Family Law Contemporary Issues

Family law has been broadened in a wide range of areas that the law goerns, as over the days the concept of family has been widely diversified due to changes in modern auberge and community standards. Family law governs areas such as married couple, family relationships, wakeless rights and obligations of parents and kidskinren, adoption and the certificate and care of electric razorren deep down a family. However, over the recent years the changes in each area of family law has shown many changes read been effective and others picture the need for law amend.This is due to the rapid change of the law and changing social standards, therefore the law is attempting to balance the rights and interest of the society and respective(prenominal) family members. The legal recognition of same sex relationships in Australia has dramatically evolved over the years. Same sex relationships declare tackled huge releases in regards to marriage, discrimination and piazza rights. As s ame sex relationships cook been excluded from a number of rights and obligations for framework the legal recognition of same sex marriage.The Marriage exertion 1965 (Cth) defines marriage as the legal union of a man and women with the exclusion of others. thus same sex marriage is void in Australia even those who pee married in a nonher country it will be seen as an invalid marriage. Having the lack of legal recognition can have transfer consequences to same sex relationships and their families as they are excluded from the valueions and rights that normal heterosexual couples and families have.This is exhibit in the Young V Australia (1999) case, where a Sydney man was refused for a experients dependent pension as he was in a same sex relationship. In this incident the United Nations Human Rights charge (UNHRC) determined the Australian presidential term had breached the International Covenant of Civil and establishmental Rights (ICCPR), as all persons are meet before the law. Not notwithstanding has it breached the ICCPR but it has breach the Sex Discrimination Act 1984.Therefore, this demonst pass judgments how the legal transcription is ineffective as there is a lack of enforceability with regards to the role that the supranational law plays in Australia. In order to create equality in the legal system for same-sex relationships the Australian Human Rights Commission report in 2008 had introduced reforms with the aim to provide same sex couples with the same entitlements as heterosexuals. The close significant reform was the introduction of the Property (Relationships) Legislation Amendment Act 1999 (NSW). This has allowed de facto elationships to have the right to divide property as seen in the foretaste and cook v NIB Health Fund Ltd (1995). In this case the impact Opportunity Tribunal had played an effective role as it has shown to be successfully in achieving justice and equality for same sex relationships. It has overly protecte d the 2 year old son in which Hope and Brown were now permitted to give their child a family policy for his future. Therefore, the reforms that have occurred in the past decade have been successful as it has granted some rights and obligations towards same sex relationships.In NSW 241 300, reports were made about cares of childs or young persons safety correspond to the Special Commission of Inquiry into child protection services NSW. The concern of the protection and care of both children and individual members under both the Family jurisprudence Act 1975 (Cwth) and the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) is the increasing rate of family inadvertence, abuse and national violence. This issue is rapidly increasing each year as the crime rate of children has increased to 70% of young children committing crime due to being miss or abused in reference to Australian Bureau Statistics (ABS).The government has made numerous amendments and reforms to the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) e. g. Crimes (Domesti c Violence) Amendment Act 1987 (NSW), due to increased domestic help violence cases within the domestic household. Over the years there have been a number of cases where family members have suffered domestic violence which has resulted in some of them murdering their husbands or partners, e. g. R v Heather Osland 1996 (VIC). Therefore, the legal system has shown how win amendments and reforms can protect individual family members effectively.But the government needs to beat up and focus on providing more(prenominal) resources and funds to smaller organisations e. g. Docs. The government has created the Department of Community Services (DOCs) under the Children Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998. This brass helps protect children who are suffering abuse or flatten. Majority of the period Docs have overseen incidents and have failed to report any sort of child abuse, neglect or domestic violence. As shown recently in 2012 August 03 in the Sydney Morning Herald (SHM) A buse Children were ignored by a offbeat worker.The Department of Community Services have failed to protect and preclude children from harm due to being under resourced and not having the adequate resources to protect children. The Australian government should provide efficient resources e. g. having more bulk mingled with better wages in protecting minors. This would therefore be more effective in protecting children and their rights. Without this new reform in the legal system it will increase the number of children who are in long harm, as recently seen in the media Ebony report- reveals history of Docs neglect.For individual members to feel safe and protected the law has added extra viands on the Crimes (Domestic Violence) Amendment Act 1982 which amended the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), has included victims who suffer from domestic violence have the right to seek AVOs. Many people do not fulfill their responsibility towards their children and sometimes having a divorce within th e family can cause major conflicts and struggles on the couple, and most importantly the child.As the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOSCAR) shows that inadequate parenting is associated with child neglect, to some outcome these are the strongest predictors of juvenile crime as 36% of young people are cautioned. One of the most serious of these cases are children having the thought of committing suicide. As seen in one of the most recent cases Merrett and BASS 2013. This demonstrates how the strenuous emphasis between a couple can have on child. As a parent they have the responsibility to ensure that their child receives an reproduction and to discipline their child.In the re Marion (1991) it demonstrates how the child had no right or say in her medical procedures. Therefore, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children (CROC) has not been effective as it has not been ratified, which therefore it hasnt protected the childs best interest. One of the most r ecent reforms to the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1988 (NSW) is that if a child has broken the law e. g. underage drinking or damages on property, the parents are penalized for their childs actions.Another reform that has shown to ineffective is the introduction of the Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act 2006 (Cth), this reform involves the equal custody of the child. However, this isnt always the case as the child may end up back with their abusive parent as seen in the Whitehead v Storn. The court system has shown to have responded to many issues of varied areas of family law however, some of the attempts of reforms have demonstrated to be ineffective.