Family Law Express Conducts Survey into Independent Children's Lawyers
Wednesday 16 July 2014 @ 10.00 a.m. | Legal Research
Family Law Express has released a survey calling on all parents who have worked with Independent Children’s Lawyers (ICL) during custody proceedings to provide feedback on their experience. The aim of the survey is to probe the professionalism of a group of effectively unregulated solicitors who have at times been better known for their gender-political ideologies than for their focus on the welfare of children.
Background
The Australian Government Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) recently released a report aimed towards the better use of ICL in family proceedings. The report illustrated areas of concern voiced by judicial officers, non-ICL lawyers and non-legal professionals.
Interviews with parents and children reinforced the concerns expressed by professionals. The report identified major areas in which there was a great need for improvement on the part of ICL's.
These include:
- knowledge of child development;
- skills in dealing directly with children; and
- skills in understanding and responding to family violence and abuse.
Furthermore, other concerns raised by stakeholders suggested that ICL lack independence, impartiality and professional rigour in the way they operate. Furthermore, there was a failure to adequately and proactively exercise comprehensive approaches to their role as ICL.
Current Survey
Family Law Express is endeavouring to speak out for fathers who believe that they have been the targets of discrimination by ICL in their proceedings. They hope to add to the debate through their own director-to-consumer research. The aim is to better define the common experience between parents and ICL in an attempt to uncover truths and offer suggestions for innovative legal research.
The survey ask questions such as:
- Do you believe the ICL was professional?
- Did they understand the Family Law Act?
- Did they treat you differently because of your gender?
- Did they even bother to talk to you?
Through such research they aim to add to the public debate surrounding what many parents believe to be the real value of involving an ICL in child related Court matters, without the double-speak or self-justification that often occurs when governments focus almost solely on the opinions of so called experts.
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