- Family Court probes suicides
- By Julie-Anne Davies, Steve Waldon
- The Age
- 19/08/2003 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: admin ( 75 articles in 2003 )
The Family Court of Australia is investigating the extent to which its decisions are contributing to male suicides.
A committee headed by Justice Mark Le Poer Trench will seek to compile hard figures to match anecdotal evidence that men are killing themselves because of court decisions.
Justice Le Poer Trench said the court accepted that it needed to work harder to identify men with the potential to harm themselves or others.
"There is no doubt there have been suicides attached to Family Court decisions, but we have no idea how extensive the problem is," he told The Age.
Little research has been conducted in the area, but the most recent, published in the Journal of Family Studies seven years ago, found that separated men were six times more likely to commit suicide than married men. The risk was highest during the initial separation phase. For women, the increased suicide risk comes later, several years after divorce.
Although only about 6 per cent of Family Court matters end up being tried by a judge, the court is involved with people when they are at their most vulnerable and, potentially, when they are at the greatest risk of self-harm.
This meant court staff, including judges, needed to be better educated to recognise signs of depression in people, especially men, who are involved in legal action, Justice Le Poer Trench said.
"Through my involvement in this project I have learnt something of the nature of depression, but even so I don't feel particularly well armed to deal with these cases," he said.
Adding to the problem was a shortage of counsellors available to the court. "We need to be able to access assistance immediately if someone is distressed and needs counselling - it must be a top priority."
The move comes amid growing concerns about the high numbers of Australian men who take their own lives every year.
The Federal Government's National Advisory Council for Suicide Prevention has identified middle-aged men as the group most vulnerable to suicide.
The Age yesterday reported that nearly 2000 men kill themselves every year in Australia, and the numbers are rising.
Justice Le Poer Trench said he had been personally and professionally affected by a case he had presided over in which a father had killed himself and his two children. "In that case I'd refused a recovery order by a mother to have her children returned to her from an access visit with their father," Justice Le Poer Trench said.
"He hadn't overstayed his access but the mother was worried. The deaths affected me deeply and I'd have to say, unfortunately for children generally, I am now overly cautious when it comes to these types of requests."
He said he was offered counselling immediately by the court and received peer support from other judges, some of whom confided that they had been through similar experiences. "Should I have done something else? It's a question I continue to ask myself."
Professor Ian Webster, who chairs the National Advisory Council for Suicide Prevention, said the tensions surrounding the issue had surfaced recently at a summit held by the Commonwealth on male suicide.
"There were some men there who were very angry and wanted to attribute all the blame to the court but there were others who said, 'Hang on, it is not that simple.' "
Professor Webster agreed the Family Court needed to better train its staff, including judges, on how to recognise those people who may be at risk.
A committee headed by Justice Mark Le Poer Trench will seek to compile hard figures to match anecdotal evidence that men are killing themselves because of court decisions.
Justice Le Poer Trench said the court accepted that it needed to work harder to identify men with the potential to harm themselves or others.
"There is no doubt there have been suicides attached to Family Court decisions, but we have no idea how extensive the problem is," he told The Age.
Little research has been conducted in the area, but the most recent, published in the Journal of Family Studies seven years ago, found that separated men were six times more likely to commit suicide than married men. The risk was highest during the initial separation phase. For women, the increased suicide risk comes later, several years after divorce.
Although only about 6 per cent of Family Court matters end up being tried by a judge, the court is involved with people when they are at their most vulnerable and, potentially, when they are at the greatest risk of self-harm.
This meant court staff, including judges, needed to be better educated to recognise signs of depression in people, especially men, who are involved in legal action, Justice Le Poer Trench said.
"Through my involvement in this project I have learnt something of the nature of depression, but even so I don't feel particularly well armed to deal with these cases," he said.
Adding to the problem was a shortage of counsellors available to the court. "We need to be able to access assistance immediately if someone is distressed and needs counselling - it must be a top priority."
The move comes amid growing concerns about the high numbers of Australian men who take their own lives every year.
The Federal Government's National Advisory Council for Suicide Prevention has identified middle-aged men as the group most vulnerable to suicide.
The Age yesterday reported that nearly 2000 men kill themselves every year in Australia, and the numbers are rising.
Justice Le Poer Trench said he had been personally and professionally affected by a case he had presided over in which a father had killed himself and his two children. "In that case I'd refused a recovery order by a mother to have her children returned to her from an access visit with their father," Justice Le Poer Trench said.
"He hadn't overstayed his access but the mother was worried. The deaths affected me deeply and I'd have to say, unfortunately for children generally, I am now overly cautious when it comes to these types of requests."
He said he was offered counselling immediately by the court and received peer support from other judges, some of whom confided that they had been through similar experiences. "Should I have done something else? It's a question I continue to ask myself."
Professor Ian Webster, who chairs the National Advisory Council for Suicide Prevention, said the tensions surrounding the issue had surfaced recently at a summit held by the Commonwealth on male suicide.
"There were some men there who were very angry and wanted to attribute all the blame to the court but there were others who said, 'Hang on, it is not that simple.' "
Professor Webster agreed the Family Court needed to better train its staff, including judges, on how to recognise those people who may be at risk.
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