4533.0 - Directory of Family and Domestic Violence Statistics, 2011  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 22/11/2011   
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Contents >> Shared care parenting arrangements since the 2006 Family Law Reforms: Report to the Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department

SHARED CARE PARENTING ARRANGEMENTS SINCE THE 2006 FAMILY LAW REFORMS: REPORT TO THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S DEPARTMENT


DASHBOARD METADATA

Geographic CoverageFrequencyData Availability
National
New South Wales
Victoria
Queensland
Western Australia
South Australia
Tasmania
ACT
Northern Territory
Regional
LGA
ASGC Remoteness
Other
More than annual
Annual
2-4 yearly
Less than 5 yearly
Once only
Ad hoc
Detailed publication / report publicly available
Data cubes / spreadsheets publicly available
Agency annual report
Customised data - free upon request1
Customised data - charged consultancy1
Not published - may be available on request1
Not publicly available



[1] May be subject to release conditions

DETAILED METADATA

Contact

Data custodian: Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department.

Agency responsible for collecting the data: Commissioned research undertaken by Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales.

Contact: for data access requests: Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department, Commonwealth Copyright Administration.

Address: Attorney-General’s Department, 3–5 National Circuit, Barton, ACT, 2600

Telephone: 02 6141 6666

Facsimile: n/a

Email: n/a

Internet: http://www.ag.gov.au

Contact for questions about the research: Professor Ilan Katz, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052.

Telephone: 02 9385 7800

Email: ilan.katz@unsw.edu.au


Publications
http://www.ag.gov.au/www/agd/agd.nsf/Page/Families_FamilyRelationshipServicesOverviewofPrograms_ResearchProjectsonSharedCareParentingandFamilyViolence?open&query=Family%20violence%20and%20family%20law


Purpose

These surveys formed part of the research undertaken to inform the Australian Government’s understanding of the implications of the changes to the 2006 Family Law Reforms on Shared Care Parenting, and the circumstances under which shared care arrangements work, and do not work, in the best interests of the child.

FDV is not the focus of this research; however some information was collected about the impacts of violence and safety concerns on care arrangements.

Description

The Report to the Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department is based on analysis of a range of both primary and secondary data sources, of which these surveys are part.

Collection Type

Survey

Family and Domestic Violence related content (data items collected)

Data Item
Respondent
(Victim1)
Respondent
(Secondary victim1)
Offender
Demographics
Age
Sex
Indigenous Status
Disability
Country of Birth
Language spoken
Employment
Education
Income
Geography
Other
Personal data item
Services used / referrals to services
counselling
legal
financial
housing

crisis
other
Health factors
pregnancy
alcohol use / substance use
mental illness
FDV-related perceptions
satisfaction with police response
seriousness/ regarded as criminal
whether problem in neighbourhood
feelings of safety / fear





For self and children
Prior history of victimisation / offending
Known outcomes
application for violence order
violence order issued
offender charged
offender went to court
offender found guilty
offender sentence type
child protection involvement
time off work / economic costs
medical treatment received / type
changed routine
other

Presence of AVO
Other personal data items

Type of care arrangement;
Time since separation;
Time in previous relationship;
Re-partnering status for self and ex-partner;
Degree of co-operation and conflict between ex-partners

Who they live with most of the time;
Children’s views of parental conflict
1 Respondent may or may not have experienced FDV.

Data Item
Incident
Location
home
workplace
school/place of education/institution
public place
other
Relationship between parties
married/de facto spouse
current / former partner/boyfriend/girlfriend
parent-child
sibling
other member of household
other relatives
relationships of personal or financial dependency
Weapon use
type of weapon
Alcohol involved
Substance use involved
Physical injury sustained
type of injury
Reported to police
reasons for not reporting
Other


Definition of Family and Domestic Violence

No formal definition used. Respondents’ own understandings and experiences of Family and domestic Violence influenced the data.

Aspects of FDV captured in the data are:
  • Physical abuse

Relationship to Conceptual Framework for Family and Domestic Violence (Cat. No. 4529.0)

Conceptual Framework Element / Sub-element
Amount of Information Available
None
Some
Detailed
Context
Environmental Factors
Individual pyscho-social factors
Risk
Community prevalence
Community incidence
Understandings and acknowledgments of risk and safety
Incident
Responses
Informal responses
Formal system responses
Impacts/Outcomes
Programs, Research & Evaluation

Collection methodology

Parent survey
This comprised a postal survey of parents concerning their experience of parenting arrangements, with a particular focus on shared care.

1500 surveys sent via solicitors to parents who used the services of a private family law solicitor or who used legal aid or a family support service. A sample of solicitor’s offices were selected from a National database of family law solicitors.

10,000 surveys sent via the Child Support Agency, were sent to a stratified random sample of registered clients and, as far as possible, their matched ex-partners in three groups as follows:


    1. Those who were in actively involved in shared care from July 1 2007 to June 30 2008 (n=5000)
    2. Those who used to be in shared before July 1 2007 (n=2500)
    3. Those not in shared care at the time of selection for the survey (n=2500).

The survey yielded a response rate of 10.5%, with 1047 completed responses.

Further interviews were conducted with 40 parent respondents and 4 children.

Survey of children and young people
An online survey for children and young people was hosted by a number of different websites whose target audience is children and young people (e.g. Kids Helpline, the National Children’s and Youth Law Centre, and the Commissions for Children and Young People in New South Wales, Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania). There were 140 respondents to this survey.

Scope / target population

Parents and children in shared-care or other post-separation arrangements pre-and post- implementation of the 2006 Family Law Reforms.

Coverage

Parent survey
The list used to select Solicitor’s offices to distribute surveys to parents excluded Tasmanian offices.

Survey of children and young people
The sample is not necessarily representative of children and young people in shared care or in other post-separation arrangements as the websites used to distribute surveys are used by children who have concerns about their circumstances though not necessarily related to shared care or post-parental separation issues. Responses may be a bellwether for concerns about such arrangements when they are not working well and where there are issues about the quality of the relationship between children and their parents, and between the parents.

Geographic coverage and disaggregation

National

Data available for:
Australia

Frequency / Timing

Once only

Collection history

Collection commenced: late 2009.

Breaks in series: n/a

Other details: n/a

Data availability / Dissemination

Requests for further access to data can be made to the Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department.

Other data sources held by this agency

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (IRIS)
Community Legal Services Information System (CLSIS)
Family violence and family law in Australia; the experiences and views of children and adults from families who separated post-1995 and post-2006

Has this data source changed?
Contact the ABS to report updates or corrections to the information above.



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