Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Child abuse in the Family Court

By Sunita Shaunak - posted Tuesday, 29 July 2008


It was with more than a little incredulity that I read the comments of the Chief Justice of the Family Court, Diana Bryant in The Australian, as reported by Stephen Lunn (July 11, 2008). I have many years of experience both in and peripheral to the Family Court of Australia and it is my view that it is a system which is complicit in the abuse of our children, much like other institutions such as the Catholic and Anglican Churches and state-run children's homes.

The damage inflicted by the court system on our children is yet to be exposed. Lunn, in his article, reports the Chief Justice as stating that her judges are "not qualified" to speak directly to the children who are the subject of their decisions, nor should the public "expect them to be".

Lunn further quotes the Chief Justice as stating that this is because her judges "have the luxury of really good reports from highly qualified experts" and that these reports are an "extremely valuable tool for a judge".

Advertisement

Her Honour is, I believe, fully aware that in March of this year one of her Court's own "experts", psychologist Dr William Wrigley, was disciplined in Queensland by his professional board for producing reports for the Family Court, in which he stated that a parent was suffering from a psychiatric illness, Parental Alienation Syndrome or PAS, which caused them to manufacture completely false allegations of sexual and other abuse against the other parent.

This was despite the parent’s - and children's - concerns, regarding the alleged abuse by the other parent being supported by six other well respected professionals.

Based on the assessments of the Court’s “expert”, and with the complete dismissal of the assessments of the six other experts involved, the children were immediately removed by the Family Court from the care of the alleging parent - where they had been since birth - and ordered to live with the parent accused of abusing them.

The other experts, despite being publicly ridiculed by the Chief Justice and being labelled as essentially unprofessional, biased and incompetent, have never resiled from their concerns regarding the abuse of these children by that parent.

It was reported by Tony Koch in an article in The Australian ("Ruling debunks custody diagnosis", April 7, 2008) that, in disciplinary proceedings conducted against Dr Wrigley the Queensland Psychologists' Board had determined that Dr Wrigley had acted in a manner which "constituted professional conduct that demonstrates incompetence or a lack of adequate knowledge, skill, care or judgment".

Professor Carolyn Quadrio, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales, in a recent interview on ABC Radio with Madonna King, confirmed that PAS did not exist and has never existed. Professor Quadrio said “It has been used at times by people who perhaps have not read the literature well enough to realise that there is no syndrome [PAS]”. Despite this, PAS has been used for years by "experts" appointed by the Family Court to provide reports in child abuse cases, including sexual abuse. These "experts" have also lectured to Family Court judges on PAS and at the same time and most alarmingly, their professional opinions on child abuse.

Advertisement

Their prevailing view would appear to be that most protective parents and their children lie about their abuse.I am unable to locate one single piece of credible research which supports this view, yet it persists in the Family Court, resulting in obscene tragedies.

Koch in his front-page article in The Australian (July 29, 2005) titled "Family Court; putting children last" details how an increasing number of child welfare experts now refuse to give evidence in the Family Court because they are belittled, subjected to abusive cross-examination, dismissed and finally ignored with regards to their professional opinions.

The aim of the lawyers, it would seem - including those who are supposed to represent the children - is to find any grounds at all to discredit protective parents and their children, rather than view all of the child abuse evidence in its entirety, backed by sound, peer-reviewed child psychiatry.This, I believe and am informed, has resulted in an environment in the Family Court where non-existent psychiatry, such as PAS, has been created by “experts”.

Further, it seems rare for the children’s lawyers, who are appointed by the Family Court, to actually speak to their clients, despite their guidelines specifically requiring them to do so and these children’s rights to this expression under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Recently there has been an unprecedented and increasingly vocal outcry in Australia for the effective protection of our children. This follows the alleged starvation to death of baby twins; dissolute child neglect cases; the alleged starvation of Shellay Ward to death; and the discovery of the tiny body of little Dean Shillingsworth floating in a pond in a suitcase, to mention just a tiny proportion of the hundreds of thousands of reported child abuse cases.

One must ask if the Family Court of Australia, which repeatedly proclaims that it acts only in "the best interests of the child" cannot get it right with regards to its “experts”, to effective child protection and the psychiatry of child abuse and neglect, what is really happening in this country to our children behind closed doors, courtesy of the secrecy of section 121 of the Family Law Act.

When is the denial and rhetoric going to cease so that we can offer sincere and tangible hope to the children of this land?

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. All


Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

204 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Dr Sunita Shaunak is a dentist, in general practice, currently working in Brisbane. She attended the 2020 Summit in the Health Stream. At a recent conference in Adelaide, Dr Shaunak was invited to speak of her experiences in the Family Court of Australia.

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Article Tools
Comment 204 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy