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Family courts and Tusla

Summary

Verona Murphy raised concerns about domestic violence, child abuse assessments, Tusla’s handling of a family case and shortcomings in family-court expertise.

Domestic violence and child abuse concerns that were recently raised in a Department of Justice report found that assessors do not have adequate training or accreditation to properly assess family violence. I am dealing with a case where a family were told last year by Tusla that they should not allow recommended access to go ahead. One parent was told by Tusla that it should not go ahead, and at this stage, a year later, Tusla is accusing that same parent of parental alienation. This report says it all. The assessors in front of the courts, and the judges determining custody and access based on the evidence of those assessors, have made grave errors. We need to revisit this and have a grave discussion with regard to what the Department of Justice report says, sooner rather than later. We are interfering with children's rights and people's families.

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