Women's Views on News |
| Posted: 26 Jan 2016 06:25 AM PST
The national domestic abuse charity Women's Aid has launched a major new campaign, Child First which calls on the family courts and the Government to put the safety of children back at the heart of all decisions made by the family court judiciary. Child First was launched alongside the report, Nineteen Child Homicides. Nineteen Child Homicides reviewed relevant serious case reviews for England and Wales, published between January 2005 and August 2015. It uncovered details of 19 children in 12 families who were killed by perpetrators of domestic abuse. All of the perpetrators were men and fathers to the children that they killed. All of the perpetrators had access to their children through formal or informal child contact arrangements. The report tells the stories of the cases of nineteen children, all intentionally killed by a parent who was also a known perpetrator of domestic abuse. These killings were made possible through unsafe child contact arrangements, formal and informal. Over half of these child contact arrangements were ordered through the courts. Key statistics from Nineteen Child Homicides: 19 children killed from 12 families; 2 mothers killed, 2 children seriously harmed through attempted murder – and for 7 out of the 12 families, the contact had been ordered through court. Polly Neate, chief executive of Women's Aid, said: "There is a misguided belief within the family courts and among judges that, because a relationship has ended, so has the domestic abuse. "Survivors frequently report to us that they and their children are re-victimised and traumatised by their abusers, even after separation, through the family court process. "This trauma makes it extremely difficult for the non-abusive parent to advocate clearly and effectively for the safety of their child. "In the criminal courts, there are protection measures in place to give victims fair access to justice. "This is not the case in the family courts. For example, it is common for victims of domestic abuse to be cross-examined by the perpetrator. This must end. "The desire by the family courts to treat parents in exactly the same way, and get cases over with quickly, blinds them to the consequences of unsafe child contact. "As the report Nineteen Child Homicides shows, these consequences can be fatal. "The culture of, 'contact with the child, no matter what', must end. "Less than 1 per cent of child contact applications are refused, but we know that domestic abuse features in around 70 per cent of CAFCASS caseloads, and in 70-90 per cent of cases going to the family courts. "Clearly, the system is failing. "The best interests of children should be the overriding principle of the family courts, but far too often this is simply not the case." Women's Aid is urging the government and family courts to undertake two key recommendations made by the Nineteen Child Homicides report, in order to protect children and their non-abusive parent, and to stop any further avoidable child deaths. These form the two campaign asks of Child First: 1) Further avoidable child deaths must be prevented by putting children first in the family courts – as the legal framework and guidance states. Ensure that domestic abuse is identified and its impact fully considered by the family court judiciary. Child contact arrangement orders must put the best interests of the child(ren) first and protect the well-being of the parent the child is living with, in accordance with 'Practice direction 12 J Child arrangements & Contact order: Domestic violence and harm'. There is an urgent need for independent, national oversight into the implementation of Practice Direction 12J. 2) Make the family courts fit for purpose through the introduction of protection measures for survivors of domestic abuse Ensure survivors of domestic abuse attending the family court have access to protection measures, similar to those available in criminal courts. Survivors of domestic abuse should always have access to a separate waiting room or area, and judges must ensure there is time for the non-abusive parent to leave court safely before releasing the perpetrator. For, as Lord Justice Wall, said in 2006; "It is, in my view, high time that the Family Justice System abandoned any reliance on the proposition that a man can have a history of violence to the mother of his children but, nonetheless, be a good father." Claire Throssell, the mother of Jack and Paul, who were both killed by their father in 2014, said: "No parent should have to hold their children and comfort them as they die, or be told that their child has been harmed in an act of revenge or rage. "Having experienced the family court judicial process and its protocols, the tragic outcome that occurred – whilst court proceedings were still ongoing – exposes flaws and malpractice within family law. "All too often children's voices are not heard or acted upon. "Attending court is an emotional, frightening and at times a traumatic experience which nobody decides to initiate lightly – but does so to protect their children's physical and emotional wellbeing." To find out more about the campaign click here. To download the report, click here. To sign the Child First petition clcik here.  |
| Posted: 26 Jan 2016 06:05 AM PST
This month the Court of Appeal will decide whether to overturn a High Court ruling on the lawfulness of government changes to legal aid for domestic violence victims. The hearing – on 28 January – comes a year after the High Court rejected a legal challenge from domestic violence charity Rights of Women over the lawfulness of new rules that require victims of domestic violence to provide a prescribed form of evidence in order to apply for family law legal aid. But new data from Rights of Women shows that 40 per cent of victims still do not have the required forms of evidence to access legal aid. This is despite amendments to the regulations being made in April 2014. Law Society president Jonathan Smithers has expressed concern that some of the forms of evidence that are required are subject to a 24-month time limit even though perpetrators may remain a life-long threat to their victims. 'Legal aid is a lifeline for victims of abuse,’ he said. 'This new data shows that access to safety and justice is still being denied to the very people the government expressly sought to protect with its amendments to the regulations. 'The harsh tests requiring people to bring evidence to satisfy the broader statutory meaning of domestic violence are not what parliament intended. 'Legal aid is often the only way that those who suffer at the hands of abusers can bring their case before the courts. 'Without legal aid, women are unable to access family law remedies, which are vital in order to help them escape from violent relationships and protect their children. 'They are being forced to face their perpetrators in court without legal representation.' The new rules on evidence criteria, introduced by the government as part of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, are preventing victims of domestic abuse from getting legal aid for family cases, even when it is clear there has been violence, or there is an ongoing risk of violence. For the past three years, since the introduction of the domestic violence evidence criteria, Rights of Women has been monitoring the impact of the legal aid regulations on the ability of women affected by violence to access family law legal aid. The latest survey findings show that women affected by violence who do not have the required forms of evidence are faced with stark choices: pay a solicitor privately, often causing them to get into debt; represent themselves and face their perpetrator in court; or do nothing and continue to be at risk of violence. As a result, nearly half of the people the government expressly sought to protect from the removal of family law legal aid remain unprotected. The statistics are stark: 1.2 million women experience domestic violence every year. More than 50 per cent of women responding to the Rights of Women survey said that they took no legal action, as a direct result of not being eligible for legal aid. The rules deny access to safety and justice to the very women the government sought to protect from the removal of family law from the scope of legal aid. This report demonstrates that the domestic violence evidence criteria continues to prove a barrier to accessing family law legal aid for women affected by violence. 37 per cent of women responding to the survey who had experienced or were experiencing domestic violence did not have the prescribed forms of evidence to access family law legal aid; 23 per cent of women responding would have had one or more of the prescribed forms of evidence if the two-year time limit on those forms of evidence was not in place; The most common form of evidence available to women is one that was introduced in April 2014: a referral to a domestic violence support organisation by a health professional (18 per cent); The other most common forms of evidence include: evidence from a medical professional (16 per cent); evidence of a protective injunction (14 per cent); and evidence from social services (14 per cent); 71 per cent of respondents said it was difficult (37 per cent) or very difficult (35 per cent) to find a legal aid solicitor in their area; 34 per cent of respondents were having to travel between six and fifteen miles to find a legal aid solicitor. 23 per cent had to travel more than 15 miles; 53 per cent of respondents took no action in relation to their family law problem, as a result of not being able to apply for legal aid. 29 per cent paid a solicitor privately and 28 per cent represented themselves at court. Emma Scott, director of Rights of Women, said: 'The government acknowledges that domestic violence is 'often hidden away behind closed doors, with the victim suffering in silence. 'More than three years on from the devastating cuts to legal aid and despite amendments to the rules, we know that those victims behind those doors do not have the required pieces of paper to prove they have experienced domestic violence. 'Our research has consistently shown that nearly half of women affected by domestic violence do not have the required forms of evidence to apply for family law legal aid and that more than half of those women tell us that they take no legal action as a result. 'This leaves them at risk of further violence and even death. 'We continue this legal action on behalf of those women in order to hold the government to account on their promise to make family law legal aid available to victims of domestic violence.' Rights of Women is a registered charity that provides free legal advice to women and engages on a policy level concerning access to justice and violence against women issues. It provides training on legal issues to statutory and third sector professionals, write legal publications designed to assist individual women, and those supporting them, through the law and provide three legal advice lines offering legal advice to women on immigration and asylum issues, sexual violence and criminal law, and family law (including domestic violence, divorce, contact disputes). Rights of Women's advice lines are staffed by qualified practising women solicitors and barristers. Rights of Women is supported by the Law Society. A copy of the full report is available on the Rights of Women website: click here.  |
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