The idealised post-separation family in Australian family law: A dangerous paradigm in cases of domestic violence.

This article presents the findings of an in-depth discourse analysis of 20 First Instance unpublished judgments, delivered over a five-and-a-half-year period from one registry of the Family Court of Australia, in contested contact cases where the presence of domestic violence was acknowledged by the Court. A number of dominant themes from the judgments intersected to show how many judicial determinations about children's 'best interests' were underpinned by conservative values that emphasised the importance of the fathers' presence for children's future wellbeing and development. In most of the judgments analysed, the fathers' history of violence was readily excused or ignored, mothers were blamed for failing to support father-child contact, the voices of the children involved were often discounted and a dominant paradigm of the idealised post-separation family took precedence over the special needs of the children. There was little visible consideration of the potential or current effects of domestic violence on the children concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]