Domestic violence and private family court proceedings: Promoting child welfare or promoting contact?

Despite improved understanding regarding domestic violence, child welfare and child contact, and related policy developments, problems persist regarding how the family courts deal with fathers’ violence in contested contact/ residence cases. In the study reported here, analysis was undertaken of welfare reports prepared for the courts in such cases in order to investigate how and to what extent issues of domestic violence and children’s perspectives on these issues were taken into account when making recommendations to the courts. Analysis found that despite evidence of domestic violence and child welfare concerns, contact with fathers was viewed as desirable and inevitable in the vast majority of cases.