Maria Arpa
This week
We can do better…
Plus…
Maria’s Midweek Mindfulness
and
The Wednesday Whisper
The family court system
While on the one hand, we can be grateful to have a family court system that tries to work out the ‘best interest of the child’ when parents can’t, last week I experienced it in action in a matter very close to home.
As my daughter prepared meticulously with her attorney for her request to the court for relocation to another State, I observed a completely inhuman process based on who can throw bigger rocks at the other in order to discredit their evidence. While I am in no doubt that her case is sound and is in the best interest of the child (my granddaughter), watching this formal process of cross examination on both sides was inhuman.
In a system which is not interested in emotions or how people feel, the clinical presentation to a person called a judge who does not know the real situation and is trying to make a judgement based on ‘evidence’ was devoid of any humanity and served only to increase the hostility and breed resentment by creating a winner and a loser without compassion or empathy.
And, having been through a 3 day trial, the judgement will take up to 2 weeks.
Maria’s Midweek Mindfulness
We can do better as humans so I question the whole family court system. I’m not saying it doesn’t work at all. I’m saying it could be so much better. Given the amount of time, preparation and money spent by both sides to go into battle, I am confident that I could design a human system in which compassion and empathy can sit alongside fact finding and result in consenting to a third party making a decision where the parents cannot find agreement between themselves or in mediation.
The Wednesday Whisper
Have you ever found yourself dealing with a family disagreement involving children? How did you work it out?
Does this blog have any resonance for you?
Would you be willing to share this blog and repost it?