McIntosh: Cat on a hot tin roof ?

  Like a cornered cat, researcher Dr. Jennifer McIntosh now has nothing to lose. Backed into a corner over the validity of her “academic” claims about child custody she is running for cover. But in this fight for her honour is it already too late ?  Is her reputation, at best, already on ‘life support’

Read More

New Child Support Agency Inquiry

The House of Representatives Standing Committee has commenced a new inquiry into the Child Support Program at the request of the Minister for Social Services, the Hon Kevin Andrews.  The Committee has created an anonymous, online questionnaire [ https://www.research.net/s/CSPquestionnaire ] for individuals to complete, giving anyone with an experience of the Child Support Program the opportunity to

Read More

Banning Men from Sitting Next to Kids on Planes is Just Sexist Lunacy

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/male-sexism-should-men-really-be-banned-sitting-next-kids-planes-1446921 Aeroplanes should not become flying bastions of sexism.REUTERS Is it fair, or feasible, to combat child abuse by stopping all men sitting next to children on planes? Tracey Spicer thinks so. She’s a proud feminist and a presenter with Sky News Australia who caused controversy just a few days ago by saying “I know

Read More

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

Read More

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

Read More

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

Read More

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

Read More

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

Read More

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

Read More

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

Read More