Join the Movement for Change
Campaign Goals
1. Abolish the In Camera Rule
Stop silencing survivors. Hold courts accountable.
2. Mandatory Preliminary Fact Finding Hearing
When abuse is ignored, harm continues. Courts must recognise the reality of intimate partner violence and coercive control before determining custody and access. Silence is not protection — scrutiny is essential. A pre-litigation fact-finding hearing has to take place to recognise the abuse.
3. Stop Punishing Victims of Men’s Violence
Provide equal access to legal aid for victim-survivors as per criminal proceedings. Justice cannot depend on resources.
4. Stop Biased Assessments from Undermining Mothers and Children
Decisions affecting mothers and children cannot be based on flawed, unregulated and biased reports. Any Assessment process must be intimate partner violence and coercive control informed and held to clear standards of accountability.
5. Children’s Best Interests Must Come First
Stop forcing survivor families to prioritise perpetrator rights. Children have a right to grow, be themselves, and feel safe at home. Remove the presumption of contact with an abuser being in the best interests of the child.
6. Listen to Children — And Tell Them the Truth
Children have the right to their own legal advocate. Stop commissioning reports from untrained and unregulated assessors that ignore children’s lived experience of abuse - the voice of the child must be heard and listened to. Judges must explain decisions to children clearly and in writing.
7. Children Are Growing Up in Poverty
Enforce maintenance orders, debt and arrears. Stop facilitating financial abuse disguised as non-compliance.
8. Remove the Perpetrator — Let the Victim Stay
Stop placing the burden on victims to flee. Make barring orders effective and enforceable. Protect families in their homes.
9. Gardaí Are a Vital Line of Protection
Ensure all first responders are trained in coercive control, patterns of abuse, and tactics such as DARVO. Support An Garda Síochána to act decisively — removing perpetrators and protecting families at the point of crisis.
10. Families Living with Court Orders Are the True Experts
Judges must listen to those directly impacted by the system and act on their lived experience.
11. Walking into Court Should Not Be a Gamble
Establish clear, fair, and consistent practice guidelines that prioritise safety and accountability.
12. TUSLA’s Domestic Violence Policy Must Be Applied
All professionals conducting assessments or reports must be trained in and bound by TUSLA’s domestic violence-informed practice.
Our call for family law reform is led by mothers who have survived intimate partner violence and are determined to protect their children from further harm. We are pressing for a system that properly understands coercive control, respects women’s lived experience, and places child safety above outdated assumptions abou