COVID‐19 in Australia: Impacts on Separated Families, Family Law Professionals, and Family Courts

• Author: Bruce M. Smyth,Jacqueline M. Brady,Marian Esler,Judge Joe Harman,Lawrence J. Moloney
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12533
• Published date: 01 October 2020
• Date: 01 October 2020

SPECIAL FEATURE: COVID-19

COVID-19 IN AUSTRALIA: IMPACTS ON SEPARATED FAMILIES,

FAMILY LAW PROFESSIONALS, AND FAMILY COURTS

Bruce M. Smyth, Lawrence J. Moloney, Jacqueline M. Brady, Judge Joe Harman, and Marian Esler

Around the globe, many families are experiencing significant anxieties linked to COVID-19. These include health concerns

and economic pressures, both of which are frequently taking place against a backdrop of various levels of social isolation. In

addition, many parents have been juggling home schooling requirements in the face of radically different work arrangements

including the loss of employment altogether. Unsurprisingly, additional challenges and stresses are emerging for separated

families, family law professionals, and family courts. In this article –written at a point-in-time in a rapidly evolving COVID-

19 context –we reflect on key challenges for separated families in Australia, and some of the emerging professional

responses.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

In the context of COVID-19, new challenges and stresses are emerging in Australia for separated families, family

law professionals, and family law courts.

Post-separation family relationship services and the courts are attempting to assist parents to manage problems that

have emerged in the wake of the pandemic; in the context of social distancing, they are under pressure to deliver

responses that are safe and are perceived to be safe.

While all aspects of the Australian family law system were ill prepared for the disruption of the COVID-19 pan-

demic, both services and courts have been quick to respond and adapt.

The need for rapid adaptation in response to social distancing has required embracing ‘virtual’service delivery and

‘virtual’court hearings. These largely untested processes require evaluation.

Though there are obvious and less obvious dangers, we argue that the need to adapt service delivery in the context of

a global pandemic is creating unanticipated opportunities for separated parents, family and relationship support ser-

vices, and family courts.

These opportunities and challenges need to be better understood and managed as we move beyond the necessarily

immediate responses to the pandemic.

Keywords: Coronavirus; COVID-19; Divorce; Family Courts; Family Services and Mediation.

I. INTRODUCTION: FAMILIES AT TIMES OF CRISIS

COVID-19

1

represents a worldwide crisis, the likes of which is experienced only rarely.

2

While

the pandemic is changing the ways in which many family members are interacting with each other,

there are few roadmaps to assist in developing new family relationship patterns or new coping strat-

egies. Broadly speaking, however, times of crisis bring both opportunities and dangers.

Whatever their structural make up, some families do appear to be using their enforced and

increased time together to rethink life’sprioritiesandtofind more creative ways of being with each

other. Some are experimenting with changes that speak to the very nature of family, prioritizing family

support and family coherence, and reconsidering the purpose and location of both paid and unpaid

work. This includes re-engaging with partners and children in ways that are less frenetic and more life

Corresponding: bruce.smyth@anu.edu.au

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 58 No. 4, October 2020 1022–1039, doi: 10.1111/fcre.12533

© 2020 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts

affirming (Cluver et al., 2020). It also includes finding creative ways to support and include those out-

side the immediate family, including key extended family members such as grandparents.

For members of these families, it is likely that pre-COVID experiences of home have mainly

been linked to feelings of safety, support, and refuge (Fehlberg, Campo, Natalier, & Smyth, 2020;

Fehlberg, Natalier, & Smyth, 2018). The strengths these family members derive from having created

a sense of place and feelings of belonging are likely to be mitigating COVID-related stresses –fears

about the virus itself, concerns about the future, economic worries, education concerns, problems

associated with confined interpersonal space etc.

On the negative side, there is also evidence that restricted opportunities associated with COVID-

19 are contributing to the intensification of existing family tensions, vulnerabilities or risks. Invol-

untary, protracted time together can act like a pressure cooker, exposing previously hidden cracks in

relationships and exacerbating existing dangers. When ongoing emotional and financial stressors

are paired with risky uncertain futures, relationships can easily contort and rupture. Minor irritations

can become major pressure points; new tensions can emerge; old issues can resurface and intensify.

The more problematic end of these tensions and concerns are being typically expressed in the

form of increased mental health issues and problems of addiction such as gambling

3

and substance

abuse (Alphabeta, 2020; Green, 2020). In addition, during times of fewer social interactions and

fewer emotional outlets, relationships characterized by the exercise of coercive control are even

more likely to unravel, sometimes with terrible consequences. Though these dynamics exist within

all family structures, it is clear that separating and separated families are facing special COVID-

related challenges.

II. SEPARATED FAMILIES

The main purpose of this article is to reflect at a particular point-in-time (June 2020) on the

impact of COVID-19 on approximately 650,000 Australian separated families and their 1.3 million

children, on their service needs, and on the current capacity of services to respond.

We begin by noting that not surprisingly there is anecdotal evidence that an increased number of

Australian couples are currently seeking to separate or divorce. A similar story appears to be emerg-

ing in other countries (such as China, Canada, USA, and the UK) (Bamford, 2020; Devine, 2020;

Dick, 2020; Fies, 2020; Yiying, 2020). In addition to evidence of increased rates of separation,

there are also reports of couples who had planned to separate in the lead up to COVID-19 but who

for now have had to separate under the same roof. Such separations clearly present a more challeng-

ing emotional climate for dealing with day-to-day issues for raising children and sometimes, unfor-

tunately, for staying safe.

At its best, the largely unanticipated fallouts from COVID-19 have prompted securely separated

families to reflect more keenly on what is important in their lives, especially with respect to the

need for parents to work together in support of good quality paren t–child relationships. In some

cases, however, the uncertainties, anxieties and added complications being experienced in the wake

of the virus appear to have destabilized post-separation parenting and financial arrangements that

were hitherto functioning adequately albeit imperfectly (Fitzsimmons, 2020). Not surprisingly,

almost all post-separation services, including courts, have been reporting increases in demand for

assistance (Hall, 2020). This raises important questions regarding the best use of resources, a num-

ber of which are considered below.

For separated families, the logistical issues associated with the social isolation requirements in

Australia have ranged from the relatively straightforward and achievable to the practically impossi-

ble. New challenges associated with multiple parenting locations are being reported, especially in

those situations in which one or both parents have formed new relationships. Many of these new

partners share children with their former partners who in turn have re-partnered, and so on. In sce-

narios such as this, it takes only one adult to wittingly or unwittingly break the ‘chain of safety’to

put multiple families at risk or at least be perceived to do so.

Smyth et al./COVID-19 IN AUSTRALIA 1023