Child safety is an essential right, yet there are instances when even one's own government is questioned in its stand towards ensuring this humane right. As a reminder, Australian child safety group Bravehearts has constantly lobbied the country's family court system, which they highlighted is experiencing a crisis.
Bravehearts' Abbey's Report is a clear example of what the Family Court System is putting the lives of these children through, by sending them to convicted sex offenders as families, ABC AU reported. The 277-page report about the life of a young girl (who ultimately got driven to commit suicide) and her desperate call for help in the hands of her sexually abusive father has the child safety group hoping on that needed change in family court system rulings.
Bravehearts founder Hetty Johnston said that the advocacy group has analyzed over 15 case studies to support their call for a royal commission to look into the country's 'dysfunctional' system on ensuring child safety. She adds that many lawyers hesitate to raise child sexual abuse claims in Family Court as the accusing parent was seen as cruel towards the accused other half.
In a related Yahoo!7 post, Bravehearts also notes the gripping admissions by a mother, whose son was sexually abused by his father when he was 5 to 7 years old, remembers the unjustifiable treatment that Family Court has shown to her and her son in a 2012 trial. She recalled being belittled and made to feel like a deranged individual for two days during the entire trial.
Another case was that of child safety officers concluding that it was obvious for a boy who admitted being drugged and sexually abused in the hands of a parent/guardian as being instructed by the mother to secure custody of the children. "We just really want today's politicians to prioritize children," Bravehearts founder Johnston said.
