MAREELORRAINE,

It seems that you cannot think of anything positive to say about men or fathers, and believe that every problem is that fault of a male.

Therefore, I'm wondering where you received your education.

VANNA, You seem to be pre occupied with peoples education. I never mentioned I was against men. What I tried to say that in family custody confrontations, it would be better if the courts weren't pressured into gender selections, rather, what parent is better suited for the sake of the childrens future and safety.
From what I can see most men are only interested in their own future.

We are all distressed when we hear about children dying, but assuming that their deaths are the direct result of the shared parenting laws of 2006 and deciding how to change the law to save them is another matter.

The Dalton children were killed in 2004 and the Farquarson children in 2005. It is hard to see how laws made in 2006 could have caused this.

There were no allegations of abuse that were ignored in the family court case involving Darcey Freeman. In other cases, it is difficult to know what evidence the family court had at the time.

Yazmin Azar was killed in November 2010. Have recent reforms actually gone through? If so, using your logic, these reforms directly caused her death.

Expressing sadness at hurt kids is easy. Fixing the problem is harder. It seems to be too hard for you to even discuss in a productive manner.

Am looking forward to getting my hands a copy of Chaos at the Crossroads: Family Law Reform in Australia. While this is only one issue out of thousands of important issues males want to focus on, it is a pivitol one. Dinenfranchised fathers would say it is THE pivital one. What is special about this book, or at least from what I have been able to glean from the blurb, is that it gives a history of the problem of fathers and family law in one volume. Gathering historical material on a topic into one volume has the effect of increasing awareness of where the issue has been going over a span of time, which adds meat to the picture. Kudos to the author, am looking forward to reading it!

Good to see debate on these issues and I'd like to personally thank all the forum participants for their contributions.
In terms of the question of parents and the unpleasant question of which gender kills child more frequently, Chaos At The Crossroads relied on the latest figures from the National Homicide Monitoring Centre, the details for which are below. It is an unfortunate fact of life that both men and women kill their children during prolonged custody disputes. In regard to this, the current two year delays in the Family Court for a final hearing pose a significant problem. No one should under-estimate the damage resulting from the prolonged psychological torment parents endure as a result of the inappropriate legal procedures involved in questions of child custody. Here's the reference in the book:

"The latest official figures available for Australia from the National Homicide Monitoring
Program showed that for the year 2006-2007 there were 260 homicide incidents. Of the
victims, 185 were male and 81 were female. Of the offenders, 242 were male and 54
were female. Rates of intimate-partner homicide remained constant in 2006–07, with 22
percent of homicides occurring in this context. Of intimate-partner homicide, 23 males
and 42 females were victims.
Forty-three percent of homicides between intimates in 2006–07 had a domestic violence history with the police in some form prior to the homicide incident.
Twenty-seven children under the age of 15 years were killed in 2006–07, the
overwhelming majority by a parent (84%). Of these 24 per cent of perpetrators were the
biological father. The majority of perpetrators were mothers. A further 24 per cent were
live in boyfriends or new partners. Of the 14 offenders who committed suicide following
the 2006–07 homicide incidents, four involved child victims. In all four cases, the
offender was the custodial parent of the victim, two mothers and two fathers."

Here is the link to the Original Report from the National Homicide Monitoring Program:
http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/F/F/B/%7BFFB9E49F-160F-43FC-B98D-6BC510DC2AFD%7Dmr01.pdf

ChazP; the question is this: what evidence do you have that these children's deaths are related to the family law act? None, because they are not. Gemma Gaye Killeen, who is before the WA magistrates court this very day for murdering her 2YO child, after seperating from her husband, is also not related to the family court act.
The majority of middle Australia fathers simply want to share their life with their children, as do the children want the fathers in their life. The only way to achieve this outcome for loving fathers and their children is by having a rebuttable presumption of joint residency. Any fathers or mothers who use violence should be dealt with by the law accordingly.