MENZ Issues: news and discussion about New Zealand men, fathers, family law, divorce, courts, protests, gender politics, and male health.

Hon Rick Barker

There is a real mood of willingness for the Family Court system to be brought into the 21st Century. As family changes involve step parents and children, single parents and extended family - the role of the family court changes.

The government is listening to what practitioners envisage for the court.
We talk about wanting more openness, but at the same time we must be confident that families won’t get caught up in a media circus and lose their privacy.

Generally for people to need a family court, things are not going so well in their lives, so everyone involved is dealing with many different emotions.

It is my job and the role of you all here tonight to make the rocky road as smooth as possible.

The government announced a $73 million budget package to improve the courts by injecting money into new technology, staffing and facilities.

I am just quickly going to read over some of the initiatives that are coming up:
(more…)

Press Release: New Zealand First Party

New Zealand First social services spokesperson Bill Gudgeon has praised the new domestic violence investigation system initiated by the Wairarapa police.

“Every two weeks, a team from the Police, Child Youth and Family, Courts, Women’s Refuge and Stopping Violence services meet to discuss the cases of domestic violence reported in the area,” Mr Gudgeon said.

“Every incident reported to police is now investigated and already the team is starting to see fewer cases where violence is repeated.

“For too long agencies have been working in isolation in an attempt to combat the incidence of domestic violence and child abuse.

“It is encouraging to see the move towards greater collaboration between agencies, and I would urge police in other areas to follow Wairarapa’s lead,” Mr Gudgeon concluded.

By Professor Stephen Baskerville, Ph.D

The result of three decades of unrestrained divorce is that huge numbers of people – many of them government officials – now have a vested professional and financial interest in encouraging it. Divorce today is not simply a phenomenon; it is a regime – a vast bureaucratic empire that permeates national and local governments…

Stepparents and non-resident parents play just as important role in the behaviour and well-being of their children as the parent they live with, Victoria University researchers have found.

Centre Director, Associate Professor Jan Pryor, says the study found children’s relationships with their stepparents and non-resident parents are much more important than previously thought and not only affect their relationship with the parent they live with but also their own behaviour, self esteem and happiness. The quality of these relationships was also linked with the quality of family life in their stepfamilies.

“This means a child’s perceptions of their relationships will give a clear indication of how well their family is functioning, which has important implications for how the Family Court, professionals working with families, and parents think about managing separation and divorce, and the best interests of children.”

Women left to fight on their own

By TARA ROSS

Sunday Star-Times investigations reveal it is getting harder for women to win protection orders against violent partners, and judges are increasingly granting orders only in deferred, defended court hearings - rather than straight away.

The National Collective of Independent Women’s Refuges, expected to release a report next week criticising the trend, says it puts women in danger.

Refuge workers say that’s because women are being put off by court delays – they don’t want to be put in danger without legal protection while they wait for the defended court hearing – and the failure of courts and police to consistently enforce the law.

Brian Gardner, manager of the National Network of Stopping Violence, said women were more at risk than before the Domestic Violence Act became law.

A Christchurch man who wrongly spent three years in jail on sex charges after a judge made a procedural error is seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation.

Mervyn Finlayson, 60 – a stroke victim with a serious heart condition – was jailed for six years in 2000 on charges of indecently assaulting a boy aged nine, inducing the boy to do an indecent act on him, and two charges of sodomy.

Finlayson’s appeal said the trial judge in his case, Colin Doherty, made a procedural error by failing to provide balancing evidence from the defence case when he replayed the boy’s evidential video to the jury during its deliberations.

Sydney: The Australian Federal Police are appealing for help to track down a 4-year-old New Zealand girl believed to be have been taken across the Tasman by her mother in defiance of a court order.

Rebekah Jayne Stewart has been missing since March 2003, when former New Zealand policewoman Roanne Jill Stewart is believed to have brought her to Australia.

Rebekah’s father, Steven Petty (44), is seeking his daughter’s return to Auckland under the United Nations Hague Convention which facilitates the return of children who are abducted from their home countries.

The Stewart case hit the headlines last year when it emerged Roanne Stewart had allegedly spirited her daughter out of New Zealand in what Family Court Judge Jan Doogue described as a “clinical and calculated exercise”.

Parents who repeatedly use their children as pawns in custody battles may be asked to pay a “good behaviour” bond to try to ensure they respect access orders.

The court-ordered payments, which could reach thousands of dollars, will be cash or bonds listed against assets, such as a house or car.

The decision to change the law to allow bonds to be used more widely follows increasing concerns that Family Court access orders are too often ignored or manipulated.

The provisions are included in the Care of Children Bill, which rewrites the Guardianship Act and should become law within a few months.