Campaign with 100 organisations says family justice system is failing

One hundred organisations working with survivors of family and sexual violence warn the family justice system is failing to protect victims from further violence and abuse and are calling for change.

They have started a campaign, Focus on Safety, that outlines seven reforms they believe will ensure the Family Court responds safely to children and adults who need protection from their abusers.

It follows a Backbone Collective report detailing how abusive fathers are preventing their tamariki from accessing therapy and healthcare, because consent of both parents is needed.

The advocacy organisation is among those behind the campaign, including Women's Refuge, Help and Family Action.

Backbone's co-founder Deborah Mackenzie said they often hear from women who have disclosed family violence to the Family Court but are minimised or not believed, whose children are ordered into the unsupervised care of an abusive parent, either for visits or full-time custody.

"Rather than responding to the real safety needs of adult victim-survivors and children, the court frames victim-survivors as psychologically abusive," she said.

"It can be really dangerous for the ongoing safety of both the adult victim survivor who's come to the court for protection for herself and her children, for those doors really to shut tight on her."

The reforms Focus on Safety is calling for include for specialist roles and dispute resolution for cases involving family violence, for more transparency of the Family Court and for independent oversight.

The first reform is to appoint new family and sexual violence specialists in order to ensure the court has access to information from experts.

"It's not rocket science. You wouldn't want a mechanic making recommendations for your knee surgery," Mackenzie said.

"The people who the court contracts to make recommendations to inform proceedings and decisions, they're not specialists and experts in family violence, sexual violence and child development and trauma responses."

These roles include lawyers for child and court appointed psychologists.

"Focus on Safety is saying is that these people don't have the expertise and skills to be working in family violence and sexual violence cases and we need new specialists set up to help inform judiciary."

Call to have commissioner overseeing Family Court

The organisations behind the campaign are also calling for an independent commissioner to oversee the Family Court.

There were 13,162 children subject to Family Court proceedings in New Zealand, in the year to July 2025.

Mackenzie said there is no evidence in this country about the prevalence of domestic violence in those cases but in Australia, 86 percent of Family Court parenting and property proceedings involved family violence.

"We need more independent oversight of the Family Court so we are recommending an independent family violence and sexual violence prevention and response commissioner just to provide that layer of transparency and accountability for court proceedings and decisions," she said.

"We know other countries have these roles and they work really well for making sure victim survivor experience informs the court processes, government policy and decision making."

Mackenzie said women were often left trying to help their children, or keep their children safe from an abuser.

Backbone Collective recently surveyed women who experienced family violence and heard from 63 mothers of 113 children from around the country. They described how abusive legal guardians had blocked or compromised their children's access to therapy, after their children had experienced violence.

Its report released on Tuesday, Daddy says No, detailed how the abusive parents had refused consent through legal proceedings in the Family Court or directly with the therapeutic service, often threatening.

The law states that both guardians' consent is needed for a child's non-routine treatment, including mental health treatments, until they turn 16.

In New Zealand, both parents are afforded guardianship status even if one of those parents is abusive - it is uncommon for a parent to lose guardianship.

Ministry aware of calls for change

Ministry of Justice manager for courts and justice services policy, Megan Noyce, said the courts are independent and the ministry cannot comment on decisions made as part of Family Court proceedings.

She said the Care of Children Act states that judges must make decisions about parenting arrangements that are in the best interests and welfare of children.

"As counselling is a guardianship decision, if there is disagreement between parents on any guardianship issue then they may apply to the court which can resolve it by determining what is in the best interests of the child," Noyce said.

"If a parent is concerned that another guardian is continuing their abuse through the court system, they could seek legal advice on litigant abuse orders."

She said litigant abuse is when a person uses the court process to harm, harass or wear down another party.

"It can include actions intended to annoy or psychologically abuse someone, and it can involve a series of behaviours, that in their own right might seem minor but together form a harmful pattern."

Noyce said the ministry is aware of the calls for change concerning the family justice system.

"Recent reforms include new measures to address litigation abuse, where court processes are used to harm, harass or wear down another party. This can include a pattern of behaviour that, taken together, causes harm even where individual actions may appear minor," she said.

"The ministry will continue to consider these issues and provide advice to Ministers as the work programme allows."

'It's really concerning'

Help is among the organisations calling for reform and its executive director Kathryn McPhillips said it was an example of children being put at risk.

"It's really concerning. It's as if we are in a society which puts the rights of adults ahead of the rights of children," she said.

"As a country, we wouldn't allow this to happen if a child needed urgent medical attention, people step in if parents get in the way of that. So why is it not the same if children need urgent psychological assistance?"

A registered clinical psychologist, McPhillips said wider reform is needed.

"We'd like to see the Family Court have a specialist pathway for family violence and sexual violence, and appropriate specialists be the ones advising the court on these matters," she said.

"The fundamental job of a parent is to look after and protect and nurture your child and when you're blocked from doing that...it's just devastating because you can't be the parent that you need to be, that you know your child needs."

Focus of Safety organisations point to Australia and the UK for taking steps to ensure their family justice systems are safer for victims of family and sexual violence.

Australia has a specialist court for family violence and the UK has an independent commissioner whose role is to provide accountability.

Women's Refuge is also behind the campaign and its policy advisor Holly Carrington said it's distressing to see Family Court decisions that fail to recognise family or sexual violence.

"There's a kind of underlying belief out there, that comes from not having a good understanding of family violence, that fathers who abuse their partners can still be good enough dads for their children."

Carrington said family violence experts working with victims often felt frustrated that information about abuse did not make it to the Family Court.

"If we could actually sort this problem...it would actually prevent a lot of the need for a lot of the services out there because children wouldn't be locked into these situations of abuse and neglect and exploitation, they'd have a much better chance to heal and recover."

She said the court might receive information from a court appointed psychologist or lawyer for child.

"They're not interviewing the rest of the family, the neighbours, the health practitioners that the child has engaged with, the school," Carrington said.

"There's all these sources of information out there that our court is not accessing and doesn't have a way to do that through a family violence specialist lens that can interpret that information and provide really good information for the court about what is going to be safe for this child."

Focus on Safety has asked the political parties if they would support the seven reforms and Mackenzie said they heard from all but ACT and New Zealand First.

"We've had varied responses from the political parties that we reached out to in mid-September and shared the seven reforms and asked for their commitment post-election," she said.

"Some parties have indicated support and openness to look at many of the reforms And some parties have said that they will support and make a commitment to all seven reforms."

Where to get help: Sexual Violence