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Evaluation of the 2006 family law reforms
- "In 2006, the Australian Government introduced a series of changes to the family law system and increased funding for new and expanded family relationships services, including the establishment of 65 Family Relationship Centres. The reforms aimed to bring about a cultural shift in the management of separation, away from litigation and towards co-operative parenting. A study was commissioned to evaluate the impact of the changes and the reform's effectiveness in achieving its policy aims. This report presents the findings of this evaluation, which drew upon 3 projects: the Legislation and Courts Project (LCP), which examined the implementation of the legislative reforms; the Service Provision Project (SPP), which examined changes to the service delivery system; and the Families Project (FP), which examined the experiences of separated families. These projects involved a longitudinal study of 10,000 separated parents, two quantitative studies based on general samples of parents, analysis of data from 1,724 pre- and post-reform court files, and surveys with professionals, clients, and grandparents. Chapters include: Characteristics of separated parents: challenges and issues for family relationships and wellbeing; Use and effectiveness of new and expanded family relationship services; Pathways towards parenting arrangements; Family dispute resolution; Care-time arrangements: community opinions, prevalence and durability of different arrangements, and trends across the years; Care-time arrangements: negotiations and family profiles; Parental responsibility: decision-making about issues affecting the child and financial support; Parental responsibility and time: perspectives and practices of lawyers and other service providers; Family violence and child abuse: parents' pathways and professionals' perspectives; Children's wellbeing; Grandparenting and the family law reforms; The 2006 reforms and the courts; The implementation of Division 12A of Part VII: principles for conducting child-related proceedings; the application of the SPR Act 2006 amendments to the Family Law Act 1975; Summary of key findings and conclusions."
- "In 2006, the Australian Government introduced a series of changes to the family law system, including the Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act 2006 and increased funding for new and expanded family relationships services. Three years later, an evaluation was conducted to assess the extent to which these reforms have improved the management of parental separation away from litigation and towards co-operative parenting, for the best interests of the child, and to provide evidence on the use and operation of the family law system. This summary report provides an overview of the evaluation, and includes background information on the law reforms, details on the evaluation methodology, summaries of the findings, and implications and conclusions."
- "Evaluation of the 2006 family law reforms"
- "Evaluation of the 2006 family law reforms : summary report"