{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.02390998593530239, 'fraction_numerical': 0.009845288326300985, 'mean_word_length': 5.213973799126638, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
No . 91 Child Abuse and the Family Court

In recent decades child abuse has become a public concern internationally. Yet little attention has been paid to child abuse issues in custody and access (now known as residence and contact), disputes that come before family courts, either in Australia or overseas. Research focusing on child abuse has not touched on family courts at all. Research focusing on family courts has rarely touched on child abuse, even when other family violence has been considered (Hewitt, Brown, Frederico & Sheehan 1996). However, in recent years, the Family Court of Australia has become concerned (Harrison 1989, Norris 1993) about the Court’s management of child abuse allegations in custody and access disputes. Their concern has centred on the inherent difficulties in resolving these cases. The disputes represent serious human problems for which there are no clear cut solutions. Furthermore, these cases consume considerable court resources and are further complicated by the fact that is responsibility for them is split between federal and State authorities. Consequently, when the research team approached the Family Court of Australia to undertake an investigation into the management of child abuse allegations in the Family Court of Australia, the Chief Justice, Alastair Nicholson, and the Judge Administrator of the Southern Region, Justice H. Frederico, provided generous support.