Commissioner speaks at Family Law Pathways Network Breakfast

Commissioner Elizabeth Fraser presented a speech about child safety in the context of family law matters at the Family Law Pathways Network Breakfast on 16 November 2010.

The Family Law Pathways Network was established by the Federal Attorney-General in 2002 to improve communication and referral pathways within the Family Law system by bringing together the Courts, Legal Practitioners, Non-Government Organisations and Government Organisations.

The theme of the breakfast was child safety. The Commissioner spoke about some of the ways that the Commission promotes and protects the rights, safety and wellbeing of children and young people, and particularly, the more vulnerable children and young people who are in the child protection system, or are the subject of child protection concerns.

The Commissioner highlighted her concern for these already vulnerable children who are also the subjects of family law proceedings, and the potential for them to fall between the gaps of the child protection and family law systems.

In emphasising the importance of children and young people’s wellbeing as well as their safety, the Commissioner spoke about the need to listen to children and young people, particularly in the course of complex processes which have significant impacts on their lives.

The Commissioner also shared some of the ways that the Commission listens to children and young people in the child protection system, and some of the invaluable things the Commission has learned from them.

The Commissioner extended the challenge to Network members to consider how the voices of children and young people might be able to be heard in family law matters, and to overcome the notion that only the more considered views of older children are of real importance and move towards a more holistic approach to children’s wishes, feelings and perceptions, as Family Court judge, Professor Richard Chisholm urged in his 2009 Family Courts Violence Review.

Other topics/speakers at the seminar were:

• Catherine Moynihan (Churchill Fellow in Child Protection) who spoke about the legal system and child protection laws with a focus on option for reforms, and
• Sue Wigginton (PhD candidate in children's place in mediation) who spoke about children's place in mediation.

View the Commissioner for Children and Young People and Child Guardian Elizabeth Fraser’s speech and powerpoint presentation presented at the seminar.

 

 

Last Updated: November 23, 2010

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