Post Separation Service Delivery

Topics

Family Law / Family Courts

• Overview of the Family Law System, Attorney General's Department website and the Australian Family Relationship Clearinghouse (AFRC) Bibliography The new family law system.
• 2008 Attorney General's Department Comprehensive List of FAQ on Compulosry Family Dispute Resolution and the provision of section 60I certificates under the Family Law Act 1975.
• Collaborative Practice in Family Law (2007) Report of the Family Law Council to the Attorney-General. Collaborative practice is a unique method of dispute resolution which has the potential to deliver ongoing benefits to the general public and Australian professionals working in the family law area.  The advantages of using collaborative practice to resolve family disputes have been tested over 15 years of practice in the United States of America and Canada.
• Proceedings of the International Forum on Family Relationships in Transition: Legislative, practical and policy responses (2006), Bruce Smyth, Nicholas Richardson and Grace Soriano, eds. Melbourne, Vic: AIFS.
• Every Picture Tells a Story: Inquiry into child custody arrangements in the event of family separation (2003), inquiry from the House Standing Committee Family and Community Affairs.  
• Families, Law and Social Policy: Future Research Strategy (2002) Report of a workshop hosted by Griffith University.  The workshop intended to bring together academic researchers in family law with the 'end-users' of that research to enable a way forward for the family law research community in Australia.
• Future governance options for federal family law courts in Australia: Striking the right balance (2008), Des Semple & Associates in conjunction with the Attorney-General’s Department, August 2008.  Requested by the Federal Attorney General, this review proposes solutions to some confusion and inefficiencies in the family law court system.  

Shared Parenting

• Cautionary notes on the shared care of children in conflicted parental separations (2008), Professor Richard Chisholm and Dr Jennifer Mcintosh, Family Relationships Quarterly No. 8. 
• Parent-child contact and post-separation parenting arrangements (2004), Smyth, B. ed. Melbourne, Vic: Australian Institute of Family Studies, 140p, (Research report no.9).
• Evaluation of the Building Connections Pilot Project (March 2007), this report outlines the results of the Building Connections pilot project that was conducted by Interrelate Family Centres in 2006.  This educational program assisted separated parents in high conflict to develop insight into child-focused parenting.

Family Relationship Centres

• FRSP Brochure - Family Relationship Centres.
• The Attorney-General's Department Information for Family Relationship Centres on Family Relationships Online, includes:

Training Materials and other Resources

Guidelines and Processes

Frameworks, Charters, Policies

Communication and Media Resources

Family Relationship Centres Action Research 

Family Dispute Resolution

• New Telephone Dispute Resolution Streamlined Referrals
• Online Counselling, therapy and dispute resolution: research review and application to family relationship services, Elly Robinson, AIFS (2009). This paper outlines the range of benefits and challenges related to online therapy. Online provision of services shows promise for dispute resolution, with implications for separating families, but research is in its infancy.
• The Resolve to Resolve: Embracing ADR to Improve Access to Justice in the Federal Jurisdiction, NADRAC (2009). This report to the Attorney-General finds that alternative dispute resolution remains significantly underutilised and that a key barrier is a lack of knowledge and understanding amongst the profession, litigants and the general public.
• Family Law (Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner) Regulations 2008. The new accreditation standards for family dispute resolution practitioners will be effective as of 1 July 2009. A summary of the changes is available on the Attorney-General's Department website.  
• AFRC bibliography Conflict resolution and mediation.
• Advent of Compulsory Family Dispute Resolution: Implications for Practitioners (2007), Rae Kaspiew, Family Relationships Quarterly Newsletter No. 6, Australian Family Relationships Clearinghouse.
• Behind closed doors: family dispute resolution and family violence (2007) by Debbie Kirkwood, Domestic Violence Resource Centre.
• FRSP Brochure - Family Dispute Resolution.
• The Attorney-General's Department Information for Family Dispute Resolution Practitioners on Family Relationships Online, includes:

Information on Certificates

Information on Practitioner Accreditation

Frequently Asked Questions

• Primary Dispute Resolution – A Report on Partnerships – (June 2004).
• Dispute Management Practitioners – Evaluation Report – (June 2003).
• Family and Child Mediation Survey: Final Report to Attorney-General’s Department – (May 1998).

Children's Contact Centres

• AFRC bibliography Children's contact services
• FRSP brochure - Children's Contact Services
• Evaluation of the Building Connections Pilot Project - (March 2007)
• Children’s Contact Services: Expectation and Experience – (June 2005)
• Children’s Contact Services: Training Needs Analysis – (March 2005)
• Contact Services in Australia Research and Evaluation Project – (December 1998)

Parenting Orders Program

• FRSP brochure - Parenting Orders Program
• Summary of the Independent Evaluation of the Contact Orders Program – (December 2003)

Statistics

• Divorces, Australia, 2007, Australian Bureau of Statistics. This paper shows that the number of divorces has been steadily decreasing in Australia, following a peak in 2001. Fewer children are exposed to divorce too continuing a twenty year trend, children under 18 years in families experiencing divorce, were down by more than 4000 in 2007 compared to 48,396 in 2006. Joint applications for divorce increased in 2007 while maleonly or female-only applications decreased.

AFRC Bibliographies

• Parental conflict - effects on children
• Separation/divorce

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