News and views from The Backbone Collective which advocates for women and children who have experienced violence or abuse and who are enduring further harm from New Zealand's Family Court.
This opinion piece was first published here in The Post on 18 March 2025. The article discusses the urgent need for child specialists with expertise in child development, trauma, family and sexual violence and tikanga to replace the current Lawyer for Child model in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Read MoreTRUE STORY: One woman shares her experience of psychological abuse from her husband and the struggle she has faced to get safe. She reached out for help but no one believed her. She writes that friends, family, Police and those working in the Family Court do not understand psychological abuse and coercive control and the impact it has on victim-survivors. She hopes that more is done to improve the understanding of and response to psychological abuse so that other victim-survivors don’t go through what she has. She advocates that victim-survivors keep believing their own experiences are real and don’t give up demanding protection from abuse.
Read MoreA U.S film documents how the family law and child protection system is failing women and children who are victim/survivors of domestic violence. The issues explored in What Doesn’t Kill Me are as real for the women and children of New Zealand as they are for those in the U.S.
Read MoreTRUE STORY: A domestic violence survivor so moved by the current collective grief and frustration about women being hurt and killed by men writes about her experience of abuse and her ongoing struggle to rebuild her life. She calls on New Zealanders to harness this collective grief, and stop normalising violence and abuse and start changing our attitudes and behaviour towards women.
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