Winner Take All

With special guests:

• Molly Murphy
• Andrea Hayward and
• Robin Inslay.

Much has already been written about an appalling family justice system, which continues to wreak catastrophic havoc to the parent/child relationships of separating families. Molly Murphy, “Winner Take All”, who hails from Canada, decided to add her voice to the growing International chorus of authors and professionals, who have decided they can no longer stand by and watch our families and communities implode.

Her new book “Winner Take All”, provides a graphic account of the way separated parents are treated by our family justice system, and how the system fails to provide social justice equally. Molly joins us, to speak of how she came to write her book, and explains the urgent need for major changes, if our family bonds are to survive.

Molly Murphy is a registered nurse with a specialized designation in psychiatry having more than twenty years’ experience in the health-care field. She resides in Ontario with her three daughters and divides her time between her two passions. Her number one priority is family and her second is to help change family law so that the rights of both the custodial and non-custodial parents are valued equally by our judicial system.

Currently it is the father who is forced into accepting the role as the non-custodial parent to their own children in the majority of cases. By advocating, Molly hopes to one day see law reforms come into effect that truly reflect the best interests of our children. She also wants to create awareness through her writing concerning the dysfunction and discrimination that exists globally today within the family law system.

Our next guest is Andrea Hayward, who is director of DNA QLD, and who was recently asked to speak at the Lone Father’s Conference in Canberra.  Andrea outlines the procedures of a DNA paternity test and the Australian position on testing .

DNA QLD is a NATA/ISO accredited specialist Paternity testing facility offering quality world-class testing and client care. DNA QLD is focused solely on parentage testing and genotyping, unlike some other parentage testing facilities which also test for genetic syndromes. DNA QLD has a proven capability to facilitate testing for clients located in any state of Australia and in international locations such as Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and PNG. DNA QLD does not outsource testing to other laboratories and all our cases are processed in Brisbane. DNA QLD has a free collection centre in the Brisbane CBD.

Our final guest is Robin Inslay, who is the President of the ‘Lone Fathers Rockhampton Branch’, and he joins us to provide a roundup of the National conference held in Canberra. Their website tells the story.

The Rockhampton branch of LFAA came about from a call by concerned Central Queensland residents to do something about the damaging effects of divorce. Our branch is honoured, as do all other LFAA branches, to have a membership of many women as well as men. These women are the second wives, grandmothers, daughters, step-daughters; even the sisters of divorced fathers; and are very vocal about the many issues relating to fatherlessness in our society, today.

Our branch offers support to individuals from Yeppoon to Blackwater, Gladstone to St. Lawrence; an area which encompasses a large section of the Bowen basin mining region. We offer support and education on issues relating to family breakdown/divorce and take suggestions for submission to Government for change to relevant legislation.

Listen Now (MP3)

Click to read more ...

Intimate Partner Abuse of Men

With special guest:

• Dr. Greg Dear.

A groundbreaking report from Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Western Australia has found that male victims of domestic violence can suffer from a unique form of legal/administrative abuse previously unidentified in research, as well as experiencing most of the same impacts as female victims.

The Intimate Partner Abuse of Men report, launched on 26th May in Perth, found that “Male victims of intimate partner abuse and their children suffer a range of consequences, such as psychological distress (including disorders such as depression and anxiety disorders), suicidal ideation, impaired self concept and loss of work.”

It found that male victims are often reluctant to disclose their experience of abuse or seek help because of their sometimes justified fears that they will not be believed, that they will not be assisted or will instead be blamed for the abuse.

The study recommends that government-funded public campaigns be conducted to raise awareness of domestic violence against men; that consideration should be given to providing publicly-funded services specifically for male victims; and that workers in health and welfare fields should be provided with training to assist them to recognise and respond effectively to male victims of domestic violence.

Today on Dads on the Air, we play an in-depth interview by the One in Three Campaign with Dr. Greg Dear. Greg is Senior Lecturer in Psychology in the School of Psychology and Social Science at Edith Cowan University. He is the co-author, along with Professor Alfred Allan and Emily Tilbrook, of the Intimate Partner Abuse of Men report, commissioned by the Men’s Advisory Network.

Listen Now (MP3)

Click to read more ...

Divorce Poison

With special guest:

• Dr. Richard Warshak.
  

An emotive subject that affects so many separated non-custodial parents and their victim children, is the issue of Parental Alienation. The existence of PA is still denied by a number of skeptics, who belong to the same group of the ignorant amongst us, who still insist the world is flat, or deny the holocaust took place.

But thankfully most thinking and informed people, are well aware of the dangerous existence of the human ability, to indoctrinate those who are in our control and powerless to escape our absolute power and control over them. It happens in many other settings as well, but is very prevalent in the area of parental separation, where it has been given the name Parental Alienation Syndrome.

Our guest this week is Dr. Richard Warshak, who is an American expert on the subject, and who’s book Divorce Poison, is an excellent resource for those assisting others, who are dealing with this frightening and very damaging phenomenon.

Dr. Richard Warshak is convinced that a passive approach just leaves parents feeling helpless. And the damage to children is considerable, particularly when warring parents enlist children as allies in the battle.

The problems range from tainted parent-child relationships, in which children are disrespectful or reluctant to show their affection, to a disturbance in which children virtually disown one of their parents and all the relatives on that side of the family. He warns  “If you handle the situation ineffectively, you could lose your children’s respect, their affections—even, in extreme cases, lose contact with them”.

Dr Warshak also speaks about his new DVD ‘Welcome Back Pluto’, which helps children cope with their family problems. This professionally-produced DVD is designed to help children and teenagers see family problems from another perspective and avoid taking sides with one parent against the other. The program helps children empathize with the suffering of rejected parents and understand their favored parent’s perspective, and motivates children to restore positive relationships.

Listen Now (MP3)

Click to read more ...

Lone Fathers And DV

With special guests:

• Barry Williams and
• Dr. Peter Foster.
  

The Lone Fathers Association of Australia, will host their 2010 National Conference in Parliament House, Canberra, from the 16th to18th June 2010.

In support of this event, we open the show with the founder and long term president of the organization, Barry Williams, who explains the reason for the theme of this year’s presentation, which in 2010 will be: 

Are Shared Care/Responsibility Laws Working ? Are these laws GOOD for our children ? Have we Witnessed ANOTHER generation of stolen children ?

The association points out an interesting statistic, and then asks the following questions:  

Nearly one million dads see their children no more than four times a year.               
Contravention Orders are part of the Family Law Act. Why are they not being enforced?
Why is the contravener of these orders never punished by the Court that made them?     
Why is Domestic Violence portrayed as only ever perpetrated by the male involved?     
Why isn’t Government Funding shared equally between Women and Men’s Organisations?

We then speak with a senior lecturer in psychology at Charles Darwin University, Dr Peter Forster, who says there is no truth to the argument that testosterone levels make men more aggressive. Dr Foster says studies show women can be just as violent as men and social changes are behind a reported rise in violence among young women, and that there is no truth to the argument that testosterone levels make men more aggressive.

Dr Foster makes the observation that social factors such as the rise of feminism in the last few decades, could be behind the rise in violence amongst women. “We’ve now taken away the expectation that women will behave differently to men,” he said. Pointing out that “It used to be that one of the biggest differences” between men and women, “was that women were more peaceful, they were peacemakers”. He draws attention to the research that shows “this kind of inhibition to be violent, has gradually diminished to the point where it no longer inhibits women at all.”

Be sure to listen to next Tuesday’s show for a special exclusive interview with Dr Richard Warshak, who is the author of ‘Divorce Poison’, and a guru on parental alienation. In his work Dr Warshak offers specific advice for parents (in Australia usually Dads) whose children are caught up in this toxic situation. 

Listen Now (MP3)

Click to read more ...

What's Happening To Our Boys

With special guest:

• Maggie Hamilton.
  

Like a breath of fresh air, it was delightful to have Maggie Hamilton, celebrated author, teacher and publisher, join us on the program this week, to speak about her latest book ‘What’s Happening To Our Boys’ .    

With this new book, Maggie takes a good look into the trails and tribulations facing our boys and young men in the early part of the 21st century. As always, this well researched book is a must buy for today’s parents, who often find themselves struggling with the competing influences challenging the parenting of their sons.  

Maggie leaves no stone unturned, as she delves deep into how boys and young men deal with the many issues they face in a modern technological society, while also stressing the importance of a dad or other good male role model in their lives.  

Unfortunately Ken Thompson was unable to contact us to provide a scheduled update of his bicycle trip around Europe, where he is searching for his abducted son Andrew. However we look forward to hear the latest news of his experiences next week.  

Listen Now (MP3)

Click to read more ...