Research report, no. 15, 2007

Allegations of family violence and child abuse in family law children's proceedings:
a pre-reform exploratory study

by Lawrie Moloney, Bruce Smyth, Ruth Weston, Nicholas Richardson, Lixia Qu and Matthew Gray

 

Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2007.
ISBN 978 0 642 39550 4. ISSN 1447-1469 (Print); 1477-1477 (Online).

 

Full Report - Allegations of family violence and child abuse in family law children's proceedings (PDF 1.6MB)

 

Contents

About the authors; Acknowledgements HTML | PDF (51K)

Synopsis HTML | PDF (71K)

  1. Family violence, child abuse and family law HTML | PDF (125K)
    1.1 The new family law system and the Family Law Violence Strategy
    1.2 Family violence: Grappling with definitions
    1.3 Towards increased differentiation
    1.4 The Johnson 'domestic violence' typology: Implications and limitations
    1.5 Child abuse and neglect
    1.6 The need for pre-reform data in Australia
    1.7 Structure of the report
  2. International research on allegations of family violence and child abuse in family law HTML | PDF (128K)
    2.1 Empirical studies of family violence in family law
    2.2 Empirical studies of allegations of child abuse in family law
    2.3 Empirical studies of allegations of family violence, child abuse and neglect
    2.4 Summary
  3. Australian research on allegations of family violence and child abuse in family law HTML | PDF (122K)
    3.1 Empirical studies of allegations of family violence in family law
    3.2 Empirical studies of allegations of child abuse in family law
    3.3 Empirical studies of allegations of family violence, child abuse and neglect
    3.4 Summary
  4. Methodology HTML | PDF (873K)
    4.1 Unit of analysis, data collection sites and target year
    4.2 Data collection and coding
    4.3 Sample selection
    4.4 Sampling procedures
    4.5 Coding definitions
    4.6 Coding frame and computerised data collection tool
    4.7 Training and inter-rater agreement
    4.8 Timelines and logistics
    4.9 Caveats and limitations
  5. The prevalence and nature of allegations HTML | PDF (162K)
    5.1 Technical preface: Two typologies
    5.2 Court by sample
    5.3 Applicant/respondent status by gender by sample
    5.4 Summary
  6. Evidentiary material and responses to allegations HTML | PDF (152K)
    6.1 Technical preface
    6.2 Number of allegations
    6.3 Corroboration provided by the alleging party
    6.4 Response to allegations
    6.5 Evidentiary material in Family Reports
    6.6 Overall evidence
    6.7 Level of detail
    6.8 Summary
  7. Parenting proposals and court outcomes HTML | PDF (158K)
    7.1 Non-adjudicated cases
    7.2 Judgments, outcomes and written reasons
    7.3 Summary
  8. Discussion and implications HTML | PDF (146K)
    8.1 Key findings and links to prior work
    8.2 Violence, child abuse and post-separation conflict: Some challenges and opportunities with respect to early differentiated screening and assessment
    8.3 Future research

References HTML | PDF (82K)

Appendices
Appendix A: Summary tables of research literature HTML | PDF (87K)
Appendix B: Coding frame for the three-category typology of family violence and child abuse HTML | PDF (44K)
Appendix C: Case summary for each category in the typology HTML | PDF (136K)
Appendix D: Classification of allegations relating to physical abuse, sexual abuse and emotional/verbal abuse HTML | PDF (40K)
Appendix E: Classification of evidentiary material HTML | PDF (40K)
Appendix F: Type of family violence or child abuse HTML | PDF (47K)

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