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Magazine article
‘They’re meant to help and did the complete opposite’: many children feel silenced by family courts
The Conversation
26/02/2025
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36 Record Views
Abstract
When parental separation ends up in the family courts, serious risks such as family violence, child abuse, drug, alcohol or substance misuse, and mental health issues are often involved.
But many children feel shut out of family court processes that decide what is in their “best interests”.
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.
Details
- Title
- ‘They’re meant to help and did the complete opposite’: many children feel silenced by family courts
- Creators
- Georgina Dimopoulos - Southern Cross University
- Publication Details
- The Conversation
- Publisher
- The Conversation Media Group Ltd
- Grant note
- Georgina Dimopoulos' research upon which this article is based was partially funded by the Children’s Rights Research Fund (University of Maastricht).
- Identifiers
- 991013263110802368
- Academic Unit
- Centre for Children and Young People; Faculty of Business, Law and Arts; Law
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Magazine article