The separate representation of children in Australian family law--Effective practice or mere rhetoric?

This paper will examine the theory, history, and development of the practice of child representation in Australian family law. The paper will identify the practice of child representation in family law as a new paradigm in contemporary family law which challenges the stereotypical adversarial practice of lawyers in the matrimonial arena. The paper will examine the role of the child representative in acting for younger children, as opposed to acting for older children, and the implications of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in so acting. A model will be suggested as to the proper "role" of the child representative. The paper will go on to examine a number of difficult issues facing the child representative, such as whether or not to interview the child "client, cross-cultural issues in the representation of children, and the like. In addition, the paper will examine a number of other contemporary problems besetting the practice of child representation in Australia - such as legal aid funding cutbacks in family law cases and the limitation of the role of a child representative appointed in proceedings brought under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction - which, in the view of the author, challenges Australia's commitment to upholding the aims of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Finally, the paper will examine various implications for future research in this area, which, in the view of the author, transcends jurisdictions worldwide. Such matters include research on the effects of exposing children to domestic violence: research as to the effects of Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) on children; gay and lesbian parenting; and best practice for the representation of children, i.e.: training and the accreditation of child representatives. This paper will be a critical examination of the practice of child representation in Australia and and will aim to act as a caveat emptor for the development of similar practice in Canada. The central thesis of the paper is that for the practice of child representation in family law to be effective it must not be the subject of factors that could realistically be seen as challenging the ethos of Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.