Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wg55d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-05T23:17:39.861Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

New views of parenting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

Frank Bates*
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle, NSW

Extract

There is nothing more inscribed nor thought nor felt and this must comfort the heart’s core against Its false disasters - these fathers standing round. These mothers touching, speaking, being near. These lovers waiting In the soft dry grass. [Wallace Stevens. “Credences of Summer”!

“I have come to regard the law courts not as a cathedral but rather as a casino”. [Richard Ingrams, former Editor of Private Eye.]

Before entering into discussion of the substantive topic, it should be said that Australian Family Law is, in one sense at least, always new. It is without question one of the most scrutinised areas of Australian Law: the Family Law Act 1975 has been amended no less than thirty four times since its coming into force in February 1976, sometimes extensively; it has been the subject of two reports of Joint Select Committees of the Australian Parliament, in 1980 (Bates, 1980) and 1992 (below). In addition, its operation and administration is under continual scrutiny from two statutory bodies – the Family Law Council (Family Law Act 1975 s115) and the Australian Institute of Family Studies (Family Law Act 1975 Part XIVB).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amato, P.R. (1987) Children's Reaction to Parental Divorce: The View of Children and Custodial Mothers, Australian Journal of Social Issues, 22, p610.Google Scholar
Australia, Parliament (1992) The Family Law Act 1975: Aspects of its operation and interpretation. Report of the Joint Select Committee, Canberra: AGPS.Google Scholar
Bainham, A. (1983) Children Parents and the State, London: Sweet & Maxwell.Google Scholar
Bates, F. (1983) Joint Custody in Australia Law: A Broad Perspective, Australian Law Journal, 57, p343.Google Scholar
Bates, F. (1988) Children as Property: Hindsight and Foresight, Australian Child and Family Welfare, 13(2) p3.Google Scholar
Bates, F. (1987) An Introduction to Family Law, Sydney: Law Book Co.Google Scholar
Bates, F. (1980) Family law in Australia: A Long Engagement, Family Law Review, 3, p15.Google Scholar
Bates, F. (1990) Protecting Children – When and from What? Queensland University of Technology Law Journal, 6 p53.Google Scholar
Bell, S. (1988) When Salem Came to the Boro, London: Pan.Google Scholar
Blackmore, R. (1989) The Children's Court and Community Welfare in New South Wales, Sydney: Longman Professional.Google Scholar
Bromley, P.M. & Lowe, N.V. (1992) Family Law, 8th ed., London: Butterworth.Google Scholar
Bruch, C. (1988) And How Are the Children? The Effects of Ideology and Mediation on Child Custody Law and Children's Wellbeing in the United States, International Journal of Law and the Family 2, p106.Google Scholar
Burdekin, B (1989) Our Homeless Children Canberra: Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.Google Scholar
Campbell, B. (1988) Unofficial Secrets. Child Sexual Abuse – The Cleveland Case. London: Virago.Google Scholar
Chisholm, R. (1992) Access: Principles, Presumptions and Practice (A comment on Brown & Pedersen), Australian Journal of Family Law, 6, p176.Google Scholar
Eekelaar, J.M. (1986) The Emergence of Children's Rights, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 6, p161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Family Law Council (1993) Comments on the Report of the Joint Select Committee on the Operation and Interpretation of the Family Law Act, Canberra: AGPS.Google Scholar
Family Law Council (1992) Patterns of parenting after separation, A report to the Minister for Justice and Consumer Affairs, Canberra: AGPS.Google Scholar
Goodrich, P. (1986) Reading the Law: A Critical Introduction to Legal Method and Techniques, Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Hagerstrom, A. (1927, 1941) Der romische Obligations begriff, Uppsola and Leipzig.Google Scholar
Howells, J.G. (1973) Remember Maria, London: Butterworth.Google Scholar
Kelly, J.M. (1992) A Short History of Western Legal Theory, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kilmartin, C. & Wulff, M. (1984) Education and Labour Force Participation of Australian Young People in Two and One Parent Families, Journal of the Australian Population Association, 1, p121.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mackay, Lord of Clashfern (1989) Hansard, H.L., 502, Col 488.Google Scholar
McClean, J.D. (1978) The Battered Baby and the Limits of the Law, Monash University Law Review, 5, p1.Google Scholar
McLeod, J.G (1992) Annotation, Reports of Family Law, 40 (3rd Series) p443.Google Scholar
McLeod, J.G. (1993) Annotation, Reports of Family Law, 42 (3rd Series) p350.Google Scholar
McLeod, J.G (1992) Annotation, Reports of Family Law, 40 (3rd Series) p443.Google Scholar
Mitchell, A. (1985) Children in the Middle: Living Through Divorce London & NY: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Moloney, L, Marshall, A. & Waters, P. (1986) Suspension of Access: Attitudes Which Have Influenced the Courts, Australian Journal of Family Law, 1, p50.Google Scholar
Montgomery, J (1988) Children as Property? Modern Law Review, 51 p323.Google Scholar
Ochiltree, G. & Amato, P.R. (1985) The Child's Eye View of Family Life, Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.Google Scholar
Parkinson, L. (1988) Child Custody Orders: A Legal Lottery? Family Law, 18, p26.Google Scholar
Ryan, J. (1989) Parents Forever: Making the Concept a Reality for Divorcing Parents and their Children, Ottawa: Canada, Department of Justice.Google Scholar
Walczak, Y. & Burns, S. (1984) Divorce: The Child's Point of View, London: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Weitzman, L. (1985) The Divorce Revolution: The Unexpected Social and Economic Consequences for Women and Children in America, N.Y.: Free Press.Google Scholar
White, J.B. (1973) The Legal Imagination: Abridged Edition, Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar