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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 Coverage | Frequency | Data 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 | | | |
| 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:
Relationship to Conceptual Framework for Family and Domestic Violence (Cat. No. 4529.0)
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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