In Australia there is a growing tendency for enforcement of contact orders. Then, the Family Law Amendment Act 2000 commenced, under which three tiered compliance scheme is divised; stage 1 as preventative stage, stage 2 as remedial, and stage 3 as punitive. This implies that the family law system enter into the 'unknown' post-divorce world.
The new conception of continuous relationship press family law 'system' for unanticipated transformations. First, it suggests a limitation with of one-off judgement, since there occur numerous changes in circumstances surrounding divorced families like remarriage, reemployment, and relocation and so on. Perhaps, more amendable and flexible mechanism rather than strict is preferable. Importantly, contempt or enforcement system has been depended on 'judge-made orders', but in fact the most orders are made from parental agreements. Regarding this point, the legitimacy of such orders shall be questioned, because such practice overrides the tradition that the Court of Chancery had exercised. Contact becomes more important methods to bond divorced family ties than before. However, enforcing contact is another level. Punishing violators of court orders is not necessarily to resolve complex child contact matters. The most important is to repair family relationship and to protect children or victimised parents form abusive parents.
