News and views from The Backbone Collective which advocates for women and children who have experienced violence or abuse and who are enduring further harm from New Zealand's Family Court.
A U.S film documents how the family law and child protection system is failing women and children who are victim/survivors of domestic violence. The issues explored in What Doesn’t Kill Me are as real for the women and children of New Zealand as they are for those in the U.S.
Read MoreTRUE STORY: A domestic violence survivor so moved by the current collective grief and frustration about women being hurt and killed by men writes about her experience of abuse and her ongoing struggle to rebuild her life. She calls on New Zealanders to harness this collective grief, and stop normalising violence and abuse and start changing our attitudes and behaviour towards women.
Read MoreTRUE STORY: A former lawyer reflects on her personal experience of New Zealand’s Family Court after she and her children left her abusive ex-husband. Read on to find out what she experienced and why she thinks the current planned review of the Family Court will not work.
Read MoreA domestic violence survivor and Backbone member shares her open letter written to the Family Court Review Panel. While she explains how urgently changes are needed in the Family Court, she articulates her serious concern that the Review is not a safe way for women to share their experiences of the Family Court. Most particularly, the status of the Review means that all submissions are discoverable under the Official information Act (OIA) and this is likely to make survivors fearful of making submissions.
Read MoreTRUE STORY: A woman's outrage and despair at potentially having to financially reward her ex partner for his violence and abuse to her, her pets and her property throughout their relationship. Even though this man contributed nothing to their relationship except fear and violence he is seeking a huge cash payment from her via the Family Court.
Read MoreA newly-released MA Thesis on Parental Alienation which was supervised and approved by University of Otago’s Law School in New Zealand got a lot of media attention this week. It is shocking the research got any air time, given that it is based on the concept of PAS (Parental Alienation Syndrome) which has long been discredited in the US from where it originated.
Read MoreTRUE STORY: A mother's fight to keep her child safe cost her $40,000 and exposed an unbelievable Family Court response that she blames in part for NZ’s terrible domestic violence statistics. She shares her story here to show that the current Family Court system does NOT protect women and children after they leave violence. She is calling for a public outcry against women and children being mistreated in this way.
Read MoreIt is 20 years since Playwright Eve Ensler gave permission to artists to perform her play The Vagina Monologues. Tomorrow's benefit in Auckland on International Women's Day features a star cast, guest speakers MP Jan Logie and Dr Pani Farvid, and 'vagazelled' chocolates donated by Chocolatier Baron Hasselhoff. Organiser The Lady Corp. is donating the proceeds to The Backbone Collective.
Read MoreA mother says she is still chained to her violent ex-partner despite leaving him a number of years ago. She appeals to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as she says the Family Court forces her and her child to subvert their own rights for her ex-partner's.
Read MoreAre support services and campaigns designed to help women and children fleeing violence actually doing more harm than good?
Read MoreA teen has independently written to The Backbone Collective asking us to publish her plea to stay in New Zealand with her Mum after her pleas have been ignored by Family Court officials including a court-appointed lawyer for child and psychologist.
Read MoreAn Open Letter to the Family Court about three children being forced to travel overseas to have contact with their abusive father: "You've just condemned three more children, one more mother and one more set of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins to hell. For what? Money, power or enjoyment?"
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