Yesterday afternoon, Wednesday 4th November, RNZ reported on the launch of Focus on Safety with the headline “Campaign with 100 organisations says family justice system is failing.”
The article quotes three of the 17 members of the Focus on Safety collaboration who were involved in developing our seven reforms about the problems with our current family justice system – ranging from the need for specialists to gather and interpret information for the court, the need for legislation that prevents legal guardians who have perpetrated abuse being able to block access to therapy for children, the need for a better understanding of the impact of family violence on children’s safety and wellbeing, and the need for better transparency and oversight of the Family Court.
Finally, the article highlights that Focus on Safety has asked political parties to support the seven reforms, “We've had varied responses from the political parties that we reached out to in mid-September and shared the seven reforms and asked for their commitment post-election. Some parties have indicated support and openness to look at many of the reforms. And some parties have said that they will support and make a commitment to all seven reforms."
Read the full article here.
Read more about political parties’ responses to Focus on Safety’s proposed reforms.
This follows an RNZ story on Tues 3rd November that reported on The Backbone Collective’s new report “Daddy says no”, with the headline “'Most New Zealanders would be appalled': Abusive parents blocking children from therapy.” Backbone co-founder Deborah Mackenzie is quoted in the story as saying, “What these mothers told us is that the system and people working in the system currently enable abusive parents to block the children’s access to therapeutic support.”
The story also reports that over the last two years, specialist family violence and sexual violence therapeutic service providers had told Backbone that they were increasingly being forced to stop providing sessions to children due to legal demands from abusers' lawyers, in the form of cease and desist letters.
Associate Professor Carrie Leonetti is quoted saying "Just because these women have children with the men who abused them, that they have to be chained to these men until their youngest child hits at least 16 or even 18 is just shockingly outdated and really out of step with global norms."
Read the full article here
