis on their best

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