Children Affected By Divorce Essay -- essays research papers

CHILDREN AFFECTED BY DIVORCE &PROTECTING THEIR BEST INTERESTSOn the 11th of June, 1996, the Family Law Reform Act 1995 came into effect amending certain(prenominal) sections of the Family Law Act 1975, in particular, those relating to the care of children involved in divorce situations. The object of these amendments, according to the new act, was to ensure two things. Firstly, that the children may receive adequate to(predicate) and proper parenting to help them achieve their full potential, and secondly, to ensure that parents fulfil their duties, and meet their responsibilities, concerning the care, welfare and development of their children. These recent amendments are clearly a positive bill forward for family law because the law has recognised that the child is the only important factor in a divorce and that it is crucial that the rights of the child are protected. To pretty evaluate the effectiveness of these recent amendments in protecting the interests of the child, the social implications of the act, the principles taken into account when deciding a event, the impact on stakeholders, and criticisms of the act must every be taken into consideration.In order to ensure that the childs rights are protected, the salutes aim is to ensure that parental responsibility survives any changes in the temperament of the childs parents relationship. Parental responsibility relates to all the duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which, by law, parents have in relation to children. When deciding a case involving a child in the event of a separation between the childs parents, the childs best interests are now the motor inns paramount consideration. The concepts access, custody, and guardianship have been replaced in the amendments by contact, residence, and joint parental responsibility.Between 1987 and 1997, the annual make out of divorces rose from 39,700 to 51,300. As a vector sum of this increase, 1 fifth of all Australian children aged one t o seventeen now live in single parent households. Of these children living with only one natural parent, 88% live with their mothers with the remaining 12% living with their fathers. This ratio of which parents children resided with remained constant between 1987 and 1997, indicating that the trend of the courts to favour mothers over fathers has continued despite the changes to the act. With the number of divorces consistently risin... ... the number of cases which can be funded has dropped from 6,000 last year to 4,000 this year. It now seems very unlikely that steps get out actually be taken to bushel this problem by either of the suggested solutions due to the lack of funding and the budget cuts willing most likely result in a worsening of the situation.Overall, it is strong to judge the effectiveness of the amendments to the Family Law Act 1975 because it is impossible to measure how well a childs best interests have been served. However, if the Family Court of Australia h as adequately utilize the changes then one would expect that the amendments have been effective in improving the system of determining what is in the childs best interests. Therefore the courts final ruling with regards to the contact, residence, and maintenance of the child will be the option which is best for the child. In conclusion, when all of the factors have been taken into consideration, it appears that the recent amendments will result in a step forward for the way in which the rights of children are protected by the courts decisions. Whether or not the courts will make use of this improved system, however, is another question.