I commend Deputy Gogarty on his motion and the strong and sustained support that he and his office colleagues have given many families affected by the issues being discussed here today. As a psychologist working in mental health services, I have seen the fallout when family conflict becomes destructive, entrenched and entangled in the labyrinthine and secretive family courts system. I have supported people whose mental health was weaponised against them and whose distress was treated as evidence that they were unsafe, unstable or unworthy of contact with their child. Sometimes, their distress was stoked and heightened by the system itself to a point that brought them to a psychological brink. I have also seen the devastating impact when children are drawn into adult conflict and, in effect, set against a parent. It is important to say that these patterns can affect both mothers and fathers. Abuse, coercive control, emotional harm and risks of any kind must always be taken seriously, and so too must the harm caused by false allegations, diagnosis or vulnerability used strategically in the courts system. For a parent who is pushed out of their child's life, the torment is hard to describe or even imagine. The daily grief of knowing that your child is growing up and needing your love and relationship while you are powerless to reach them can break people. I am particularly concerned about court reports that can shape decisions about where a child lives, how often a parent sees them or whether a relationship even survives. Concerns persist about delay, inconsistency and whether authors always have expertise in child development, attachment, trauma, domestic abuse and complex family dynamics. In some cases, they clearly do not have this expertise. A poorly considered report can do enormous damage. It can harden a narrative about a parent that is incomplete or simply wrong. Once it takes hold, it is almost impossible to undo. Privacy remains paramount, but privacy cannot mean parents are left alone in a closed system, unable to speak, get support or understand decisions of such magnitude. We need a careful, humane and accountable family courts system, one that upholds, wherever safe and possible, a child's right to a healthy ongoing relationship with both parents, as well as the parent's right to fairness and due process. It must recognise abuse, coercive control and where conflict is intensified by the court process. Above all, it must not add to the trauma of the children and families it is supposed to protect.

Sentiment score: -0.21