‘Victims must be given more protection’
SHADOW policing minister Louise Haigh says change is needed in the Family Courts to protect victims of domestic abuse.
Her Parental Rights (Rapists) and Family Courts Bill is being championed by the Daily Express End This Injustice crusade.
The new law would remove parental rights of fathers of children conceived through rape.
Provision would also be made for an inquiry into the handling of domestic abuse and violence against women and girls in child arrangement cases before the Family Courts. Ms Haigh said she was determined that the Domestic Abuse Bill – due for a second reading in Parliament this month but expected to be delayed – will be top of the agenda despite Brexit.
She said: “I believe that we need to see systematic change in order to properly protect victims of domestic abuse, whether they be parents or children.
“We need to end the presumption of shared contact where domestic abuse has been proven.
“We need to see the reinstatement of legal aid for all separating parents who are financially eligible. And we need to see proper training for domestic abuse and parental alienation for all professionals across the Family Court system.”
Ms Haigh has called for the presumption of contact to be reversed and stressed there should not be an assumption of shared parenting in child contact cases where domestic abuse is a feature.
The MP for Sheffield Heeley also urged that “barring orders should be strengthened”.
Ms Haigh said she believed children’s voices should be heard as part of the process.