Boys’ Education – The Heat Death of Democracy

“In a Closed System, Stupidity Tends to Increase Until It Reaches a Maximum” http://fredoneverything.net/Upshot.shtm   Long-time readers, if there is one, will notice that I have written of much of this before. I thought it worth another take               In  something called Upshot,   apparently the love child of the New York Times, I find a piece

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Warshak Paper May Influence Child Custody Decisions in Australia

The last redoubt of the anti-father crowd is being breached. Read about it here (Sydney Morning Herald, 4/28/14). For decades, the data on children’s need for fathers have been building up. Over 20 years ago, prominent family sociologist David Popenoe was able to say that some 30 years of social science information demonstrated that children

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Abbott government to launch inquiry into child support system

THE Abbott government has called for a parliamentary inquiry into how the child support system works, including links between it and the Family Court. The last Coalition government, the Howard government, held a historic parliamentary inquiry into the child custody system that led to widespread changes including “shared parenting”. The House of Representatives Standing Committee

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Movement on fathers’ overnight access

                Barriers constraining divorced fathers having their young children stay with them overnight may be lifted, with key family law organisations revising policies blocking overnight care of infants and toddlers.   The rethink follows the publication of an academic paper endorsed by 110 leading international experts challenging the policies. The paper is highly critical of

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Victorians must speak out to tackle culture of violence against women and children

  Illustration: John Spooner. Kelly Thompson, Luke Batty, Fiona Warzywoda, Indiana and Savannah – these are names that have dominated the news in recent weeks and months. They are the names of just some of those whose lives have been violently cut short in circumstances we struggle to comprehend. The confronting nature of their deaths has generated

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Empty days, lonely nights

http://www.theage.com.au/national/empty-days-lonely-nights-20140428-37e3e.html  A belief that children under three should not stay overnight with their separated or divorced father has underpinned our family law system for years. Has it all been a mistake?  Bettina Arndt reports. Across Australia, fathers are being told in mediation sessions or by lawyers that there’s no hope of overnight contact with children

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Missing the Alienation

                  Many thanks to the National Parents’ Organization in the USA for this important article highlighting the mistakes made in alienation cases. https://nationalparentsorganization.org/component/content/article/16-latest-news/21679-missing-the-alienation                   Why do mental health professionals and attorneys who evaluate or work with alienated children frequently mistake alienation for estrangement? The main reason is that cases of parental alienation are counterintuitive.  That is, the brain

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Family Law – Family Consultants

www.familylawcourts.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/FLC/Home/Publications/Family+Law+Courts+publications/Family+Consultants Family Consultants [PDF – File Size 74 KB – View][RTF – File Size 20 KB – Download][Word – File Size 32 KB – Download] This fact sheet explains the role of family consultants in cases about children. Who are family consultants?Family consultants are psychologists and/or social workers who specialise in child and family issues after separation and

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USA – Study finds large gender disparities in federal criminal cases

www.law.umich.edu/newsandinfo/features/Pages/starr_gender_disparities.aspx Prof. Starr’s research shows large unexplained gender disparities in federal criminal cases16 November 2012 If you’re a criminal defendant, it may help – a lot – to be a woman. At least, that’s what Prof. Sonja Starr’s research on federal criminal cases suggests. Prof. Starr’s recent paper, “Estimating Gender Disparities in Federal Criminal Cases,”

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