My new paper, co-authored with Southern Cross University researchers Eliza Hew, Meaghan Vosz and Helen Walsh and published in the journal Child and Family Social Work, looked at how children felt about their experiences in the family courts.
We interviewed 41 children and young people aged ten to 19 from Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. Four key themes emerged.
1. Children feel silenced
The children in our study wanted to be heard directly. As Troy, 14, put it:
Talk to us, not about us.
2. Children feel ‘in the dark’
Most children we interviewed felt “in the dark” about family court processes.
3. Some children will vote with their feet
Some children said they’d refused to comply with family court parenting orders. As Ava, 13, put it:
If they can’t listen to me, I’m not going to listen to them.
4. Children feel less able to trust others
Children stressed the importance of family law professionals creating space to build trust. But several children felt they were betrayed by law professionals who’d shared what the children had said with their parents.
Source: ‘They’re meant to help and did the complete opposite’: many children feel silenced by family courts