Nonresidential Parents: Nonresidential Mothers, Schools, and the Reform Process

Abstract

The Australian Commonwealth Government is about to initiate widespread changes to family law. Central to the reform proposals is the introduction of Family Relationship Centres (FRCs), as alternatives to current adversarial approaches to settling family separation. This discussion paper raises two issues in relation to the forthcoming reforms. Firstly, within community debates, nonresidential (noncustodial) mothers are typically subsumed under nonresidential (noncustodial) parents, often without recognition of their particular needs, as nonresidential mothers.1 The article draws attention to the social stigma nonresidential mothers suffer and its implications for the reform process. Secondly, we include both nonresidential mothers and nonresidential fathers in a critique of the lack of educational initiatives by educational research and schools to involve nonresidential parents in their children’s schooling. We believe that in the spirit of the forthcoming reforms, schools need to reach out to all parents. This means that school personnel (school psychologists, social workers) need to be available to families and consultants during negotiations within the proposed FRCs, to assist both nonresidential mothers and fathers in securing school involvement.