Categories


Tags

WomenElderMenLegalCoordinationEducationFamilyDisabilityMaoriYouthCrisisSexual ViolenceChildrenParentingCounsellingEthnic


Archive

"Parental alienation” and family courts: A conversation on research and practice

March 02, 2018 at 8:31 AM

*From the NZFVC*

When: Tuesday 20 March 2018, 10-11.30am.

Where: Room 732-201, Tāmaki Campus, University of Auckland, Gate 1, 261 Morrin Road, St Johns, Auckland.

Hosted by the New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse

FreeRegister now

Visitor parking available on campus. Close to Glen Innes Train station, see AT.govt.nz for public transport information. Download Tāmaki Campus map

Accessible venue. Please let us know if you have any accessibility requirements.

The New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse is pleased to invite you to a panel discussion on “parental alienation” and family courts.

Speakers

Professor Elizabeth Sheehy from the University of Ottawa is a Distinguished Visitor at the University of Auckland. She is an international expert on violence against women and women’s use of violence and the author of the award-winning book Defending Battered Women on Trial: Lessons from the Transcripts. In 2017 she received the Persons Award from the Governor General of Canada and, in 2018, the Order of Ontario from the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario for her advocacy for women’s equality in the criminal justice context over the course of her long and distinguished career.

Professor Sheehy will share her research results from examining how “parental alienation” is claimed and adjudicated in family court cases across Canada 2008-2017. She will focus on how allegations of family violence and parental alienation intersect and the implications for women escaping male violence.

Ruth Herbert

Ruth Herbert is well known for her work in trying to improve New Zealand's system response to violence against women and children. She has given many presentations and media interviews and researched and written extensively about the issue. She has a Master of Public Policy (dist.) and has worked both in formal roles and as an independent advocate and activist in the sector. Ruth has been the Family Violence Director at the Ministry of Social Development, the Executive Director of the independent Glenn Inquiry and a member of the independent Ministerial Review Panel assessing ACC’s sensitive claims clinical pathway.

Ruth is a co-founder of the Backbone Collective which was launched in 2017 to enable women who have experienced violence and abuse to have their voices heard. Ruth will share what women have told the Backbone Collective about how “parental alienation” is being used against protective mothers in the New Zealand Family Court. 

Catriona MacLennan

Catriona MacLennan is a barrister, journalist and researcher. She worked in the Press Gallery for six years as a political reporter and practised law in South Auckland for 14 years. Catriona worked extensively in family and domestic violence and has for the past 20 years advocated publicly and politically for action to eliminate domestic and sexual violence. Catriona helped set up Ngā Ture Kaitiaki ki Waikato Community Law Centre and was the Project Director for Ngā Tāngata Microfinance Trust. She is the founder of Wheels for Women, a project to provide cars to domestic violence survivors.

Catriona will examine recent New Zealand High and Family Court cases referring to “parental alienation.” She will also speak about how the use of “parental alienation” is undermining attempts to tackle this country’s domestic violence epidemic.

Chair: Professor Julia Tolmie, Faculty of Law, University of Auckland

Please register 



Category: Events